If you are great with woodworking, you may want to consider making your own plantation shutters rather than buying Lowes or Home Depot plantation shutters. It can be very fulfilling to make your own, plus you will get to not only design them but ensure that they are well made and sturdy.  You can choose the wood, the stain, louver shape and size.

There are many kits available on line whereby all you have to do is cut down and assemble the parts. This is perhaps the easiest way to make them, and does not require as much skill as actually making them yourself from scratch.

However, if you really want to save yourself a lot of money—sometimes thousands of dollars depending on the amount of plantation shutters you want to install—you could consider doing the whole job yourself. One very good idea if you are going this route and you are not necessarily following any specific plans is to build yourself a prototype first. This will take extra time, but you will be able to experiment on things such as attaching the tilt rod to the louvers, what type of joins to use, and how to fit the shutter together.

You will also want to make sure that all the pieces you need to make and then assemble the shutters are readily available.  You should do this before you begin your project as it can be very frustrating to have your project half done and then suddenly realize the parts you need are not available, or they have to be shipped across the country.

It is also a great idea to join a woodworking or carpentry forum. If you get stuck along the way, you can always benefit from the advice and help that others have to offer. You will also have friends to cheer you on as you work through your project and to encourage you to get moving if you allow other things to slow you down too much.

While it can be a great project for some, others feel that it is too complex and difficult to do properly. One thing is for certain, it is a great way to save a lot of money especially if you are starting out with building your own home or doing extensive renovating. However, you do have to balance the time it would take you, the finished result and how much money you would save.