Jane's attic, update XIII: A window with shutters.

Some time ago I was working on a window for Jane's attic. It was supposed to be a 'blind' window, intended to give the attic a more claustrophobic feel. 

However, as the 'Attic' project progressed, I kept thinking about the freakin' window... there was something about it that felt 'wrong'. Then I came across this other window with shutters, and suddenly I knew it: the window needed to be able to open, and have shutters to allow light to pass through them, giving the attic a more magical atmosphere!

In this feature, I'm gonna tell you how I transformed a boring, untreated window with very basic, false shutters into something much more realistic.

So the window I bought had awfully looking, false shutters stuck to its sides. The shutters were carved only on the front, simulating partitions, and obviously didn't allow any light to go through them, as they were made of solid pieces of wood.

The original shutters.

I couldn't possibly use these things, they were hurting my eyes, so I decided to take them apart, and reconstruct them in a more realistic way.

As you can see on the above image, the partitions were solid pieces, and their back was plain (see piece of wood to the right, which is actually a shutter viewed from the back).

I kept only the center pieces of the shutters, and added new wooden laths to the sides. Then I treated the frames with antique English wax.

Next I cut very thin strips of wood, to be used as partitions, and stuck them one by one between the frames. I did this is a very 'sloppy' way, because I wanted to give them a very old, battered look, with some of the partitions missing. Well, 'sloppy' may not be the right word, as I'm a control freak, so there is method even to my cough! Anyway, I studied pictures of old, battered shutters online, and tried to recreate them here. I painted each partition individually, and even 'mangled' some of them for a better effect. I drilled holes in the shutters and the window frame, and added metal pins, in order to attach them in place, so they would be able to open and shut. Below is the final result.

Then I stuck the window in the wall where it belonged (see below). I think it looks pretty neat! For comparison, I too a pic of the initial, 'blind' window, and the new one sitting side by side. I think I made the right choice. The other one will be weathered further, and be used for another project, so the work I put in it is not wasted!

Finally, below are a bunch of close up pics I took with my macro lens. You are free to drool while looking at them if you want, in fact I encourage it! Could they have been done even better? Sure! But these are far exceeding requirements for their intended purpose, so this boy is a happy camper, thank you!

Next time I'll show you how I did the walls!

Thanks for visiting and see you next time!!!

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