Painted Hutch

One big disadvantage of living in a small house is the lack of storage, and that's precisely why I kept on looking in thrift stores and Craiglist for a nice hutch to help solve my problem of where to store many essentials that didn't fit in my kitchen. Well, I found my hutch, and it was free! :D

Well, it wasn't a handsome guy.

It was a drab, dark, and dated piece of furniture for sure.  But, I could see its potential. 

And, yes, it definitely needed a coat, or two, of paint!

In my previous post, I talked about the things that I liked and disliked about this hutch. 

Well, I knew I was going to paint it. But I also knew that I didn't want to keep the doors and a few trim pieces that I wasn't too fond of. 

This is how the top part looked before and after removing the unwanted parts.

I also gave the top a new beadboard backing, which was stapled onto three 1 x 2 supports installed previously on the back.

I used scrap pieces of molding to create a new header. It looks like the trim I installed on the windows HERE.  Well, most of the trim pieces are leftovers from that project.

. The scalloped trim was also removed from the base cabinet and new molding was installed.

Then, the trickiest part came. I had no idea how to get rid of the scalloped edge at the top of the doors and the top drawer.

I went looking all around the house for pieces of wood to make doors out of them. I actually found two pieces, but they were too simple and heavy. Finally, after spending an entire day thinking about a solution, I found out that the doors/panels from the top of the hutch were the same sizes (width), as the lower doors, but they were way longer. Ha, I could use those doors!

The glass was removed, the frame was cut to size (I know for a carpenter this must be a sin but hey, I needed this cheat), and they were put back together with the Kreg jig mechanism. A piece of beadboard on each door replaced the glass.

I also tried to work around the top drawer but in the end, I gave up.

The next step was to fill holes and gaps and sand the entire piece.

Then, it was time to paint.  I used homemade chalk paint, following the recipe HERE. The back beadboard panel was painted a grey-bluish custom color, the rest of the hutch was done using Valspar White Dove. Three coats were necessary. Clear wax was then applied all around.

Finally, it was time to style this beauty.

Instead of the "scalloped drawer", a basket was used, which is one of those baskets for under-bed storage found at Michael's. It fits perfectly!

I came up with a solution for the drawer and door pulls. You can read all about it HERE.

Can you spot the little rabbit inside the crate? It is one of my daughter's creations, she is taking a ceramics class and she was super happy I was using it here. I love it ;)

The teapot, bowls, cups, plates, etc. were brought into their new storage spot.

I love that now I have a space to display and store those pieces that are not used so often, but they're still something I want to have at hand. Here is how it looks from the kitchen table.

Of course, I couldn't leave you without the before and after :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!