Kitchen Hutch Makeover Reveal

I've officially become obsessed with making something out of nothing.  I was so excited to start this project.  The hutch before was a complete disaster.  But the reason I chose this piece was because it was FREE from a neighbor.  Yes, you read that right.  F-R-E-E!  Big fat goose egg.  No moola.  Okay, I think you get the point.  I don't even know what this piece was originally used for, and I didn't care.  I knew where I wanted it in my home, and I was going to make sure it looked perfect for my kitchen.

{Warning:  This post is extremely pic heavy so you'll either (A.) really enjoy it, or (B.) completely be annoyed by it. Hopefully we go with A. }

Lets start with the before, shall we?

I know what you're thinking.  No wonder this was free.  It's disgusting.  And yes, it really was.  Not only did it have your typical scratches, gashes, and knicks but it also had some type of water damage to the back board.  And I don't know if you can tell from the above pictures, but it originally had doors on it.  There were holes where the old hinges used to be, and those little push thing-a-ma-jiggys where the doors used to be.

Inside the hutch was no better than the outside.  There was some type of oil mark or goo, I'm not really sure what the heck it was and honestly, I don't like to think about the work I had to put in to try and get that off!

Okay, so it was time to get started.  First things first.  I removed all the hardware (which I kept and later used), the bottom cabinet doors, the drawer, and I removed the horrendous backing.  I also popped out those little push thing-a-ma-jiggys (someone PLEASE give me the correct word for these), and the little wooden door stoppers.  (if that is what those are even called, too!)

I don't even know how to explain what happened to this back.  To me it looks like water damage or it just rotted.  I don't even know but I was glad to haul that thing to the curb.

I, like always, filled in any scratches or holes with wood filler and let it dry for a few hours. I gave it a light sand with 150 grit sandpaper to smooth everything out.

The white mark on the side of the cabinet was actually from me!  I wanted to see how paint would stick without using a primer.  It didn't!  I had to sand off the paint.  Way to make more unnecessary work for myself! I don't know if I'll ever learn to stop trying to take short cuts.  But it was worth a try!

I gave the drawer and the cabinet doors a good sanding as well using 100 grit sandpaper.  I only did a light sand because I was using not only a primer, but a paint that was a paint in primer in one.  So I knew the coverage would be good.

Look at all the marks on the garage floor!  Black stain and no tarp is not a good match.  Whoops!

Once everything was sanded and all the wood filler was smooth, I used Zinnser Cover Stain Primer and a 4" foam roller and got to work.

Now, I've re-done enough furniture in my time to know that primer doesn't ever look good.  But for some reason, this completely freaked me out.  It looked horrible!  It was splotchy and I could see every roller mark.  And I'm not quite sure what kind of wood this piece of furniture was, but whatever it was it was soaking up primer like crazy!  The more I applied, the worse it got.  But I was determined to make this darn thing look good, so I kept going! Two more coats of primer and it looked pretty decent at this point.

I decided to also prime and paint the inside of the drawer and all the sides of the drawer.  I will eventually be lining the drawer with some velvet, but for now I just wanted a nice clean drawer.

I gave everything three coats of white paint.  My signature go to white paint is Behr's Popped Corn.  It's a perfect, bright, and clean white that I think covers almost anything. So using a 4'' foam roller and an angled brush for the edges, I got to work.

I didn't take any pictures (surprised, right?) of the final step.  I actually caulked all the edges inside the cabinet and along any trim that had a decent amount of space between the edges.

The cabinet was finally finished!  Now I needed to add the back.

For a kitchen "feel" I knew I was going to go with some type of paneling.  So off to Home Depot I went and picked up this MDF Wainscot Panel.  It ran around $19 for the entire piece.

A quick side note: I should have made my husband take his truck to pick this up.  For some odd reason I didn't realize how big the actual piece of MDF was until I brought it out to my car.  How the heck was I going to get this home?!  Normally I would have had Home Depot cut this to size, but because I'm an annoyance to myself, I forgot my measurements at home.  And I didn't want to guess.  So my husband tied this giant ol' board to the top of my car and I had to hold this thing while leaning slightly out my window.  I wanted to die.  Not only from the pain of having to hold my arm in one position for a 20 minute drive, but of complete humiliation!   So if you're going to pick up a giant piece of ANYTHING, either have a truck or bring your measurements. :)

Alright, moving on…

I measured the back of the hutch and with a saw, my hubby cut the MDF to size.

When he held it up onto the hutch, I thought it looked very nice, but a little too bland for my taste.  I wanted to pick up a color so I went with an apple green that I have placed throughout my kitchen.

Yes, I actually brought this entire little "bouquet" to Home Depot. 

Got a paint sample for $2.50 and it was perfect!  The color is Japanese Fern by Behr.

I gave the board three thin coats of paint.

(sorry about the bad phone picture, but it was dark)

I also decided to paint the inside of the cabinets, and the sides of the drawer with the green, as well.

I let all of it dry overnight. 

While it was all drying I painted the hinges and pulls.  Here they are before:

uhhh, gross!  I had a spray primer on hand so I gave everything a quick coat and let it dry for a few hours. 

Using a hammered bronze spray paint by Rust-Oleum, I gave everything two coats of paint, letting each coat of paint dry a few hours in between.

Using 1" panel board nails, my husband attached the board to the back of the hutch while I put everything back together.  It was done! *cue Hallelujah music*

I think the green added just the right amount of "kitchen feel" and I love the pop of color every time I open the cabinets or the drawer!

And I think the dark bronze handles go so well with the light colored furniture.

If there wasn't enough pictures in this post, here's a few more of the finished piece!

If you compare these two top pictures, you can tell I'm constantly changing the decor.  Every time I go into a store I'm always looking for new green or white pieces for this little beauty!  One day I'll get it perfect! *fingers crossed*

Lets just agree right now on how amazing this artichoke is!

Here's the final before and after:

For the price of the MDF, the spray paint, and the paint sample (which are the only three things I had to buy), I got an amazing kitchen hutch for $27.  

Just because something looks really bad, you can always make it into something beautiful. 

A little work and some paint..paired with something you envision can turn anything ordinary into something great.

^^ Well, I guess that was my Dr. Seuss moment of the day.

Two Toned Dresser Makeover

If you read my post where I re-did a nightstand for my daughter's room, I told you that I'd be posting about the matching dresser.  I was so excited to find this set for $50 from a local trading site.  The furniture was not only great quality, but the size alone was worth the money. And I loved all the drawers for extra storage.

This was the dresser before:

I wouldn't say it was in horrible condition, but definitely needed some work.  Like the nightstand, it had these weird holes in the drawer fronts that I could only describe as snake bites.  I know, am I being serious with that comparison?  But it's the only thing I could think of to describe it.  They were these tiny little clusters of holes.  I've seen a lot of beat up furniture in my time, but never saw anything like this.  Anyway, moving on…

It had some deep scratches on the top surface and a few knicks here and there.  Nothing a coat of paint couldn't fix.

Because I pretty much already posted a tutorial on how I re-did the nightstand (which you can find HERE ) I'll keep this pretty short and sweet. 

 First things first, I removed the drawers and using Elmer's Wood Filler, I filled in any gashes, holes, and scratches.

I used 100 grit sandpaper to smooth all the wood filler down, and make everything nice and smooth.

Using a 4" foam roller, I used Zinnser Cover Stain Primer and applied two coats, letting them dry for 2 hours in between.

I gave the dresser and drawers two coats of paint.  I used Behr's Popped Corn.

And the middle of the drawers received two coats of paint as well with Behr's Musical Mist, which is a very light pink.

I replaced the hardware with these beautiful crystal like knobs that I had purchased at Home Depot.  It was sort of a splurge but it was exactly the look I was going for.

I put all the drawers back in, gave the top of the dresser two coats of Minwax Polycrylic for extra durability, and it was ready to go into my daughter's room!

Sorry about the shadows in the picture, but her bed was blocking all that beautiful sunshine.

Still looking for some new decor to top her dressers, but what I have does the job for now :)

Here's a little before and after action for ya:

I am thrilled with the way it turned out and I am loving the fact that I could transform anything into something beautiful with a few coats of paint and my imagination :)

OH ..and my little tip of the day for you:
Always pay attention to what type of paint and primer you're using before trying to be cheap smart and wash out your rollers and brushes…..

I used an oil based primer and attempted to wash the roller with water.
It looked like I had some type of incurable disease on my hands for about 3 days.  ( and THIS is why I don't wear any type of jewelry when I paint ).

REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE:  WATER AND OIL DO NOT MIX!

DIY Framed Name Decor

I have a big wall in my daughter's room that no matter what I put on it, everything always looked lost.  I wanted something to take up a lot of the wall space but wasn't about to pay the prices most stores were asking for a big piece of framed decor.  Especially because there wasn't really anything that I found that I was crazy about. 

I decided to make her name out of wooden letters and frame them.  I knew this would be perfect because not only would it be fairly cheap but I could customize it to match the colors in her room.

Supplies I used:

• 6 5x7 silver frames from the dollar store
• 6 wood letters I purchased for .99 each at Michael's
• 6 pieces of scrapbook paper for .59 each at Michael's ( I only ended up using 3 )
• Wired ribbon
• White acrylic paint (.59 at Wal-Mart )
• Spray paint
• Foam brush
• Hot glue gun

I started out by spray painting all of the frames white with some spray paint I already had on hand.  I bought the silver ones because I figured they would be easier to paint over then the black ones the dollar store usually carries.  Why have they not started carrying white frames yet?! Anyway, these are the frames I used.

I removed the glass and backing and spray painted each frame with two coats of white paint.

A little tip:  If you bend back the little clips that hold the back onto the frame, it props the frame up and  makes painting easier because you can paint the sides much quicker and get a full even coat.

While the frames dried, I started on the letters.

I purchased wood letters at Michael's but I wanted them to be white.  Now you can completely skip this step if you actually purchase the wood letters that already come white.  But they were more than $1 extra per letter, so to make this project as cheap as I could, I figured I'd just paint them myself.

I used a cheap foam brush and some acrylic paint that I had purchased at Wal-Mart for a previous project.  I have pretty much every color of paint because for .59, how can you not buy one every time you go into the store??

I gave the letters two coats of paint, letting each coat dry for about 2 hours.

To match my daughter's room colors, I bought two different pieces of scrapbook paper at Michael's.  I measured each one to fit a 5x7 frame and using my paper cutter, cut each piece down to size.

After everything was dry and ready, it was time to assemble each frame.

I placed a piece of paper into each frame and put all the frames back together. 

 I hot glued each letter to the glass.  It's an absolute necessity to use a high temperature glue gun because with a low temperature, the wood letters are too heavy and they'll slide right off.

Am I really that lazy that I didn't even fully remove the sticker from the back?  Yes.  Yes I am!

After all the letters were applied to each frame, I started on the bows.

I decided the length I wanted for the ribbon and measured each piece.  I tied them into a bow, leaving a lot of excess on the bottom so I could hot glue the ribbon to the back of the frame.

I placed a few dabs of glue onto the ribbon and glued them to the back of each frame.

And they were done!

I just hammered a small nail into the wall, hung each frame, and tried covering the nail with a bow as much as I could.  And that's it!

Sorry about the reflection in a few of the frames.  I tried my best :)

For about $12 I have a really cute wall decor piece for my daughter's room that not only takes up a pretty good amount of wall space, but it's personalized just for her!