Shutter and empty frame collage

I feel complete again! I've been without my beloved laptop after it suffered a near fatal crash. We were terrified we had lost all of our precious pictures and videos forever but it was brought back to life! I'm so behind now but here's the first of MANY projects I've completed lately.

And it's a good one:)

This HUGE shutter/door is one of the best junk finds I've ever gotten my hands on. I love the shape and size of it. All that would've made it better is if there had been two!
Because I loved the piece so much, the pressure was on to choose just the right color and not screw this up...

Safe route with classic chippy, cottage white?
Trendy route with distressed turquoise?
Roy G Biv scrolled through my mind as I studied this beauty.

I decided, nothing says happiness quite like an antique, bright, golden-rod yellow shutter...right?

I used a wire brush to scrape the loose, chippy paint off to provide a smooth surface.

I painted the shutter with SW "Goldfinch" that I diluted a little with water. After 2 coats, I sanded like a mad woman until I exposed the brown and white underneath to my liking. I glazed with Ralph Lauren "Smoke" in just a few places to antique it even more. And that's it! With hanger hardware installed on the back, it was ready to hang proudly over our living room couch.

But the large wall never seemed complete with one lonely piece in the center, so this shutter wasn't going to do the trick alone.

I gathered a random assortment of open-back frames and knick-knacks from around the house.

I also threw in 2 of 4 small shutters I found.

Ivory spray paint for the frames, mocha and turquoise distressing on the little shutters and alot of configuring on the floor was all it took to finish this one up!

~The Grays

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