Hutch Makeover - From Prim & Proper to Shabby Cottage

This was our dining room hutch three years ago... We had so many projects going on back then, and this was one of them...


Like all of our furniture, this little hutch started out as an inexpensive piece of unfinished furniture. And, like everything else back in my prim days, it was immediately stained dark brown. (How do you like the plywood subfloors that I painted white? After ripping out our ancient wall to wall carpet, we lived with those for 2 years until we could afford hardwood floors last year. I could never do white floors again - too much work to keep clean!)


But about 3 years ago the cottage bug hit me, so this is how it looks today. I also happened to take possession of my Nana's china during that same time period...


So I refer to it as "Nana's hutch" because I have all of her old china displayed on the shelves and stored inside... I placed a favorite photo of my Nana between two dinner plates on the plate rack above the hutch (perhaps taken about the same time as she picked out this china, as she's a young woman in the photo). Below that is a 1950's photo of my mom and Nana (her mom), with my mom's crystal candy dish on the shelf right below.


The glass knobs and rose & cherub appliques really help with the "prim to cottage" transformation! (The large framed photo is my mom and dad in front of their Niagara Falls honeymoon cottage back in 1951!)


I don't know if it is 'proper' decorating or not, but I love having all the photos of Nana's side of the family mixed in with her good china, and I think she'd really like it, too!


Here's a close up of the pattern and a photo of my mom and dad from the early 80's... So thanks, Nana! I love the pattern as much as you did when you picked it out so many years ago!! I think it's just perfect for my little cottage!!

Donna

Armoires...

The Rolling Stones once sang, "I see a red door and I want it painted black." Well, my theme song could be, "I see a brown hutch and I want it painted white." Actually, my obsession with painting things white goes way beyond hutches (the more I post, the more apparent that will become!).

This is the small corner TV armoire in our living room. We purchased it in the 80's at an unfinished furniture store. Back then, I stained everything dark brown. (click here for before photos)... A few years ago, when I caught the shabby/cottage bug, this armoire became a prime target!

I primed it, applied some neat appliques (there is such a wide variety to choose from!), painted it creamy white, sanded along some of the edges to lightly distress it, and finished by putting on some nice glass knobs. (More photos below.)

I recently saw a post on a favorite blog that I read daily, where Cindy from My Romantic Home was also doing a transformation on an older dark brown armoire. She decided to paint hers white as well and it came out spectacular!

Donna

Armoire Before & After Photos