Hutch Makeover - Madeover

French Provincial Hutch Makeover - Over     

A couple years ago I picked up this hutch at a garage sale for $50. Score! I bought it to use in my daughters room, it would be perfect to display her dolls. I had dreams of her taking perfect care of her dolls, brushing their hair, dressing them in their little clothes and then lovingly displaying them in this beautiful hutch. She could pass the dolls and the hutch down to her daughter someday. And she would love and appreciate all her mother did for her. Sigh.....

Hutch purchased at a garage sale in 2004.

Reality hit - Sadly, the beautiful dolls soon became unappreciated dolls with matted hair and ripped clothes, carelessly thrown into the hutch. I soon hated looking at it when ever I walked into her room.

A couple years later there was a new need for the beautiful hutch. A little sweet little boy would soon join our family. A new use for the hutch! A place to put his little clothes, diapers, and baby things. After several trips to the store I realized that I couldn't afford the beautiful baskets that I had been dreaming of. 

A new plan was hatched: A Hutch Makeover - the glass had to go! 

Rubber strips holding in the beadboard

Replacing the glass with beadboard was really pretty easy. The glass was held in place with rubber strips. I carefully removed the glass and saved the rubber strips. I used the glass as a pattern for cutting the beadboard. I placed the glass over the top of the beadboard, making sure the lines would look good when it was in the hutch. Then I cut the beadboard with a jigsaw. I used the rubber strips to secure the beadboard in place.

Black Hutch with beadboard in place of the glass

This is how the hutch looked after it was all done. (above photo, please ignore the clutter) Over the last 10 years it has been used to hold many things, baby clothes, dvd's, books, toys. 

Notice the handles - you can't hardly see them! (I will talk about them more down the page a little)

This spring I finally got around to setting up my craft room. I pulled this dark hutch into my space. As it sat there it reminded me of something dark and dreary, something like you would see in a haunted house! As my room started to take shape, something had to be done to this beautiful hutch!

I think I coated this hutch on a whim at 11:00 at night, gotta love chalk paint - no prep needed! I used Annie Sloan Old White chalk paint. I usually do two coats on my furniture, a full strength coat and then a watered down coat. But I wanted the paint to look worn, with the dark kind of showing through.

You can see in the picture above that the paint isn't stark white, the black is slightly coming through. I sanded all the edges and the lines in the beadboard.

Accentuate the flaws

In the photo above you can see where the beadboard was damaged when it took a direct hit from a football thrown by a 16 year old teenage boy. Instead of trying to hide these little flaws, I sanded them down a little until the black paint showed through. I think it adds to the character of the piece and makes me think of that sweet 16 year old boy who felt so bad about hitting (and denting) his mother's hutch.

Hinges

I painted right over the hinges, I didn't take the time to tape them off - there was black paint on the hinges from my carelessness the last time I painted it, or I probably would have. They look great! And blend in nicely.

The original Beautiful French Provincial Handles

Here are the beautiful handles that I mentioned above. In 2004 I had replaced these handles with silver drawer pulls and knobs that I purchased at Home Depot, the more modern silver knobs were a better fit for my little boy hutch. After we moved I found these beautiful handles in a bin in the garage. It was like striking gold! I was so excited and glad that they hadn't been discarded or taken to good will during the move.

Don't they look beautiful? And they really pop out against the white paint.

Broken knob

Another reason that I replaced the hardware was because the knob in the photo above is broken. Someday I might find a replacement, but for now - who cares!

Beautiful knobs

Drum Roll please.....

Here it is! The makeover - madeover!

Beautiful!

What do you think? Beautiful! I love how this turned out. This is a piece of furniture that will always be treasured. It is my first true furniture transformation. I loved it back in 2004 and now in 2014 - I love it even more!

It now has a permanent home in my craft room. I will talk about what is hidden behind the doors in another post. Coming soon - my big craft room makeover reveal! I am just putting the finishing touches on it. Can't wait to share it with you all!

Check out my facebook page for more frequent updates: www.facebook.com/downvintagelane

Thanks for stopping by!