The Great Christmas Music Hunt

Taking a cue from Mark Driscoll, I’ve been trying to initiate more of the Donovan House Christmas celebration instead of just expecting Kristin to drive it all. Over the past few days I’ve been looking for excellent (if not slightly obscure) holiday albums. Here are four of my favorite holiday tracks right now…

12 Days of Christmas by Relient K

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The First Noel by Over The Rhine

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Blue Christmas by Martin Sexton

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White Christmas by Jamie Randolph

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What are you listening to this advent season?

Design Sponge →

My friend, Daniel, just told me about this website. Some really cool before & after + DIY interior design resources.

How to make board & baton shutters in a weekend

Several months ago I posted some quick before & after shots of some board & baton shutters I made for the front of our house. A few people have asked me how I made them, so I thought I’d whip up a little how-to.

Assembly

These are just faux shutters – they don’t actually “shut.” The upshot is your measurements don’t have to be exact. In order to make them look functional, each shutter should be about half the width of the window.

For this project, I used fence boards because they are cheap, light-weight, and support the “cottage-chic” style we’re going for in the long run (so much more work to do). I played with different board counts and spacing widths before landing on five boards per shutter, each board being spaced 1/4 inch apart.

Once you have a plan, you’ll be able to cut the appropriate number of boards to length. Each of my shutters required seven boards. Five boards at exactly the height of the window and two horizontal boards to secure them at the top and bottom.

I decided to stain the wood before the shutters were assembled because I didn’t want any of the wood to be susceptible to rotting. Staining each board individually took an exceptionally long time and, in retrospect, I’m not convinced it made much of a difference. If I had got to do it again, I’d stain each shutter after it was assembled. Whether you’re painting or staining your shutters, use an outdoor material with a sealant and make sure to cover the front and back of the shutter.

During assembly, I used paint sticks between the boards at each end to keep them spaced evenly. When securing the cross boards, use a combination of wood glue and finishing nails. Use two nails on every vertical board at both the top and bottom of the shutter in order to keep it from getting wobbly.

Hanging

If you’re hanging shutters on a brick house like mine, be sure to use concrete anchors. The nice thing about these Tapcon anchors is that (a) they’re easy to spot because they’re blue and (b) they come with the masonry bit necessary for drilling into brick. For this project, I use 3/16″ x 2-3/4″ anchor screws.

When you drill your pilot holes, drill into the mortar between the bricks and not into the bricks themselves. Drilling directly into brick will likely crack it, which would be a bummer.

My father-in-law helped me hang these and we whipped through all eight shutters in about an hour. It’s really a two man job. I don’t think I could have gotten them up evenly on my own.

I hope you found this little how-to helpful. If anything seems missing or is unclear, ask away in the comments. Likewise, if you’ve done this before and (more than likely) have done it better, please share your insight in the comments.

Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer →

From the website –

Promoting, encouraging, and assisting biblical prayer

This is a great example of fantastic content fused with outstanding design. Can’t wait to dig in!

Madmen Yourself

In anticipation of Mad Men starting back up next Sunday, I madmen(ed) myself. Now I’m gonna go home and have martini.