Shutter to Think

One of the major projects for the outside of the house is to repaint the shutters. Currently the shutters are a faded blue-ish grey:I'm not sure if this is the original color. The shutter locks that mount the shutters to the side of the house are a hunter green. But the back of the shutters is a charcoal. So who knows. It doesn't matter. We're going to paint them black.

First shutter removed. I used a pair of clippers to cut the heads off the shutter locks and then I could just lift the shutter off the wall:
The tough part was to remove the remaining bit of the shutter locks. I had to use different size drill bits, awl, and needle nose pliers to get those buggers out. There has to be an easier way. Suggestions?

Now for the paint. I scrubbed all the grit and dirt off the shutter and once it was dry I applied a spray on primer:
It should seal the surface, cover over any stains, etc and give the paint a good surface to bond with:
After giving the primer 24 hours to dry, I could now apply the paint. A black satin finish paint:

To minimize any running of paint on the shutter, I applied a light coat of black paint, not worrying about completely covering the primer. Better to apply two light coats with no running than one coat that might run:

First coat finished:
After another 24 hours for the first coat to dry, the second coat was applied. And another 24 hours later (yes, that's three days total), the shutter was finished. Here it is placed next to the next shutter that I removed:

We really like how well the finished black shutter looks. The satin finish really gives it a new look. Now we just need to speed up the process. Doing the math, let's see...three days for one shutter...two shutters per window...at least 11 windows...carry the one...whew, that's going to take a long time.