A friend of mine’s son got married recently.  They are just the cutest couple! So when I got a call from them asking me to redo an old china hutch for them, I jumped at the chance!  I love taking pieces and re-working them to better fit people and their style. This couple is traditional, but in a fun way.  I really hope that I got this one right!  So, here is what we came up with – a Paris Grey Hutch, before and after.

 

 

I was so excited to get started that I almost forgot to take a before picture.  If I am honest with you that is my M.O. anyway!

As you can see, the hutch is a bit dated. Honestly, if I had been looking for a piece to paint, I probably would have passed on this one since I usually pick one with a little more movement, more scrolling, more rounded recessed areas. This one didn’t have that – which once I had time to think about it, kind of excited me.  It has brown smoked, wavy glass in the doors and glass shelving on the right side.  On the left side it had some unusual wooden shelves and half shelving.  Very seventies. But, this hutch is solid, heavy wood!

The first thing I did was remove the door hardware.  Usually this just means unscrewing the knob.  Not this piece.  The plain “knob” was attached by a hidden nail and glued on.  It may as well have been part of the door.  I had to chisel it off, patch with wood putty and sand.

 

When I remove hardware I am obsessive about marking where it came off of the piece.  For example in the above photo you can see that these hinges came off of the lower left door.  I also like to put the screws in the hinge hole opening, then I tape the entire hinge, which keeps the screws and the hinge together.  No lost screws and the screw goes back into it’s original hole when time to re-assemble.  This may seem a bit much, but trust me you will thank yourself when it is time to  put it all back together.  I learned the hard way early on, if you aren’t picky it is easy to have uneven doors or doors that won’t close!

After cleaning this piece, I painted her with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Paris Grey.  Paris Grey is one of my absolute favorites.  It’s the perfect grey in my opinion.  I added a little ASCP Graphite to the Paris Grey, making a mid-tone grey and painted to back panel of the hutch.  I think this lets your dishes “pop” – you can really see what you are displaying.  After two coats, I applied  a coat of  clear wax, followed by a coat of dark wax.

 

 

The inside of the hutch with the ASCP Paris Grey and the Graphite mixture.  The clients kept the glass shelving, so please use your imagination here!

 

 

The wavy glass makes it a little hard to photograph, but the difference between the before and after is unbelievable! The clients chose not to put the funky half shelf back in, although I left it so that if they change their mind down the road the shelf could easily be reinstalled.  I love the finished hutch!

 

Until next time….

 

                     Tammy