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!
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