Up until last winter, I had this black waterfall buffet in my dining room.
I really liked this piece, and I loved the suitcases stacked in the center section. But I was struggling with how dark the room was. And that back wall was especially dark, so the big black buffet sort of created a decorating black hole.
When I made the decision to spruce up the dining room, I thought bringing in white furniture would help lighten up the room. I wanted to use the hutch that I painted way back in December 2013.
I originally took this hutch to the Round Barn to sell, and it never sold. So when Lori decided to close up shop, I brought it back home. I didn’t mind that it hadn’t sold, because I really love it. I thought it was a sign that I should keep it. So I sold the black waterfall buffet and put this one in its place.
Can you see the problem though? Here, this picture makes it more obvious …
That poor thing was just lost on that wall. The scale was all wrong. I tried to add some visual size with the plates, which did help a little. I also debated adding old doors leaning against the wall on either side of it. Maybe adding some sconces to the doors, and hanging some art on them. That might have worked.
But ultimately I just decided that I needed a bigger piece! I had a mental image of what I wanted. An open hutch where I could display my ironstone without it being behind glass. I wanted it to be LARGE to fill up that wall and so that when I painted it white it would bring a lot of light into the room. So I went to craigslist and I searched “large hutch” and this one came up.
It was priced at $425 which was a bit high for me. It was also way out in Ham Lake, about a 40 minute drive from here. However, it was exactly what I was looking for. I loved the detailing at the top, the size, the boards at the back. So I contacted the seller and negotiated a price of $375 and headed to Ham Lake the same day!
In person, this hutch ended up being another ‘faux-tique’ just like the Rooster cupboard that I painted for my Q Branch. It has the same exact hinges (which are hard to describe, but kind of weird in that they twist and come apart) and the same faux-old skeleton key that is required for opening the doors on either side. Both of these pieces have no labels on them, so I don’t know if there was a particular manufacturer making them or what. But since I’d had great success with the earlier cupboard, I knew I would love this one too. So I brought it home and painted it the next day!
And voila!
I think this piece is scaled much more appropriately for this room at 6′ wide and 7′ tall.
Here are the details. The inside is painted in Fusion’s Linen. I chose to use Fusion paint on the inside because I didn’t want to have to wax all of that! Especially those boards in the back. The outside is painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s Linen. You know what’s funny, I didn’t realize until writing this post that these paint colors had the same name. It’s Linen times 2, or Linen squared! The MMS Linen is a warm white, while the Fusion Linen is a greige with a little bit of a green undertone. Oh, and the reason I chose MMS on the outside is because I wanted chipping. The more the better. I was willing to pay the price of waxing to get that chippy-ness!
And I got it!
Although not at first. I had to resort to my new trick of using tape to pull the paint off. But that worked beautifully.
You can see that I also added a little bitty stencil to the top, just to give it a little something unique.
The “1918” doesn’t signify anything special, I just liked the way it looked! Stacking some vintage suitcases on the top also adds a fun touch.
This thing is huge, by the way. It’s going to take a lot of ironstone to fill it up properly.
I’ve made a good start, but clearly I’ll be on the lookout for more!
As much as I liked using the French Market wood tote on the table, it turned out that it worked even more perfectly on the hutch.
So for now I have some hydrangeas in an ironstone soup tureen as a centerpiece instead. The hydrangeas are starting to show their fall colors.
If you’re keeping track, here is what I’ve checked off on the dining room make-over to-do list so far: new chairs, new light fixture, new hutch.
Here’s what’s left: paint the window trim white, find new light kit for ceiling fan, a change for the table (you’ll have to wait and see), come up with something for the large wall that was formerly full of mirrors (the mirrors have already been removed and now the wall is a blank canvas).
So stay tuned!
P.S. The smaller hutch is for sale if anyone local has a smaller wall to fill! If interested, leave me a comment and I will email you with details.
q is for quandie 