
- shutters
- 1/4" board for covering
- bolts & nuts
- drill
- jigsaw
- batting
- fabric for upholstering
- hot glue gun/glue
Use jigsaw to cut board (you can use 1/4" plywood) to fit into the louvered space in the shutter.
Use drill to create pilot holes in the board to match the shutter. Line up and mark your board so you know which piece goes to which shutter.
We numbered and put arrows on each board & shutter insert so everything would line up when the bolts were attached to both. Put the bolts into holes & attach the nuts to the backside. Helpful Hint: Add a dab of hot glue at the base of the bolt after it is slipped into the wood to keep it in place.
Using polyfil batting, we cut one piece of polyfil to size and the other 1" larger to wrap around the board. Miter the corners and hot glue down.
Find the center point of the fabric (we found the center of the words we stenciled) horizontally and vertically. Pin to the batting to hold fabric in place. Flip it face down and begin with the corners. Stretch the fabric slightly at each corner & hot glue as you go. Clip the corners of the fabric and miter as seen in photo; glue to board. Begin at the center of each side, pulling it taut and gluing towards each corner.
Remove the nuts from the bolts & line them up with the appropriate louvered space. Push the bolts through (this is not easy) and attach the nuts. We used plastic shutters so we also bolted those together. To mount on the wall, we used drywall screws. If you have trouble finding a stud, you can use a screw-in molly bolt. We used the same paint to cover the screw heads.
Stand back & admire your handy-work!
The Science & Art of Painting Fabric
The Science & Art of Chalk Paint
YouTube – Painting Fabric
YouTube - Padded Shutter Headboard