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You know those moments when your gut says NO but you just don’t listen?
Yep, that’s what happened when I first saw this tired 1980s hutch.
By now you’d think I’d know to listen to myself, especially when my insides are screaming at me to run the other direction. Unfortunately, I always think I can take on more than I humanly should. Let’s just say I have issues. Big ones.
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Now back to the post…
When a friend of mine’s mother was selling her china hutch, I ran over with cash in hand. I’ve been looking for a hutch in my price range for years so I can probably blame my rose colored glasses on that. Who knew that finding a good hutch was so difficult? Sheesh! Anyway, when I got there and took a look at this beast instead of seeing the broken glass and crumbling pressed wood, I just saw potential. My father in law helped me bring it home and I immediately set to work.
Here she is before.
Yeah, yeah, I can already hear you telling your computer that this is not that bad. What am I whining about? I’ll give it to you, from a distance this hutch really did look just fine. No big deal, right? No big deal until I got elbow deep in the project and the gates of furniture hell opened up to swallow me.
Furniture hell, you heard me.
It started so innocently.
I gave the whole piece a good cleaning, let it dry, then sprayed the piece with shellac. Next I mixed up some beautiful chippylicious milk paint with some extra bond, grabbed my brush, and went to town. Everything was running smooth as can be. Until it dried.
Remember the dinner scene from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation?
via youtube
That turkey, that was my hellish 1980s hutch.
As soon as the paint dried the whole thing dried up with it. The fake wood molding, the veneer, and whatever else this piece was made of just disintegrated. Parts were chipping off with the paint leaving holes all over the trim and a pit in my stomach. I immediately started sanding and patching, then sanding and patching some more but no matter what I would do the milk paint would just chip more “wood” off the hutch. Exasperating, I tell you!
I got so frustrated that I put a sheet over the whole thing and walked away… for months. Haha.
My hubs gave me a garage ultimatum last week so I finally tackled the huge drop cloth covered elephant in the room. My first thought was to burn it, but I had spent way too much money at this point and my pride was hurting something fierce so I decided to let go of my chippy dreams and go a different route. I sanded, patched, filled, and prepped then hit the whole thing with 3/4 can of chalk paint. The good, expensive kind. Once the paint was on, I sanded off more peeling (I kid you not. See! Furniture hell!), distressed to make it even, and gave it all a couple coats of clear wax.
She’s not what I had envisioned in my hutch dream but done is better than perfect, right?
So, with no further ado, here she is.
The anti-Poppins 1980s hutch… practically imperfect in every way.
My hutch hunt goes on, but this Pure White lady will hold me at bay until I find the one of my dreams.
I can tell you one thing, my dream hutch will be real wood.
I know that much.
Next time I try to bring home a fake 80s nightmare, just slap me.
Have you ever had a project
push your patience to the limit?
