Hutch Makeover Before and After

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I can never leave well enough alone. I've been in search of a cute cabinet/hutch to makeover into a blanket hutch for my living room. I found my secretary hutch that worked beautifully in the interim, but it was never something I truly envisioned there. I did end up falling in love with it...funny enough when I took out all the blankets and put in books. ha! 

I scroll through the classifieds often enough that I come across some good deals. This cabinet screamed my name and only cost $50. I couldn't pass it up and it was the perfect look for my modern cabinet turned faux vintage blanket hutch. I gotta say, this took me awhile to redo since I did end up loving my the new decor I put in the secretary hutch. I really wasn't too excited about changing it out and losing that! I did decide that I at least needed to start it and put it in the corner and see how it looks. Whatever I liked the best, I would keep!

Here's the before. It had full glass doors and a small drawer at the bottom. I needed the drawer and bottom shelves to add baskets for toys since it would be acting as toy storage too.

The first step was taking off the doors. Without them, it looked just like a basic bookshelf, ha!

I really feel like glass just cheapens the look of things sometimes :) I know that's silly, but I wanted this to look a little older and knew that taking out the glass would help with that. 

I took painters tape and taped the entire glass window. 

I then placed it in the garbage can with a drop cloth below it to catch any extra pieces. I then went to town on it with a hammer. It took some good hits, but it finally shattered. 

I gotta say, it did take some time to get all the glass out. Most hutches I have done and took the glass out was crazy easy. No breaking needed even! This glass was glued into the doors. It was completely awful and took soooo much time to take all the pieces out to make it safe. Would I do it again? I said no at the time, but yes now :) haha

I then painted the piece. I used chalk paint since I knew most of this was laminate and I didn't care to do any sanding anyway. This took about two coats for full coverage. I used Rustoleum's chalk paint in linen white. I gotta say, this white is really white. I'll probably go back over it with my other favorite chalk paint color from DecoArt to get a warmer white. 

I love this little trick. In between coats...and sometimes even projects...I put my paint brush in a ziploc baggie. This lasts in here for days, even weeks sometimes without going dry! 

I then switched out the old knobs for these cute ones from Hobby Lobby. I've had these for years and never found the perfect piece for them. I finally got to use them! I was so excited! I seriously have a basket full of fun pulls and knobs just waiting to be used!

This little area is finally a little calmer now. There was a lot going on here when the secretary hutch was here. I should have taken a picture. The drawers on the hutch, the dresser and then there were drawers on my apothecary cabinet to the right of the plant. It was way to busy. I calmed this down by painting the dresser all white, it blended a ton better. Of course switching out the secretary hutch for this one, and then moving the apothecary cabinet to the right more. I also moved a two cube storage piece that was underneath this window. It was a big hot mess if you could imagine! ha! Now I'm totally okay to look over here and not cringe. 

Here's the same view from the first picture in this post. What do you think? Secretary hutch or this wannabe blanket hutch but current bookshelf ? :)

Ruffle Pillows: Link

Gable Arch: Link

Talking about the books...

I love old books! We found a case of old books from my brother's old house. Some of them are from the 1800s. They are just amazing and beautiful and I love to display them! As for all the others? Yes, I have read most of them! That's why I don't care that they are all turned around for uniformity. 

As I said, this mainly functions as toy storage on the bottom half. This drawer is perfect for toys, and the baskets have lids to hide all the others. 

The only thing I don't like about this hutch now? The glass shelves. I'll be changing those out when I make new wood ones. The top two will look more in line with the bottom ones.

I do love the height of this piece and I love the texture and character it brings. I can't believe it's taken me this many years to think about putting a cabinet in this corner. It's like one was meant to be there! 

Leather Moroccan Pouf: Link      Rug: Link 

As for now, my secretary hutch didn't go far. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it so I made it work in my front living room. I'll share more of that look soon, but here's a sneak peak :)

I have so many projects happening right now....can't wait to share them all with you! To follow all that is going on behind the scenes, be sure to follow my social media :) 

 

 Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”