Scavenger Chic

Breaker Box Cover DIY, Upcycled Shutters

• By Joan
• March 24, 2021
• 3 Comments

Breaker Box  Cover

A couple weeks ago I mentioned how I was in the process of repainting my basement and how I may have found a few projects to do along the way.

One of the projects was this corner of the basement.  This is not woven wallpaper attached to the wall but mats, the kind you would put on the floor.  They are (were) stapled to the wall and the seams were covered by 1×3’s.  

They have been up for 15/20 years but their time has past, they’ve gotten a little droopy and we were ready for a new look.

One of the other things these mats did was hide the breaker box electrical panel in that corner of the room.  We just sliced the mats on the bottom and sides leaving a flap for accessing the panel. Very low tech, but it did it’s job.

With the mats down we needed a new solution for hiding the breaker box. This thing would probably be easier to hide if it wasn’t stuck in the corner, then I would just hang a piece of artwork over it and call it a day.

First things first, fixing all the holes where the mats and the 1×3’s were attached to the walls, and all the holes from the darts and dartboard.

The ceiling and walls are painted, ready to tackle the electric panel.

You are allowed to cover a breaker box with a door to match your decor but it must be easy to open and must not interfere with the opening of the steel door of the panel and you must have full access to all of the breakers.

Some of those 1×3’s that I just ripped down off the walls make a great frame for my new breaker box cover.  Miter the corners of the frame and nail to the wall.

I had the family vote on what they thought would be the best cover for the electric box.  Should it be old interior shutters, a vintage window with  a mercury glass effect ( I would, of course get rid of the creepy face), tin roofing shutters , or wood planks.

The entire family, all 2 of them that were home at the time, voted on the vintage shutters.  Works for me and they just happened to be the absolute perfect length.

Now I just had to figure out what combination of the shutters would be the perfect width  (2 wide + 1 skinny).

Use wood glue, nails  and scrap wood to reinforce the shutters making them one solid panel. 

This just happens to be some more of the wood that I had just yanked off the wall.  

Paint!

Now I have done enough shutter projects to know that I hate painting shutters.  There are far too many nooks and crannies.  So I’m telling you, if you have spray paint, use it.  This was all the black spray paint I had on hand and I tried to use it wisely, it was a start, but I had to resort back to my old trusty paintbrush. 😥 

There is always a hiccup in every project.  In this project it was when I went to attach hinges to the left side of the frame.  I’m using some old vintage hinges that I had on hand but they were too wide to screw into the frame that I had already attached. 

So, as you can see, I ripped off the left board and attached a wider board.  Something wide enough I could screw my hinges to.

Paint the new board and screw in the hinges.

To close the box I used the existing hook on the shutter and  attached  a screw that sticks out from the frame.  

On my first attempt the hook just popped off.  A small washer on the end of the screw keeps the hook secure.

Instead of an electric breaker box, now it looks and feels like a vintage cupboard.

Going from  the mats and grid on the wall to just a plain painted wall has been quite a change.  So now I’m looking for some kind of wall treatment to spice up the wall again.

I’ll get back to you on that one.

Until next time, stay inspired.

Related posts:

Double Shutter DIY Wardrobe When life gives you Shutters – Make a Cabinet! Shutter Memo Board, Version 4 Repurposed Shutter Memo Board