Rustic Shutter Cabinet from Reclaimed Fencing

How to make a rustic shutter cabinet out of reclaimed wood

I love making rustic projects—today’s project is a rustic shutter cabinet made from reclaimed fencing.  There is still have LOT of this stuff stored in the woodshed.

Reclaimed shutter

I picked up two shutters last fall—got a really great deal on them.

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Prepare to paint

I painted both of them last fall with my Homeright Finish Max. I made one into a Farmer’s Market Vegetable Bin, and set the other aside in the garage.

Design Shutter Cabinet

While looking for a fun, quick project, the painted shutter sort of jumped out at me.   I have made a shutter cabinet years ago, but it was a lot different from this one. I made this cabinet using fence boards, but you could easily make the same cabinet using new lumber such as 1×6’s.

The design stage of any project is my favorite part. I love figuring out how all the pieces will come together. You probably know I never draw plans, I just fly by the seat of my pants.

The first step was to make the front facing of the cabinet. I ripped some of the fence boards on the table saw to achieve this step.

Use pocket holes for constructing face frame of cabinet

My Kreg jig is my go – to tool for joinery. I used the Micro jig (it’s the black portion of the jig—it just pops in and out)   for this project because the wood is thin and brittle.

Again, because the wood is thin and brittle, I used Gorilla Wood Glue on all the joints.

Construct a simple box out of reclaimed fence boards

For the “box” of the cabinet, I cut four fence boards to size and used Gorilla wood glue and my nail gun.

Attach front facing to simple wood box

More Gorilla wood glue was used to attach the front facing to the cabinet. I also used my glue gun for this step.

Cut shelves to fit

Because the shutter is thick, the shelves will have to leave room for the shutter/door to close. The shelves were cut to size. Each shelf board had to be ripped in order to fit.

Attach cleats to hold shelves in rustic shutter cabinet

Small drop off cuts were used for cleats. Those cleats are held in place by Gorilla wood glue and brad nails from the nail gun.

Attach fence boards to make up the back of the cabinet

More rustic fence boards were used for the back of the cabinet. I cut them to size, and had to rip all of them slightly to make them fit the width of the cabinet. Notice the ugly side of the boards are to the back, leaving the yummy gray weathered look showing on the inside of the cabinet.

Add hinges to the Shutter-Door of the cabinet

I added hinges from my friends at D. Lawless Hardware, and added a hat and shoes on the cabinet.     I used one full board, and a ripped board to make up the top and bottom.

Install a knob

This fabulous black knob is from Hobby Lobby. Did you notice along the way the side of the door changed colors? The front facing was very tight, and after adding the hinges the door was too snug. I shaved a little off one side of the shutter on my table saw.

If you make this rustic shutter cabinet out of new lumber, your project will be more “square”. These boards aren’t square or straight. 

Here’s the good news/bad news. The good news is, the door can either be “left” or “right” by turning the cabinet upside down. The bad news is, the cabinet leans a little forward when the door is the other way. I would recommend that this type of cabinet be secured to the wall by the new owner.

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Wanna know something funny? It makes me think of an outhouse every time I look at it.  hehehehe

I think it would be great for the kids’ bathroom or guest room. I suppose it would also hold craft, garden or pantry items.

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How would you use it?

gail