Making Old Things New Again: The Hutch

Earlier this year a super duper friend of mine posted on Facebook that she had a hutch that needed a new home.  She and her husband were remodeling their kitchen and the wall that the hutch called home was going to be removed, thus rendering said hutch homeless.  It just so happens that Cory and I were looking for a hutch for our dining room.  It was perfect timing!

My friend and her husband not only GAVE us their hutch - for FREE - they even delivered it to our home.  Seriously, I still can't get over how selfless and generous they are and I want to be like them when I grow up.

This is what the hutch looked like once we got it into our dining room and put together.

 

As you can see, this piece of furniture has GREAT lines, is solidly built, and will hold gobs of goodies that I've had stored in my attic for years and years.  But . . . it has also seen better days.

 

 



Sorry about the blurry photo, but you can see how the feet and body had been well-loved over the years. 

Any piece with some age like this hutch has to have a cool story.  And this one definitely has a story!  Apparently, many years ago (at least 20) someone picked this hutch up off the curb for FREE.  I have no idea who set it out on the street, but thank goodness they did instead of taking it to the dump.  Anyway, the person who snagged it gave it to my friend and her brand-spanking-new husband.  They were the proud owners until this year when they gifted the hutch to Cory and me.  I just love how it's been passed on to others and I love the mystery of why it was set on the curb in the first place.  I would so much rather fill my house with old pieces that have history than all new pieces that look like everyone else's stuff. 

So here was my dilemma.  I loved the lines and scale of the hutch, but it clearly needed something to freshen it up.  The color of the wood wasn't too far off from the color of our walnut dining table, but it had a different grain that honestly wasn't my favorite.  But I decided to try to just a good wood restorer to see if the nicks and flaws could be repaired.  Long story short, it didn't work.

My options at this point were to A: leave it as is, or B: paint it.

Option B won.

But what color?  Do I paint it black to go with the black chairs and dark gray walls?  Perhaps that would be too much black and make the room look gloomy.   I have a buffet on the other side of the room that I painted a bright (really, it's BRIGHT) green.  Should I paint the hutch to match it?  No.  That would probably make the room feel like a creepy fun-house.

I ultimately decided to paint it white.  I figured it would be bright, fresh, and would match anything I put in the room over time.

My sister recommended a product called Rethunk Junk.  It is a chalk paint product line that has received some good reviews on the interwebs, so I ordered some to give it a try.

The first step was using The Prep.

I covered the foyer with newspapers and Cory and I set the top half of the hutch there to be painted.   I got a bunch of clean rags and cleaned it with this prep spray.  I must say, it got a TON of dirt off the wood.  The hutch didn't look that dirty when I started so I was shocked to see how much gunk came off of it.  It kind of makes me want to go around my house "prepping" all my other wood pieces to see how icky they really are.

The Prep not only removes any dirt and oils that are on the wood, it also preps it (hence the name) for paint.  This chalk paint product line requires no sanding which is awesome, but it is important to make sure the wood is clean and ready for the paint.

Next, I removed all the parts of the hutch top that I could take off.  This included the particle board back, the thin board on the very top, the X inserts in the glass on the front, and all the hardware. 

 

Then I started slapping on some white chalk paint.  I know I took photos of this process but I can not find them anywhere.  Sigh.  This was the first time I used chalk paint.  I know countless people rave about it and it's all over Pinterest so I was anxious to use it and see what all the fuss is about.

 

It took three coats on most areas of the hutch to get decent coverage. Some areas took four coats.  The chalk paint went on very much like regular paint, but instead of rolling it on you have to brush it on.  And unlike most paints that settle into a smooth finish, chalk paint shows every brush line you make. 

 

I forged ahead and painted both the top and bottom of the hutch with the white chalk paint.  This process took an embarrassingly long time to complete . . . like months.  The top sat in our foyer for far too long, but I could only work on it in small chunks of time.  I just hoped and prayed that no one would approach the main doors to the house because it wouldn't be easy to open them.  Yep, I'm a slow diy'er.

 

Once I had both sections painted I applied Rethunk Junk's sealer.  It is basically a clear coat that is supposed to be a layer of protection against scratches and nicks in the finish.  After I finished and let it dry, I carefully set a can of paint on the top of the base piece and GASP!  It scratched the top.  Crud.

 

And the more I looked at it, the more I wasn't happy.  I had already painted the feet of the hutch black and my gut told me that the top of the bottom piece should be black too.  So I threw caution to the wind, grabbed my black paint, and painted that area black.  I then put a coat of clear polyurethane on top, stood back, and admired my work. 

 

 

It was at this point that I realized how much I love this dang hutch.  I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some modern black knobs to replace the originals, and the black knobs, feet, and top really gave it a great feel.  I do plan on replacing the drawer knobs with long pulls so it has a cleaner, less "knobby" look, but for now these will do.

 

I also realized that even if I didn't put the top half of the hutch on the base, it would still make a great buffet.  Who knows, some day I may move this somewhere else in the house and use just the bottom.  Versatility is awesome.

 

My next task was figuring out what to do with the particle board backing of the top half.  At first I thought I would rip down some pieces of wood and paint them various colors for a real mix of modern and bold rustic.  Is that even a style?  But the more I thought about it I realized that it would be super heavy and bulky and I didn't know how I would attach it to the hutch without it tipping backwards. Scratch that idea.

 

Then I thought about painting the particle board itself.  But it isn't in the best of shape and I was kind of tired of painting at this point.

 

Finally, I decided to cover it in fabric.  I had an image of a wide black and white vertical stripe in my head and knew that it would be perfect.  Do you ever get an idea and then no matter what you do, you can't find what you need to make it happen?  Yes?  I visited every fabric store in my town and simply could not find the perfect fabric.  It was so frustrating.  You would think a black and white stripe would be common, but I guess it isn't.  I finally ended up buying a black and white fabric that is a variation of what I had in my mind.  And I actually REALLY like how it looks.

 

 

Because the stripe pattern was horizontal on the bolt, I had to buy four yards and cut it in half to fit the board.  Thank goodness for coupons!

 

Then I attached the first half to the board by stapling it from the back.  If you do this, just make sure you buy the shortest staples you can find.  I used 1/4" staples for this project.

 

 

 

To make the corners smooth, I folded the fabric like you would to wrap a present and cut off the middle part so it wasn't bulky.  Then I stapled it down and moved on to the next one.

 



 

I matched up the pattern in the middle of the board and covered the second half the same way as the first half.  I knew that there were two pieces of wood that hold up the glass shelves that run horizontally across the board so I looked for the marks from those pieces of wood and stapled the fabric from the front side at those spots.  This held the two pieces of fabric together while allowing the wood pieces to hide the staples.

 

The last steps to the redo were basically cleaning the glass, putting the glass shelves back in, attaching the fabric board, and then putting everything in place.  After doing all of that I realized that the wood shelf supports didn't line up with my staples.  UGH.  How does that happen?  So I cut off a strip of black from my leftover fabric and hot glued it over the middle section that was stapled in order to cover them.  You can't even tell unless you look really closely.

 

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is our new and improved hutch!

 



 

I still need to scrape off some paint from the glass and fiddle with the knobs a bit, but I LOVE how it turned out.  And I'm SO happy I painted the top surface black. 

 

As for the chalk paint . . . I can't say that I'm a fan yet.  If I were to do this project over again I would use a lacquer instead.  I just like the more uniform look of a smooth finish without all the brush marks and I think it holds up better than chalk paint.  I also don't really care for the feel of chalk paint.  It's kind of gritty.

 



As soon as I had everything assembled I started filling up the hutch with things that haven't seen the light of day in years.  For instance, my mother gave me a set of her black and white china when Cory and I got married . . . . 16 and a half years ago.  It's been in boxes all these years, but now is proudly on display.  I also added some milk glass pieces that were given to us by grandparents and great-parents as well as some crystal. 

 

I'd say this hutch has found a new home, don't you think?

 

 





Thanks again to my generous friend for giving us this great piece of furniture!



Fireplace Refresher

It's been some time (3 months, actually) since I last posted.  I apologize.  But I can't promise to post more often because honestly, life is nuts.  But I'll try.

Anyway, in case you can't remember what our family room looked like prior to demolition, this is it.  Light wood floors, dated wall colors and scalloped cornice, a door to a screened-in porch, and a brick fireplace.  None of that is here anymore but today I'm going to focus on that fireplace.

Several years ago I saw a Crate & Barrel ad that had a whitewashed wood fireplace wall.  I LOVED that look and the image was burned into my brain forever.  I wanted that fireplace wall.  I coveted the whitewash wood.  It had to be mine.

So here was all this brick - an entire wall of it.  The brick really wasn't bad looking, but it did make the room feel a bit dark and heavy.  I convinced Cory that this would be the perfect wall to turn into my Crate & Barrel dream, and he went with it.  This decision didn't come without a bit of controversy though.  Some of our family members thought the brick was great and that it would be a shame to cover it up.  They let me know their thoughts and that was fine.

But I didn't care what other people thought.  I knew what I wanted and I went for it.

The first step to transforming the fireplace wall was taking down the wooden mantel.

My handsome husband and his friend sledgehammer took care of that in a matter of a few minutes.

See that wooden box the sledgehammer is resting on?  That box covered up the gas line to the fireplace.  I really don't know why such a large box was needed to cover up the hole in the floor and the hose (pipe?) that connects to the gas log, but it had to go too.

We had to come up with a creative solution to hide the gas line but it turned out to be no big deal.

This was the room once it was totally stripped down to its bare bones.  It's ready to get pretty!

Cory and I laid new bamboo flooring in the room to establish a base for the new fireplace.  Then a couple of guys attached furring strips to the bricks.  That was loud.  LOUD.  I'm glad I didn't have to hang around the house that day and listen to that process.

The doorway to what used to be a screen-in porch and is now a mud room presented a tiny dilemma as we covered the brick.

We no longer have a door in that opening since that is where the addition to the house begins.  So the entire door frame had to be removed, and that meant we had a "raw" brick, insulation, and new framing end to deal with.  The carpenters decided it would be best to trim it all out in wood so it can withstand any bumps and wear and tear that come with doorways.

So the doorway was trimmed out in wood and the rest of the furring strips went up.

 

 

While the guys were getting the fireplace ready for its transformation, I had a major project to tackle.  Our contractor found a big ole' bunch of reclaimed wood for the fireplace.  It had lots of character and each board had a different grain and look.  It was awesome.  My job was to whitewash every one of those boards.  Don't be fooled - that pile of wood was BIG and the task was anything but small.

 

I read a couple tutorials online about the best method to whitewash wood.  In the end I kind of took bits of advice from each tutorial and did my own thing until I discovered what I liked.

 

 

 I purchased a quart of flat white paint and mixed it with water in a 1:1 ratio.  That was still a little too "painty" so I added a splash more water to thin it out some more.

 

 

Most of the tutorials I read said to brush on the paint / water mixture and then wipe it off with a rag.  So I did that with the help of Sasha for a bit, but I discovered that I really like the look of the wood before we wiped off the paint.  When we wiped it off the wood looked too dark for my taste. 

We played around with a few boards until we found a system that worked for Sasha and me.  We would paint on a coat of the mixture, let it sit while we painted more boards, then go back over them with a second coat.

 

The photo above shows what they looked like after one coat.  They are definitely whitewashed, but not light enough for what I had in mind.

Sasha helped me until we had to pack everything up for the night and head home.  We made good progress that evening but there were still many boards that needed attention.

I believe it was the next evening when my sister Becky offered to help while our kids were at church.  So we mixed up some paint and water and brushed away . . . in our nice jeans and sweaters.  That's project dedication for ya.

After a few days / evenings of whitewashing we had everything done.  I laid out some extra floor padding and cardboard and hauled all the boards inside to the family room.

All ready to be hung! 

The guys started with the largest section of brick wall.  As soon as it started going up I began to swoon.  "It's so beauuuuuuutiful," probably ran through my head and out my lips more than once.  Even with just half of the brick covered the room looked so much lighter and fresher.

The bottom of the hearth, sides of the fireplace, and doorway surround were done next.  The rest of the fireplace was hung later, after we decided what we would do about the hearth.

A couple things to point out before I move ahead.  Remember the wooden box that hid the gas line?  Take a look at the right side of the fireplace.  The easy "fix" was simply to bump out the hearth enough to cover the gas line.  No, it isn't symmetrical.  But that isn't even noticeable.  And it's much better than having a big box that is in the way of more important things, like a TV.  *wink*

Also, we had our contractor run both cable and electric lines up to where the mantel will rest.  If we ever want to plug something in on the mantel or mount our tv up there, we can.  Just thinking ahead.

Moving on to the hearth.

This was a super tough project to tackle.  Not because a hearth is difficult, but because the stinkin' PRICES of hearths are insane!  A piece of remnant granite would have cost us $700.  Seven hundred dollars.  For a hearth.  No thanks.  We looked into concrete.  Believe it or not, the quote was the same as granite.  Pffffttttt.  We really didn't know what we were going to do.

So our contractor turns out to be the kind of guy who thinks he can do pretty much anything, including things he's never done before.  I guess that's good.  Confidence, right?  So he says he's read about how to pour concrete counters and the like and asks if we'd let him try to make our hearth. At this point we are desperate so we agree.

After many weeks of building the forms, getting the right kind of concrete mix, pouring the concrete, and waiting for it to dry, we finally had a concrete hearth. 

The guys carried it in, set it on the fireplace, and were pretty proud.  I, however, wasn't quite happy.  The concrete had swirly lines in it, like someone had sprayed it with a power washer in a circle pattern.  I hated to do it, but I asked for a new pour.  Thankfully they agreed and the process started over again.

A new frame was made, new concrete was poured, and this time they didn't swirl it around to help it settle and to get air bubbles out.  And we waited some more for it to dry.

Finally, just before Christmas, it was ready.  And this time it looked great.

The hearth and surround were put in place and some of the whitewashed boards were trimmed to fit.  LOVE. 

The mantel is a big hunk of reclaimed wood.  It's twisted and wonky, but I think that gives it some character.  I decided to leave it totally natural instead of staining or even putting poly on it because it has such a nice look as it is.

The last piece of the puzzle was getting a new gas log purchased and installed.  The old one was falling apart so we picked out a new one to replace it.

And with that, our fireplace wall is complete!

I have yet to do much decorating but I had a few pieces that I put up on the mantel for now.  Sasha painted the flowers at school and I like the pop of color so they are there as well for the time being.

The two cows were a surprise purchase of Cory's.  Well, they were a surprise to me.  The Jersey was delivered to our Marion home months before we moved.  Cory had actually ordered the Holstein but they shipped the Jersey by mistake. Instead of sending it back like most people would do, he just kept it and reordered the Holstein.  Because we don't have enough cows in this house. 

Ahem.

Anyway, they look right at home on barn board and I actually like them a lot.  They are a modern take on the cow, and that pleases me very much.

Overall, I am delighted with how this wall turned out.  Thank you, Crate & Barrel, for the inspiration.  The photo that was burned into my memory now lives in my home.  Can't beat that!