Nesting Projects: Dining Room Hutch Makeover

• Save

Here’s another big project from my list of Nesting Projects: The Dining Room Hutch Makeover. It was a long time coming, and in the end, I can claim no credit for any of the work.  I was merely the visionary, but am really pleased with the results!

For ten years, this (below) was our dining room hutch.  It was one of our very first furniture purchases, and I could kick myself for failing to take a picture of its “before” condition.  

• Save

Picture this: varying shades of lime green, with miscellaneous fruit stenciled in purples and reds.  I think other colors may have been involved as well.  Mostly, I’ve tried to block the memory.  It was special.

We bought it for $100 at a flea market, painted it white and used it well for an entire decade.  It was just the right size for our dining room back in Texas.

• Save

We’ve lived in our current home (in northern Virginia) for almost five years now, and while I loved the old hutch, I knew this dining room could accommodate a much larger piece.  The old hutch always seemed too small for that wall, and I knew it would be easy to incorporate more storage space with a differently configured piece.

• Save

Here’s the old hutch, decorated for Christmas.  (Find instructions for creating the NOEL tray here: Decorating with Old Silver Trays.)

Huge hutches are pricey, though, so I decided it would be fun–and much more economical–to find my own piece, or combination of pieces, on craigslist and refinish it myself.

I found this beautiful piece for $25.  The original leaded glass needed to be replaced, which cost about $45 at a local glass shop.  At that price, and with its beautiful details, I knew it would make a great hutch top.

• Save

While searching for a suitable piece to use as the bottom of our hutch, I came across an already-refinished, 9-drawer dresser.  It was the perfect size, and it was already painted!  Since I was already quite pregnant, I asked the gal selling the dresser if she would be willing to refinish our piece to match the dresser she’d already painted.

She agreed, and I crossed off another major item from my list of Nesting Projects.  Because we paid for her labor, the project cost more than I’d originally anticipated–but not nearly as much as it would have cost to buy a large piece new or from an antiques shop.

• Save

I’m loving the new hutch!  It definitely offers much more storage than the old one and is the perfect size for that wall.  It also coordinates wonderfully with everything else in the room, without being too “matchy-matchy”.

We still need to secure the two pieces together, to ensure the top piece won’t topple over.  For that reason, I have yet to fill up the top part.  The good news is that everything from the old hutch fits in the bottom drawers of the new hutch, with room to spare.

• Save

Hooray for decorating with junk!

Do you like to decorate with one-of-a-kind pieces with a history?  Some folks might call it junk, but you know what they say…One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Check out more “Decorating with Junk” projects from the Yankee Homestead:

• Why I Decorate with Junk
• Nesting: The Master Bedroom
• Decorating with Junk: Old Doors and a Giant Map of Texas
• Decorating with Junk: Old Shutters with Framed Monogram
• DIY Pallet Shelf
• And Yet Another Set of DIY Pallet Shelves
• Decorating With Junk: Refinished Craft Desk
• The Red Hutch: God’s Grace and Backdoor Clutter

• Save