How to Make Shutter Art With A Stencil the Wrong Way

I’m going to share how I made shutter art with a stencil the wrong way so that you can do it the right way!
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But first the back story.  One day I drove my dad to the hospital to visit someone and I had to park the car a few blocks away because this is New York. 

​Imagine my luck when while sitting there a man walked up to the curb and put this beauty outside. I couldn’t believe my eyes.  I waited patiently till he was a few blocks away because you never know, he might of changed his mind and come back for it, and then I jumped out of the car and grabbed this shutter.  I had to literally jam it into the back of the car because it was pretty big.  But you know where there’s a will there will be a way. 

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• DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Paint in Everlasting
• chip brush
• Pounce sponge brush 
• fine tip brush
• stencil with swirls
• Americana Decor Matte Metallics in soft silver
• sandpaper
• DecoArt Americana Creme Wax Finish
• Round brush for waxing
• white rag for waxing

​Now I had done stenciling before so I felt confident that I would be able to knock this one out in a matter of minutes.  After all it was simpler than the Fleur De Lis I had nixed. Haha!  

A lesson I have yet to learn is that one should never be overconfident in their skills. EVER!  Case in point, this project which defeated me because I was too smug for my own good!

I had intended to use my pounce sponger.  It had worked before for this project so I was sure it would work now. Besides everyone raved about it. How it was the best for stenciling. So it would be a breeze with this project.  Or so I thought!

I set up my things, including a plastic dish with a paper towel to dab off the excess paint.
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​I started out by taping the stencil along one end of the shutter and then pressed it down to paint.  I used masking tape to keep it in place.
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I had absolutely neglected to take into account the slats of the shutter. How was this even possible.

​They were right there, staring at me!  Laughing at me even!

The stencil did not lay flat on the surface and the paint went on super thick even though I had dabbed most of it off.
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​Here is the next attempt.  It looks better right?
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I realized that I had to insert the stencil inside the slat in order to get the design to lay flat on each slat. 

What was meant to be a 10 minute project was obviously going to take me much, much longer.
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​But it looked unfinished.  
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To give the overall look more balance and less sparsity. And of course to add another half an hour to my ten minute project!
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Finally, on what was to be a ten minute stenciling project, I was done!

Was it worth it?  I could have gone out and just bought some type of artwork, hung it on the wall and called it a day!

But, no!

I needed to make my life difficult by doing all these DIY projects.

There is no joy in shopping when you can waste hours of your life DIYing!  Am I right?

Have you ever seen that meme on Facebook about how we spend $90 making a project that we could have bought for $10.  Well, that was me but replace the money for time.

Plus, I needed something horizontal to go behind the sofa.
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​Now to explain my reasoning for this particular look.  I wanted something that had presence but not too much.  After all we still have that accent wall on the opposite side of the room. Too much on this wall would have been overpowering.

I needed to fill this wall but in a subtle kind of way.  Are you following me?
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I think of the slats as doing the real work, and the swirls are a bonus.
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And what have I learned from this episode of how to make things harder than they need to be?

Pouncers are to be feared?  Absolutely not.  They have their place but not on shutters!

Ultimately, I have learned that I don’t always learn from my previous mistakes and I need to make them more than once in order to feel the red on my cheeks.

​Or is three times the (un)lucky number?  In that case I have one more mistake to make!
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This tutorial on how to make shutter art the wrong way took a long time (much longer than it should have) but I’m happy with my art.  In fact I couldn’t find another like this anywhere and believe me I scoured Pinterest for inspiration!

​How many times do you need to make a mistake before you learn a lesson?

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This blog is for entertainment purposes only; my DIY tutorials are not professional advice. Read my full disclaimer here.​

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