Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Shutter Serving Cart

• By Joan
• February 16, 2017
• 9 Comments

Did you know that this is my 13th shutter project , and since I still have a bunch of shutters in my junk pile, it definitely won’t be my last.  You can find my gallery of shutter projects here.

Not all of my projects are with the large exterior shutters, there are a few with interior window shutters.  So whatever you have to work with, I’m sure I have some inspiration for you.

Before I begin a project, I try to take a picture and have on hand all of the supplies I think I’m going to use for that project.  

I don’t always get it right. Sometimes I’ll change my mind on the direction of a project midway or more often than not, I’ll miss supplies because I haven’t thought my project out all the way to the end.  I always try to use odds and ends that I have on hand but it’s not unusual for me to have to make a trip to the hardware store or the craft store for just one more thing.

I didn’t do too badly on this project.  This is a pile of most of my supplies…a vintage shutter, steel bins from the thrift store, a 1×2 and pallet wood.

I did end up using a whole lot more pallet wood than shown here, some more scrap wood I had on hand and I did have to have one trip to the hardware store for some casters.

Before cutting my shutter in half I had to first see if the two bins would fit on just half a shutter. They did.

A lot of times you can’t just cut a shutter in half and have equal sides.  The shutter half on the right has a few more slats and a larger bottom edge.

By removing a couple of the slats on the top part of the right shutter, I now have an equal number of slats.  I then filled in that space with a portion of the shutter that I had cut off the bottom edge.    The picture shows the cut off shutter piece in place…it just needs to be trimmed, nailed and glued into place.

Before starting to construct the utility cart, I just had one more part of the shutters to take care of, cutting off the extra edge piece with a jigsaw.

Use a sander to smooth out the cut edge.

I still had to make sure that my containers still fit and figure out where to place my shelves.

Cut 4, 1×2’s just a little bit shorter than the width of the shutters.

Nail and glue  1×2’s onto the edge part of the shutters.  By placing the shutters side by side, I know I’ll have two sides that match.

Note: the bottom shelf supports are placed off the bottom 1 1/2 inches, the width of the 2×2.

Cut 4 cross supports 15″ each. Three are cut from a 2×2 deck spindle for the front and bottom back and 1 more was cut from a 2×4 (pallet wood side piece)  for the top back.

My bins measured 12″ across at their widest, so the cross supports  were 15″ to give room for trim and a little extra wiggle room for the bin.

Use a Kreg jig to secure the cross supports to the shutter sides. If you do not have a Kreg jig, I would suggest using long screws from the outside of the shutter and then patching the holes.

You don’t need a large Kreg jig to get started, my kids got me this  Kreg Jr. Pocket Hole System and it works great. The Jr. version should work for most of your projects and you may never need to invest in the larger, more expensive version.

If you have any, use scrap wood to  trim out the front of your cart.

I ended up with a 1×3 for the top, a 1×4 for the bottom and 2 inch widths for the sides. 

The bottom trim board was higher than the interior bottom shelf supports by the width of one pallet board so that when I added the pallet wood shelves in the next step it will all be level.

Use finishing nails to attach.

Cut pallet boards to fit onto the shelf supports, sand well and nail into place.

Cut more pallet wood for the top.  Again, sand well and nail into place.

I used black chalk paint  for the trim but left the shutter alone.

Chalk paint wax seals the paint.

For the back, I used some old wainscoting I had taken down from my bedroom wall.  You could also use tin, more pallet wood or thin plywood.

I didn’t want to get rid of my chippy paint on the shutter but I also didn’t want it to flake off, so I used this trick I picked up from Flea Market Flip…mix wood glue and water and brush the mixture onto the peeling paint.

I don’t have an exact formula, just add water until the glue thins out just a little bit.

Add casters for easy rolling.

Have a wonderful weekend.  See you here next week.

Stay inspired.

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