Hutch Wars

One of the challenges that I continue to have while renovating and decorating my house is choosing whether to reuse a piece of furniture we already own or get rid of it and live without until I can find or build the ‘Right’ piece.  In some cases it’s easy – I will never give up the chest my grandma gave me.  Sometimes I can look at something and think maybe if I paint it I can use it for a few years – like the dresser in my bedroom.  But there are several items that I don’t want, that are worn out, falling apart or just plain ugly. 

 

One of those pieces is our dining room hutch.  It’s huge and we already owned it…but that’s pretty much the only thing I liked about it.  It was used and abused – then given to me.  We were sure we were taking it to Goodwill until the day we moved and ended up taking it with us.  Some days I would think "it’s going straight to the curb with a free sign".  Then other days I would think "wouldn’t it be great to see my china and teapots again".  Even if we get rid of this hutch now - it may be YEARS before I can build the custom built-in bookcases I want to use in our dining room.  Considering it had already been over two years and my dining room had a table and an empty hutch – years isn’t even an exaggeration.  So I started thinking about what I could do to keep this hutch and not hate it.  Google, Pinterest and DIY Blogs are my favorite sources of inspiration so I hit them up.  I didn’t come up with an AHA! moment like my dresser, but I liked a little of this and a little of that.  My husband wanted to throw it out – I needed to find a way to keep it for a while.  After disagreeing every time it came up, we made a deal.  I could do whatever I wanted to it, but if he didn’t like it we would sell it at the annual community garage sale. 

I knew I wanted it to look more modern and relaxed than the scalloped doors and formal feel it currently had.  I knew I wanted it to blend in more than stand out, because it is the first thing you see when entering our home and I didn’t want it to be in your face about it.  I knew I wanted to paint it, but what color??  We have a great grey color on our walls in the dining room, Darkest Forest by Dutch Boy, which took almost 2 months and 8 grey samples to pick.  The challenge was this - the hutch is too big to stay as a wood grain, white is too contrasty, and black is too moody for me.  While I would have loved a color like French Blue or Terra Cotta, my husband would have vetoed the whole project if I tried it.  Which left grey, but I couldn’t paint it grey – or could I?  I spent days trying to find a grey hutch in a grey room – to see if anyone out there had ever done it and shared.  All my friends thought I was crazy but I kept looking...only a little obsessively...and then I finally found one on a blog called Thistlewood Farms.  It was a little more country than I wanted but it has a grey cabinet on a grey wall!! (Imagine me jumping up and down and yelling in my head) 

So I started asking what people thought.  Only about half the people I talked to understood what I was trying to achieve, but it didn’t change my mind.  Then I started wondering about taking the doors off and opening it up.  There are four glass panels on the front and taking them off would make it more casual, less ‘Grandma’s in the house’ feeling.  So I did it. 

The glass doors came off the top, the scallops came off the solid doors below, and I saw progress.  I filled in holes, sanded, primed and painted that baby.  The primer I used is Zinsser, which is Low VOC.  It was almost a plastic feel after applying so I wasn't sure how it would work, but it did a great job getting rid of a lot of the scratches and mars and the wood grain is completely gone.  Instead of painting the back grey, I gave it a little flair (but just a little) and painted it Timeless Ivory by Dutch Boy.  It’s a softer white, and we use it for all the white touches in our house.  For the knobs I brought in just a little pop of color and got the Terra Cotta color I wanted.  I was prepared to like it enough to keep it around for now, but I love it.  Replacing it is now the last thing on my to-do list.  The best part is my husband had to admit he likes it too.  He doesn't love it, but he isn't making me kick it to the curb.  I barely held back the “I told you so”.

I am hoping to get a seasonal rotation going on by changing out what is displayed every few months.  You can see what I did for Thanksgiving/Fall.  I used a mixture of things given to me, things from my old kitchen decor, and new things I bought or made.  I am sure I will continue adding and changing things each year.  I would love to show you what I had in there for Christmas/Winter... but it still has the Fall decorations lol!  Oh well - Spring is just around the corner...