One of the most historically important pieces of furniture in my family is the Hutch. I say this word to people assuming they also had Hutches at their grandparents' houses, but alas, most give me a look that says, "Oh God, she's finally snapped, hasn't she?".
In our family a Hutch was a gigantic piece of furniture comprised of a shelving type unit on top with a cabinet type unit on the bottom. Our grandmother had a massive one, and the kids would fight over who got to decorate it during the holidays. Now the cousins in our family all have a weird fascination with Hutches, which is made extra weird by the fact that all the normies out there don't know what it is.
One day my sister pulled me aside and said, "I found something on the side of the road, I don't know if you'd like it..." She brought me to her car, and when she unveiled a pristine mini-Hutch sitting daintily in her trunk, I screamed so loud all the dogs next door started barking.
I immediately swaddled the little guy in my arms and brought him home, lovingly tucking him in a corner of our living room to hold our other most prized possessions: our DVDs. It's been sitting there for over a year.
I finally decided to get off my butt this weekend and paint it, a nice light grey. Here's what happened...
Don't be fooled, he's crazy like a fox.
First things first, sand that sucker. This was the most daunting part of the entire process, all those fancy swirly bits on the top and sides? I thought it would take forever and thus was loathe to start. It actually only took about an hour or so one afternoon, sanding doesn't have to be perfect just as long as you get the first layer of varnish off.
He looks kinda like Don Draper with that stain right...? Kinda...?
Action shot.
He took this picture himself for his mySpace page.
I then painted a nice and thick coat all over that bad boy. Starting from the top so that I could run the paint over any drips, I made sure to get all the nooks and crannies. Even the undersides of the shelves and all over the wonky corners. Wait a few minutes for the paint to settle, then look for drips. Any drips you can carefully tap with your finger very lightly to get rid of them, or a paper towel if your a freak.
Looks like a guy is trapped under there huh?
Sand and paint the door, making sure to take off any hardware and cover any bits you don't want painted with tape (In this case the magnet on the door that keeps it closed.) Wait for everything to dry for an hour or two, do another coat, also nice and thick but not so much that you'll have more drips. You're just looking to keep any wood from showing through, not making a coat so thick you could stand a birthday candle up in it.
Balanced it on this so I could get the undersides without it sticking to the paper.
I had some nice silvery polish on hand from another craft, so gave this crazy gothic knob a little mini-makeover. I think he looks pretty dapper.
Perfect place to hide a cat I MEAN... Normal stuff.
The paint turned out way shinier than I originally thought, but luckily I really loved it. I call it my little piece of candy now.
He's practically winking at you.
Finished product, I ended up putting 3 coats of paint on just to be safe and because spraypainting is fun. I'm only now noticing the weird bits on the backsplash, apparently they were there before but I may have to paint those too.
*Leaning against a doorframe* Hey baby, come here often?
