I am finished my chalk paint hutch makeover, and I am so pleased with the results!
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I wanted to tackle this project awhile ago, but these past couple weeks have been crazy busy for my family and me. From a bachelorette weekend to a wedding that my hubby was in to planning a special first birthday photo shoot and party for my little girl, I didn’t have too much extra time to spend in blog land. Oh yeah – my husband and I also celebrated our third wedding anniversary, and by celebrated I mean we sat down for dinner together in our home. Hopefully within the next month or two we will go on a little weekend getaway. Until then, I am happy that life has slowed down a bit so we could get back in our regular routine and I can get back to creating.
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Here is some background on my chalk paint hutch project: Jason and I knew for about a year that we wanted to switch our living room and dining room so that the dining room would be larger – and so we could fit a large table and a large hutch in the space. I searched and searched for the perfect hutch for months on Craigslist, Facebook groups, Habitat for Humanity and a few other of my typical go-to thrift shopping places.
I was on the hunt for a four-door, lighted hutch that I could put on my stamp on. I wanted it to resemble this Restoration Hardware sideboard and hutch, which is almost $5,500. I looked and looked but could never find the style of hutch I wanted, until I started changing my search keywords. Sometimes just swapping out the term hutch for buffet, sideboard, china cabinet etc. can yield the results you’re looking for. But, I found my hutch by searching for ‘dining room set.’ Of course, tons of different dining room table and chair sets came up, but a couple times these sets included hutches. As I was scrolling through the images, I saw a dark photo of a four-door hutch hidden behind the table and chair set. It was perfect!
After I reached out to the seller, we settled on $80 for the hutch – yes, just $80! Isn’t that crazy cheap? Especially considering the hutch was in good condition. It had all the pieces and there were only very minor scratches and nicks -nothing that a little TLC and paint couldn’t fix.
And so it began – my chalk paint hutch makeover. I knew from the beginning I wanted to use chalk paint. I used it for these side tables, only I used the color linen white. I loved how they turned out so much that I wanted to try using a different color for my hutch. I wanted to go with a darker color because I planned on decorating it with white kitchenware, and I knew that the white would contrast beautifully against a dark tone. That’s how I ended up choosing charcoal-colored paint.
Here’s what I began with. When we picked it up, the previous owners had already disassembled it into two pieces. I removed the doors to prepare for painting.
I first sanded the wood a bit with a piece of sandpaper. I wanted to scuff it up enough so that the paint would adhere.
Then, I painted the first coat of chalk paint and let it dry. Here were the results.
When using chalk paint, it’s important to remember that using a roller is not recommended. I used a brush for the entire piece, which made the project take longer than it would have if I used regular paint and a roller.
Once the first coat dried, I applied a second coat of chalk paint.
I was pleased with the result after the second coat dried, so I then applied polyurethane. The only place I didn’t apply polyurethane was to the inside of the hutch, except the first shelf. The polyurethane gives it a bit of a darker tone, and I liked how the inside of the piece looks slightly lighter than the outside because of not applying the polyurethane there. It almost looks two-toned. Here’s a shot where you can see how the back and top two shelves look much lighter than the bottom shelf, which is where I applied polyurethane.
Here is the final result:
Oh my gosh Marly, you have totally outdone yourself. It looks amazing! I cannot believe you got it for $80 and you made it look even better than the Restoration Hardware one! Love!!
Yay! I’m so glad you like it, Maria! Thanks for your kind words.
It looks FANTASTIC!! Love how the white pops against the grey
Thanks, Kristina! I’m so happy you like it.
Marly this looks amazing! I love it! As you know I have been looking for a buffet and now I am really excited at the possibilities. I love the dark color! And the tip about changing search words is such a good idea! I love it!!!
Thank you so much, Wendy! I’m so glad you love it. I can’t wait to see how you transform your future buffet.
This piece of furniture looks amazing! I really need to get my hands on something to try that chalk paint!
Thanks so much, Natalie! I’m glad you like it. If you do a project using chalk paint, let me know how you like it.
-Marly