Roadside Treasure

I LOVE plantation shutters. Who doesn't right? Walking into a room with them is always so refreshing. And their name-- Plantation Shutters. It's transporting. I feel like I could be sitting in a swing, on a covered wraparound porch, the easy southern breeze flowing through my white cotton skirt and blouse. Sipping a mint julep and watching the men play cricket in the lawn. Can you see it? Oooh, I'm there! The tidy, uniform slats are so pleasing. They bring substance and tradition to a room without being fussy. I just love 'em!! But the price for outfitting my house with the shutters is just more than we want to spend right now. So when I saw a pile of perfect white wooden shutters stacked against a tree as I was driving through a beautifully canopied neighborhood in South Pasadena, CA waiting for the junkman, my heart sort of skipped a beat.   

As thrilled as I was to see the trash / treasure, I was aware of all of, well maybe most of, the factors that made the aquistion problematic.

Problematic factor #1: I don't live in Pasadena. I live in Phoenix. And I didn't drive out to see my family, I flew. I can't take plantation shutters home on a plane! And what am I going to do with them anyway? Will they be magically sized to fit on my bedroom windows? Doubtful. But they're in PERfect condition and I want/need them.

Problematic factor #2: These suckers are still connected to the frames that have been ripped off of wherever they had been hanging. So not only are they long, (possibly too long for the backseat of my sister's car which I was driving) but they are full of nails and jagged, splintery wood. Am I willing to try to shove them in and hope that I don't scratch up the car, the shutters and my arms? Ummm....maybe....

Problematic factor #3: As PROUD as I always am of my street treasures once they are safely at home, all de-grimed, de-spiderwebbed, re-painted and re-purposed, a swift streak of embarrassment often runs through my gut at the moment of aquisition. After all, this is an affluent neighborhood with huge, established homes. What if one of these rich people see me? And what if this in fact, isn't waiting for a trash truck pickup? Am I stealing them? What if the homeowner sees me and comes out while I'm parked in their driveway stealing stuff off their......OH MY GOD!!!! They're coming out!!!!!

Yes, the homeowners came out of the house! But to my surprise and delight, they were very, very sweet. They had just hosted a church fundraiser yard sale and these remained. After they convinced me that it was a great idea to take them and figure out what I was going to do with them later, the husband brought out hammer to  remove enough of the framing so they fit in the car, helped me load them, and actually took me to their garage to tempt me with more free leftovers!!

Aren't they so proper?



So, now, months several months and several garage holding areas later, I'm finally getting around to using my beloved plantation shutters. (And when I say "I", I mean my husband and myself.) Since they, of course don't fit any of the windows in my house, I thought it would be a great idea to use them for cabinet doors!

So, yesterday Dan and I picked up a few supplies for building the cabinet, ($25 for 1/2 in. MDF and some pine strips for facing pieces) and headed over to his buddie's garage to use all of his super cool building tools.



Danny taking off the old frames



Had I known it was so easy, I would've done it before I lugged them out from California in the back of my car!



Sweaty guys buildin' stuff




While I enjoy the Arizona sunset!



The box is complete!



A mock-up with the doors....





Priming for paint...

And that's where we are now. With a perfectly primed, perfectly constructed, perfectly square box. All we need now is to mount to doors, construct a simple shelf, install knobs, hang it in our upstairs powder room, and fill it with T.P. and towels. Oh, and choose a color to paint it. The last item is, of course, the most important. Should we go light or dark? Well, what are the other elements going in the room? I don't know yet!! I asked Danny if I could just live with it for a while in it's primed state untill I get some inspiration/shop for some deals and he is humoring me. He's good to me!