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Receiving My Dark Wood Hutch
Guess what? I did a DIY project! I know, I know it’s a crazy concept. Jennifer is doing DIY projects now? Pigs must be flying.
A few months after Jarryd and I got married and moved into our first apartment, my father-in-law bought an old hutch at an antique auction. This hutch–one that is in great solid condition–went for only $35.00! Uhhh-mazing!
AND, because Jarryd and I hardly had any furniture in our newlywed apartment he decided to give it to us! In all honesty, I felt pretty hesitant to take it home with us and make it a part of our own personal furniture collection. Don’t get me wrong, I was flattered and super thankful. But I wasn’t 100% thrilled simply for the reason that I’m not a huge lover of antique dark wood pieces. I have nothing against it, I mean to each his own, right?! But my decorating style is a total 180 from that! I love brights, whites, and lights! Any piece of furniture or decor that can instantly brighten up a room and in turn, lift the mood is what makes my heart flutter.
Despite my hesitancy, we decided to bring it home and it turned out we were actually pretty happy to have it. Because it’s such a huge piece of furniture it provides alot of storage space!
It’s A Nice Piece of Furniture And All, But…
It scared me. It was like this big dark thing hovering over me as I would innocently watch tv. (I know it doesn’t look that scary in the photos, but that is because I did you a favour while editing them and upped the brightness. You’re welcome!)
After Jarryd and I moved into a brand new apartment a few months later we packed it full of printer paper, old paystubs, games, and books and hid it in our spare bedroom; a room that hardly sees any human life. That says alot, doesn’t it?
With the big ole’ hutch being “out of sight, out of mind” I almost forgot about! Then one day as I was scrolling through Pinterest noticed a series of “hutch makeovers”. I quickly realized, hutches were IN…and they looked GOOD, I mean, I didn’t LOVE them enough to actually go out hunting for them at consignment stores, but I figured since I already had one at my “disposal”, why not make something of it?
All this time I had a fear that the antique-police would come into my home and attack me for even flirting with the idea of painting over the dark wood. But I finally took control of my life, because simply put, I am the one who has to live with this thing. I am the one who has to walk by this thing every day and acknowledge its presence! I was finally going to do something about it!
Chalk Paint = The Simplest Solution!
This whole ordeal made me realize that I love chalk paint! Why? It eliminates the need for sanding. And seeing as I am not an avid DIYer, I wasn’t about to go buy an electric sander. Also having to sand this huge hutch down by hand with just a few sheets of flimsy sandpaper would be about as fun as sanding my eyes out. From there on out I knew that chalk paint was a gift from the heavens above.
The tools and materials that I used for this DIY Hutch Makeover Using Chalk Paint project were:
- a 29 fl oz can of “Valspar Chalky Finish Paint” in “Trousseau Blue”. (I was fearful this wouldn’t be enough paint, but I actually had more than enough paint leftover)!
- a can of “Valspar Sealing Wax”. (As I had never seal waxed anything before, this was weird and definitely something to get used to. I suggest watching youtube tutorials first.)
- a can of glossy black spray paint (for the hardware).
- a paintbrush!
Removing the Glass Doors & Hardware
After removing the doors, it was lookin’ better already! (But still gives off a twinge of scare, right?)
Anyway, the next thing I did was remove the drawer, the doors, and all of the hardware. To put it as nicely as possible, this was a total pain-in-my-rear. The screws must have been made in the 1700’s because they were in HORRIBLE condition; their “crosses” were no longer “crosses” but blob-shaped indentations. I was sweat-drenched by the time I got those suckers out!
If your screws are in better shape than mine, you’ll have it SO much easier and better than I did. Removing the screws was the hardest most strenuous part for me, so if that wouldn’t have been the case I’d have been done alot sooner!
Paint, paint, paint!
Now this was the fun part! PAINTING! I LOVE painting. I could paint all day! I would be totally happy to paint and get paid for it! (Jarryd, on the other hand loathes painting. Perhaps it’s just one of those things, either you love it or you hate it.)
My painting schedule for my DIY Hutch Makeover Using Chalk Paint went a little something like this:
- Two coats of paint to the exterior on the Friday evening. (I didn’t paint the parts of the hutch that weren’t visible such as the back, the inside of the drawer, and the inside of the bottom cupboards.)
- A coat of paint on the Saturday afternoon (three coats in total),
- A coat of sealing wax on the Saturday evening,
- A second coat of sealing wax on the Sunday evening (two coats in total).
- I then gave the rusty old hardware a fresh coat of glossy black spray paint.
- Lastly, I screwed everything back into place and…
VOILA! It’s totally finished and it felt SO good to be done! And, I absolutely love the result. Even the colour turned out to be the perfect shade of light blue. It’s no longer a scary dark monster, but a cute monster dressed in–an almost–“Tiffany Blue”. Am I right?!
Love this makeover! Did you have to fill in the holes with wood filler where the door hinges were on the top? I am going to be doing this same type makeover very soon. Thanks!
Hi Kelly! I didn’t use any type of wood filler, but I don’t mind seeing little holes like that, especially since this hutch had alot of imperfections in the wood. So I think it just blended in! I just painted right over it and most of the paint filled into the hole. 🙂 But if you’re going for perfect, wood filler wouldn’t hurt. Good luck with your hutch makeover! Let me know if you have anymore questions!