kitchen hutch remake

My grandparents recently asked me if I wanted an old hutch that my Grand-Daddy made for my Grammie way back when. Of course I wanted it, unsure of what I was going to do with it but I love taking junk and making it treasure.... I know it made my Grand-Daddy really happy that I wanted it.
About a month ago, they brought the hutch over to my house. It has been sitting in my garage, waiting for me to get around to it.



This week I went to Lowes and picked a color... totally unsure of what exactly I wanted to do... that's what usually happens when I begin a project, I just want to do something but don't really know what I want so, I wandered around Lowes picked out some Mosaic Glass Tiles, spray paint, panels, then put it all back and left with a $12 can of "Vanilla Brandy" paint from Vaspar.

I painted the first coat and really liked the color, but didn't really know what else to do besides paint it.



We have had lots of rain and the humidity has been unreal, so I decided to pull it into the kitchen to paint the second coat and work on painting the inside shelves. I loved painting this old thing. I thought of my Grand-Daddy cutting and nailing away with his friend, Stan. I wondered what jokes they told as they worked on this for my Grammie's kitchen. This old hutch ended up being my mom's school desk. As I painted the inside of it I could see where one of their old barn cats had scratched up the inside, then the letter "R", the first letter of my mom's name. It looks like she carved into the wood with the tip of her pencil. I couldn't bring myself to sand over these memories... it's that the point of old things?



Once I painted it, I decided to try out a technique to make it "distressed". Simple, simple you take a piece of wire (like the kind you use to hang a picture frame) and scratch along the sides of the wood. Really simple but I love how it made the original wood show through the new paint.

Before-



After-



Then, cabinet doors, I heard about a local place where you could get some unique cabinet doors really inexpensive, but I'm not sure I was ready for that just yet... I decided on fabric. I went to the fabric shop and found the perfect piece of navy and ivory colored fabric that I was sure would accent this old hutch perfectly. I finished the edges with my sewing machine and made a loop at the top so I could hang it on an old bathroom curtain rod I had laying around. I put the curtain rod on the inside of the cabinet and I think it turned out pretty good.



I still want to redo the counter top with something? I'm not sure just what to do with it yet, but it is the perfect addition in my kitchen. Added storage, counter space, and makes it feel very cozy in there. Perfect spot to sit and drink coffee and blog ;) Not to mention... so far I've only spent $19 on the whole shebang!