Farmhouse Chic Chicken Wire & Chalk Paint Shutters

Oy! I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post! As I said in my last post, I'd been busy painting clients' homes, which virtually no time to work on my own chalk paint projects. 

Well, that's all changed now. I finally finished a project for my Etsy shop, that I started back in June, and finally had enough free time to perfect!

Voila!

European Farmhouse Chic.....

I rescued these years ago, and they were a dingy white, and empty. I applied a fabulous coat of Marigold/Mustard chalk paint, and topped it with my go-to Tiffany Blue chalk paint.

I then embellished them with lots of Marigold leaves, with warm brown details and cream highlights.

Original petite, porcelain knobs, which now look much more interesting with the leaf accents.

Since these were fairly old and worn to begin with, there were lots of opportunities for distressing the pre-existing flaws. There were holes which I assume once had a latch for holding the shutters closed. They were partially filled, but I chose to leave traces of them, in the event the future owner wished to add latches. There were also hinges that attached the shutters to an interior window/pass-through, which I removed, but kept just in case.

These are the kind that you secure little curtains into, and I was thrilled that they still had all the spring-loaded rods inside the tops and bottoms. 

I ruminated quite a bit over how to proceed, but finally decided I wanted these to have chicken wire. Yep, that illusive 1/2" hex chicken wire I've been thrilled to have for the last year, and feverishly creating with.

I knew it would give these the European farmhouse look I was striving for, but I also wanted to leave the option open for curtains, should the owner wish to add them as a backdrop for the chicken wire.

So the best solution was to attach the chicken wire the same way I did with my Mercantile Spice Rack, using tiny brass screws, and wiring each screw to a hex, to keep the chicken wire attached securely. Though I'm sure many might have gone the staple route, since it would've only taken minutes to complete, it just wouldn't have the aesthetically-pleasing and old-fashioned look I was going for.  Needless to say, my method took hours, but the result was clearly worth it.

Although I already oxidized the chicken wire, I felt the powdery grey was too cold for the paint finish, so I applied a very thin warm bronze brown chalk paint wash, keeping the weathered matte finish.

Standing 23” tall, and 35” total width of both together (when closed flat), these will make a fabulous statement on a mantle, a pass-through window, or in a home office, using the chicken wire to clip notes to.

Now that these are finally done, with any luck, I will get some Christmas projects (gasp!) done.....:)

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