Rustic Shutters – beautiful French farmhouse shutters in my vintage home decor

I wasn’t with Mr M when he went to collect my time-worn rustic shutters from my friends barn recently. She had bought them as part of a job lot and found them too chippy for her own taste. I’m grateful we’re different like that. I can only imagine the exchange of words and looks between them both as he bundled them into our car and she waved them off.  I on the other hand couldn’t wait for Mr M to return with my latest bounty. I imagined the rustic shutters previously to have been in an old French Chateau or perhaps a country farm barn, forgotten and neglected standing next to numerous other vintage and time-worn pieces. I knew exactly where the farmhouse shutters would begin their stay with me. In my minds eye I had already begun to create a beautiful back drop in my vintage home decor scheme and I simply could not wait to get started…

Once Mr M returned it was clear my first job was to clean the weathered farmhouse shutters. They were dusty not grubby and with no obvious signs of wood worm, always a good start. I was anxious not to strip them of all their original paint aiming instead to preserve the faded patina and simply add to the chippiness.

I made all the right noises suggesting Mr M should just find the jet wash whilst I made the coffee and then he could leave me to do the rest. “It’s such a sunny day, they’ll dry in no time at all” I announced cheerfully. With fresh coffee in hand I ventured to the garden and noticed at once all the messy work had been done and the rustic shutters were indeed drying in the sunshine.

Lucky for me it was perhaps the hottest of our summer days and very soon after their wash, these wonderful farmhouse shutters were in my home waiting to see where their shining moment would be. Now if you’ve read last weeks post, you will know we are approaching full in the vintage home decor department. Although as I have mentioned before, layering brings about countless additional styling opportunities and these shutters I just knew were waiting for the layering treatment. And in doing so, they would help create the perfect shabby chic wall decor for so many of my wonderful treasures. I had decided they would adorn my hallway cum dining room initially and so, with symmetry in mind one went either side of my vintage china cabinet…

I have a small pair of french shutters in our sitting room which sit on top of a painted sideboard. They sometimes have baby willow wreaths on them and I tend to change the hanging ribbons seasonally.  It is fairly easy to swap out decor frequently simply by placing pretties in front of the shutters, often in layers. Small french books with jugs and bowls of dried flowers, faded music sheets, twinkling fairy lights, ornate gilt photo frames, there are endless possibilities.

These new shutters are much larger however and sit on the floor and so in order to accommodate them in my chosen spot, Doris and the painted stools have moved for now. Master M was relieved when he returned home recently to discover this; he’s never had much time for Doris. I began this latest vintage home decor with tiny twinkling lights and a couple of home-made paper garlands…

And for a while the old farmhouse shutters stayed like this as they settled in their new home. Then I added my plain and simple willow wreaths hanging on pretty vintage lace which I had recently rescued from a very old and holey tablecloth…

And although the twiggy wreaths work well with the sitting room’s smaller shutters, I felt these larger, more rustic shutters needed greater impact. A few weekends ago, my lovely mother in law visited and brought with her a big bunch of dried lavender from fields close by where she lives. “I thought you could do something with this” she said, presenting me with my gift. I spent several days wondering if I could bear to use the beautiful purple flowers in a craft project.  Maybe a lavender pillow or dainty heart or some such treat I thought. Whilst pondering the postman delivered me a parcel I had almost forgotten I’d ordered some few weeks back.  As soon as I opened the beautifully wrapped package, I knew this gorgeous lavender wreath from the wonderful @melaniesvintage would not make it to the seldom used front door as originally planned. And then it dawned on me that both lavender beauties could showcase my beautiful shutters and this wonderful focal point was created

And for now this shabby chic take on vintage home decor will remain just so. As the weather turns cooler and Autumn inevitably arrives, these rustic shutters will I am sure, take on many new looks. Perhaps with new and seasonal wreaths of flame coloured leaves with weathered pine cones. For now though I am in no hurry to lose the French summer feel these old farmhouse shutters offer my beautiful home in the English countryside. Best of both worlds wouldn’t you say? x

There are many other vintage home decor ideas in this blog. In particular you might enjoy this post and this post too.