The Perfect Pair Dresser and Hutch Furniture Makeover

These two pieces met for the first time and were a match made in Heaven! The dresser is from a family friend and the hutch belongs to the buffet I'm using in the foyer. Once these two were painted and attached, they will spend eternity together! 

  

I have had the vision of these two pieces together for years and finally decided it was time to make it happen. The dresser is a vintage solid piece from Drexel with dovetail joints and solid wood construction.  The hutch belongs to the china buffet I'm using in the foyer entrance. Together, they both offer ample storage for our office closet to hold all of my crafting supplies. Here is how they both came together and are a perfect match! 

My friend Wendi introduced me to a brand new furniture paint from General Finishes and I must say it is my new favorite paint.  It goes on smooth as butter and provides a great finish.  I painted each piece of furniture with one coat of primer and then two coats of the General Finishes Milk Paint in Antique White.  

Once finished painting the dresser, I spray painted the handles dark bronze and used my hand sander to distress the edges of the drawers. I wanted a small amount of distressing on this piece to give it a high end look.  

Next, I took some wrapping paper I purchased from Ballard Designs and Mod Podged the entire inside of the upper cabinet.  Since the doors were made with chicken wire, I wanted something you could see and would stand out. I then spray painted the shelves with the same spray paint as I used on the drawer pulls. 

Once both pieces were painted, I used a spray satin Polycrylic over both pieces for protection.  I attached L brackets to the back to secure both pieces and they are now one! 

While I would love to put this piece somewhere out in the house, I really needed it for storage in the office closet and the size is perfect.  When we built our house, I did not get any shelving in any closet and this is not only beautiful, it provides ample space for all of my crafting supplies.  I can always take it out of the closet and use it around the house if needed.  

Start Small- Great Design Takes Time- Enjoy!!

Antique Window, Vintage China Hutch and Reclaimed Barn Wood FoyerProject

This entire project started with an empty foyer, a large china hutch and an old window.  My original plan was to only have a hutch in the foyer and paint and wallpaper the inside. When I purchased it, it was very light gray with silver handles.  Once I put it in the foyer it was just too tall and bulky.  

I then got this window off of the local neighborhood Facebook buy, sell, trade site.  Now to decide what to do with these to pieces to make the foyer what I wanted it to be.  I loved the window just the way it was and only cleaned it off and wiped down the glass.  I took the top hutch part off so it could become a buffet and look at the next photo to see what happened.  

When I took the top off. this large open area was now showing, so what is a girl to do?  I have always been a girl to use chalk finish paint and roll it on but with this many nooks and crannies and the fact that I am a little impatient, I decided to use a satin spray paint.  This is the ONLY spray paint I use. It sprays so soft and smooth and even.  This came in a satin finish but I knew once I was finished distressing and sanding it would look just as good as pieces I have painted with chalk finish paint.  

All done painting, just got a little on the grass. LOL. This only took two cans of paint, mainly because the buffet was already a light gray.  

Woah!  The finished product already!  I'll guide you through each piece and where they came from and why I placed them where I did. 

1.  I first centered the painted buffet where I wanted it. When doing a wall arrangement, always place your furniture first and then work your wall pieces around it.  You can see I placed the arrangement a little larger than the buffet itself. 

2.  I then took scraps of reclaimed barn wood and made a design to cover the open holes made by the missing hutch top.  The reclaimed wood was $1 each and I also used it in the restroom sign above a door in our house, these are the missing pieces so all that wood cost me about $3.  

3.  I bought the large candle holder at Goodwill, it is from Party Lite and only cost $6.  I sprayed it with the same white paint and then distressed it with sandpaper.  

4.  I used another smaller piece of the reclaimed wood and placed the three small mason jar candles on it with battery operated votives.

5.  The greenery ball and the burlap jar did not come together.  I purchased them from Goodwill on separate occasions.  Notice how I grouped everything in the middle and there are varying heights.  It took me a few times of arranging things to get this composition but I totally love it.  

4.  The welcome sign to the right is from one of my favorite new stores.  You can find the welcome sign and so many vintage replicas and found items at www.bits of vintage.com (click HERE to be taken directly to the store) or click the Bits of Vintage Photo on the left of the website).

5.  I just added picture hangers to the back of the window and it is such a statement piece!

6.  The beautiful sign is from www.smallwoodhome.com. and you can get it HERE She has a large variety of wooden signs for very reasonable prices and shipping is so reasonable.   I loved the meaning of this piece and people can read it as soon as the enter my home.  

7.  The last piece is an old tin wall hanging from Southern Living at Home.  It originally came brown but I painted it with the same white paint and added antique wax and distressed it with sandpaper until I was happy with the look.  

I have the darker black pieces on the outside and then the handles of the buffet are black.  Everything else is white or off white.  I arranged the pieces on the floor until I found a composition arrangement that I thought looked great!

This is the 6.00 Party Lite candle holder from Goodwill. The flameless candle on the inside is from QVC. I have these flameless candle all over the house and what I love about them is that thy flicker like a real flame and they are on timers. 

Notice the reclaimed wood that the mason jar candle votives are sitting on has a darker tone, this is the leftover scrap wood from the restroom sign.  You can read about that creation HERE.

Start small, great design takes time, Enjoy!