Repurposed Shutter

Just call me Houdini. I recently turned an old house shutter into a lamp. Yep, that’s right! So, here’s the backstory: I picked up an old house shutter years ago at a junk shop simply because I liked the color and the patina, guessing I’d figure out something to do with it. Fast forward a couple of years, and I finally had an idea! The shutter has been leaning against an empty wall in our family room for quite some time, where it looked OK, but kinda purpose-less. I decided to make it useful by turning it into a light fixture. It was so easy.

I found an old wall-mounted light fixture in our basement and that’s what sparked the idea. First, my husband drilled a hole in the shutter and affixed the light’s mounting plate just above it so the hole was really just a half-moon. This made the hole practically invisible once the lamp was hung.

Then he attached the lamp.

Then I, not happy with the stark white shade, covered it with some pretty cotton fabric from Jo-Anns.

I also hung a picture on it, so the lamp kind of acts like an art light.

turn an old shutter into a light fixture

As you can see, we leaned it against the wall behind an antique dresser in our family room, where it looks great, but there was one dilemma. The light switch was on the cord, which was now hidden behind the shutter. To solve this problem, I just plugged the lamp into a power strip and plugged the power strip into the wall. I then situated the power strip so that just the on/off switch is barely visible near the floor behind the dresser. So all we have to do to turn it on and off is lean down and hit the power on the power strip.

I love the cozy glow it has at night, and also that it frees up more space on the dresser where a lamp used to sit.