Hutches with No Doors

Last week I did a bit of antique browsing in Hogansville, GA.  One piece that I keep thinking about is a hutch with no doors on the bottom. 

It was painted green inside and out.  It was old.  There had been doors at one time - you could still see the holes where the hinges had been. I really liked the look and I sure do wish I had taken a photo.

It caught my attention because I was looking for ideas for displaying smalls in my booth.  Having an open bottom allows for more display space.  The more I think about the door-less hutch look, the more I like it for booth AND home. 

Than, this morning, while browsing some blogs I follow, I came across a link to this fun piece. 

It's from B & B's Nest.  She bought it to use in her flea market booth.

Here's a hutch top used as a stand alone with no doors.

from All That Jazz Vintage

I searched for a bit trying to find other hutches with no doors on the web.  No luck.  Here are some other wonderful, chippy hutches (with doors) I came across.

Junk Fest married two separate pieces to create this hutch.

High Street Cottage - Her husband found this fabulous piece at a pharmacy.

And finally... this is not technically a hutch, but from a post I ran across while searching for pretty hutches.  The whole post has fabulous photos from a visit to Northwind Perennial Farm.

From an Urban Farmgirl post

White Hutch Makeover

I finally finished the white hutch and got it into our white booth, which I'm trying to remember to call by it's new name - The B Hive.  The hutch turned out really nice. 

It previously had a maple finish. I'm sure it was nice in its day, but it sure looked dated and unloved when I got it.

The white is not a stark white.  It's sort of ivory.  Once I sanded in key spots, the hutch looked more cream colored.  That distressing sure does make a difference.  At that point it looked so good that I decided not to stain over it with wax or gel. 

The hutch was moved into the booth a week or two ago, at least most of it was.  We were doing the initial booth arrangement and a hutch is no easy thing to move around.  And this hutch is really heavy!  I'm sure I developed a hernia or slipped disk or pulled muscle or something from the strain of lifting!

The doors were not ready - they took twice as long - two sides - and I wasn't rushing them.  It was no big deal having the doors off.  We merchandised the open spaces.

Finally, yesterday I got it all in place.  The hutch actually has four doors, but everyone felt that the hutch looked great with the top two doors off, so those are tucked in a drawer for whoever buys it to use or not.

I'm pretty pleased with this makeover.  My only disappointment is that I cannot find my before photos!  Shoot!  I know I took them.  but that was before the old computer crashed and everything was moved to the new laptop.  Oh well.  You'll just have to take my word for it - it looks sooooo much better.

 The are removable shelves in the side sections.  I have one in place and the other is on the bottom of the section.

 The photos don't do justice to the side columns.  Those are really nice.  Also, I love how the old hardware looks - especially the pulls.

Here it is in the booth.  I'm glad I have these photos because I don't think it will be there long.  I had lots of people inquiring about it even before the were doors on. 

Sweet Little Hutch Makeover

I found a very tiny, slim hutch at a yard sale months ago.  It had the original maple finish on it.  I knew that with a little paint, it would be a gem.  I debated on colors.  My wild side wanted to paint it a fun color, like red or turquoise.  A practical choice won out, but only because I was thinking seriously about using it in my loft and I knew what color would look great there - cream.  

 This is the after shot.  I fell in love with this little hutch and wanted to keep it, but wasn't quite certain where it would be of best use in our home.  Then, as fate would have it, our booth was wiped out.  Several big pieces sold within days of each other and replacements were needed asap.  The sweet little hutch had been set aside for the paint to cure and harden and happened to be ready to go.  I needed to send it on with the hope that more pieces will come along that I love.  The picture above was a staging picture for me show how adaptable the hutch could be.  It would be great in a bathroom (see the toilet tissue), as a pantry (canned goods), as a bookshelf or entertainment storage area (books, CDs, DVDs).  


Here's what she looked like before.  Note the wear and tear and the outdated wallpaper border.

I love that the hutch is small and in two pieces.  It was easy for me to transport in my car without any help. I wish I could find more pieces like that.

Here she is during the painting.  I was quite careful and the end result is wonderful.  Even though I love to finish up with distressing and a stain or wax rub, I left this baby plain.  Not out of laziness or impatience - I thought it looked just right that way.

I wish I had taken a photo of it once in the booth.  It looks really nice with colorful glassware on the shelves.  It will probably sell pretty quick so I need to be on the lookout for more replacements!

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster,  
RE-member, RE-finish, RE-purpose, and of course, we love to RE-lax!   

This party celebrates ALL the RE-'s in our lives!  

I'm linking this post with  - 

• Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
• Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest
• Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
• Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
• Fab Friday at Frugal and Fabulous Design

My Bedroom

My New Year's Resolution is to take care of things that are annoying me.  Boy, have I started out on the right track. Finally, after 3 years of living in what I still think of as our new house, my bedroom feels like it's mine.  I put the hutch I won from the auction on the big wall, did some rearranging and suddenly... it all came together.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I feel I need to give a little background here.  When I was growing up, my grandparents had separate bedrooms.  As a teenager, I found that incredibly sad.  It felt wrong.  Now, I totally get it.  My grandparents adored each other.  There was never any question about that.  But my grandfather got up very early before he retired - as in 3am early.  So, separate rooms were logical unless my grandmother wanted to get up that early, too.

I now have another clue why they may have enjoyed separate bedrooms.  Menopause.  Up until around age 40 or so, I had no trouble whatsoever sleeping.  I could sleep and sleep and sleep.  Weekends were the best just because I could sleep a little later.  I heard others, a little older than me, say they had trouble sleeping, but I was certain it would never happen to me.  Ha.

Menopause changed that.  Six hours straight is a marvelous night!  I awaken easily and get restless.  When hot flashes come on, I fling covers everywhere.  I would disturb my poor hubby all night long and if he moved around, he'd wake me up. Four or five years ago, I broke my ankle.  I had to sleep in the guest room for a while just because it was so hard to set up the bed to sleep with a cast.  During the six weeks the cast was on, my hubby discovered how wonderful it was to sleep without me.  And I discovered I could sleep much longer without him.  So now, we're in love, but like kings and queens of days gone by, we have separate quarters.  If you are of a certain age and finding good sleep to be harder to come by, I highly recommend you try this. I do admit to missing the snuggling and funny things like putting my cold feet on him. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

My bedroom is fairly small.  My hubby has the large one because the dogs pile up around the floor in his room.  Up til now, my little room has felt strangely cold and without personality.  You'd think a room that small would automatically feel cozy.  Not so.  But it does, now thanks to the hutch.

I'm thinking of painting the walls a robin's egg blue - wouldn't that look nice?

I have always know that this wall needed a large piece of furniture and here it is.  The only problem with the hutch is that it doesn't photograph well.  When I saw it on the online auction listing I thought it should be painted.  You are probably thinking the same thing looking at my photos.  I promise, in person, it looks much better.  The splotchy, distressed paint works.  It was a real eye catcher at the auction, too.  I watched quite a few people change their path and go over to it after it caught their eye.

The shelves are pretty bare right now. I've just begun to look for things that will look nice on it.  I know I'll have fun changing this around on a regular basis.  A number of items on the shelf now are things I picked up at the auction - the glass bird eggs (which I adore!), the bird statues, and the French shoe all came from there.  I am really into birds these days.

I put my silver candelabra on top of the hutch.  I recently bought some bird ornaments from Cynthia, who also has a booth at Rockin' B.  She had these marked half price in her after-Christmas bin.   They now have a home perched on the arms of the candelabra (which will probably never hold candles since I keep thinking of so many fun things to put there).

The two bird pictures on either side of the hutch also came from the auction.  One is a needlepoint, the other an oil painting.  I fell for those at first sight.  I also love that they are different colors and not too match-y.

The room has lots of blues, like the quilts below, but the color palette is not limited.  I am realizing that I don't feel quite right when I try to stick to a limited number of colors.  I see plenty of rooms in magazines and in blogs where the rooms have one or two dominant colors and an accent color and everything matches and they really look wonderful.  But, I change my mind too often.  People with decorating ADD shouldn't even try to stick to a plan.  

This vintage bow-tie quilt came from a yard sale!

I changed both bedside tables.  I had been using two small pieces.  One was painted cream, the other light blue.  They took up space, but didn't have enough presence. I moved the oak chest, which had been on the wall where the hutch is, to one side of the bed.  I am still amazed that it fit.  

I pulled an oak washstand (which I had planned to paint and sell) down from the attic to the other side of the bed.  

The bed immediately looked cozier and it's not cramped at all. *** By the way, the lump in the bed is one of my cats.  She crawled up under the covers and looked so cozy that I didn't have the heart to disturb her for my photo shoot.

There are so many favorite things scattered around the room. I have a morning glory/hummingbird painting that came from my grandmother. I love the toile bedskirt - anything toile catches my eye.  The touches of red in things like the sewing stool and vintage pillow keep the room from feeling too calm.

 There are still things that I know will be changed down the road.  * The curtains are temporary.  I haven't come across panels or fabric that I love.  I know I will one day, so I'm being patient. * The rug is OK (and incredibly soft and squishy) but not quite right. It has more of a mauve color rather than the faded reds I like.  Plus, I need a larger rug.  I need to measure the area again so I can be watching for it when I'm out thrifting. *  I need to get something better for the geranium to sit on or in. 

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the change.  I'm also marveling at how fast it went together once I was on the right track.  Once again, I see that when it's right, it's easy, when it's wrong, it's a struggle.

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster,  
RE-member, RE-finish, RE-purpose, and of course, we love to RE-lax!   

This party celebrates ALL the RE-'s in our lives!  

I'm linking this post with  -

• Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl
• Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 
• Show off Your Cottage Monday at The House in Roses
• Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
• All Things Domestic at Crazy Domestic
• Boring to Better at Savvy Southern Style  
• Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage 
• Hooking Up With HOH at House of Hepworths 
• Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady 
• Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville  
• Show and Share Day at Just a Girl  

Inspired By... Hutch Before and Afters

Just before I did the makeover on my hutch, I looked at a number of hutch pictures for inspiration.  I came across a few before and afters that are well worth sharing.  

Take a look and see if you don't think,  

Wow!  What a difference!



Backyard Boutique

Frosted Gardner

White as Linen

Much To Do With Nothing

Chair Up

Scarlett Sashes

The hutch photos below are not before and after's - just some pretty painted hutches.

   

Cynthia's Cottage Design

From Folded Gingham - Her dad built the middle section to raise the top part up from the base.

Here's a hutch top with the back painted to better show off white dishes -

Sunset

Confessions of a Plate Addict

I love the color of the hutch in the photo above. I have been wanting to paint some furniture a taupe-gray or gray-blue for some time.  I almost painted my auction hutch in a simlar color, but I was afraid the color would look all wrong in our booth.


Red is another interesting color for hutches.  I have a healthy respect for red paint.  It can be fabulous or horribly wrong.  I've had experience with horribly wrong.  One day, I hope to have an experience with fabulous.  Below are two red hutches I like.  They are from Rosie's Whimsy and The Black Hutch Company.

 If you are considering painting a hutch, I highly recommend doing an image search in colors you are considering. I've found that seeing the ones that didn't turn out so well is just as important as finding the ones you like.  Look closely at the ones that aren't quite right and try to figure out why they aren't right.  By doing that, I found that with hutches painted a strong color, I prefer the backboard and or "counter" top to be painted a different color - just to break up the look a bit.

That's enough. I need to go do something productive now.

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, 
RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,  and of course, we love to RE-lax! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Finished Hutch and Fabulous Booth Redo

Hurray!  The hutch that I bought at the auction last weekend is finished and in place in our booth.  I am incredibly pleased with how the hutch turned out.  Martie and I rearranged the whole booth to fit it in.  We were wanting to re-do the booth anyway.  It turned out great and it looks like a completely different area.  The hutch is a key piece.  

I distressed the black parts by sanding.  The tan parts seemed too plain and not quite the color I was after so I did a whitewash affect there. It looks good but it doesn't show up well in the photo.  A few of the knobs are missing and I'll be looking to take care of that in the next week or so.  To truly appreciate the makeover, you need to see the before pictures.

I don't want it to sell until one of us has a large piece ready to go in it's place.  Am I the only booth owner who puts things in a booth, but doesn't really want them to sell fast?  How dumb is that?  But, it's a key element in our booth!  It just can't sell til we have another big piece!!!!  Here's how it looks as you walk towards our booth -

Another major change we made was to move Martie's shelf to the edge of the aisle.  Why had we not thought to do this before?!?!?  Martie corralled all of the Christmas stuff into this one location and arranged it beautifully.  We reconfigured the shelf to make it tall at one end.  Having the shelf on the edge of our booth area expands our booth considerably and presents a greater opportunity to have items on the shelf noticed, since it can be seen from either side.  The shelves are tall enough to make it easy to browse, but low enough to keep the booth from feeling closed in.  Perfect.  

Interestingly, I was not too keen on this shelf when it was placed on the side of the booth.  I kept thinking that the style was wrong for the booth.  But in it's new placement and new configuration, I love it! Martie's dad had used these shelves when doing shows.  They are easy to set up and take apart and rearrange.  I like using pieces with family history and I'm so happy that we finally found a wonderful way to use them.

We moved the dresser against the wall.  Since it's a low piece, it left us plenty of room above on the pegboard wall to showcase mirrors and pictures.  We grouped glass and blue pottery items together on the top of the dresser with bits of gold here and there.

Next, we set up a vignette around the glass table, which is no longer for sale.  The tablecloth is also something I don't plan on selling.  I want to keep it for displays or to use at home (it fits my dining table perfectly).  The glass table was for sale, but since the tablecloth fits it so well, I decided to keep it for awhile.  
The tablecloth keeps a number of items out of sight, too.  We had some items that we don't want to use in the booth right now and we stashed them under the table instead of lugging them home and back again.  The display on top of the blue table is just OK.  We were running out of time and energy by the time we got to it.  It will be improved on later. Still, the setup looks attractive because of the pretty tablecloth, lamp and white shutters. That's what you notice first.  Oops.  I just remembered that I forgot to put a price on the silver serving piece.  Maybe it's because I'm reluctant to sell it. 

Speaking of lamps, we finally got around to plugging in our lamps in the booth. When we turned each one on, it was a bit magical.  Everything around them sparkles.  On the other hand, they don't look great in my photos.  I need to remember to turn the lamps off when I take photos.


I also made another booth sign.  We now have two numbers to make it easier to keep track of sales.  I printed our new numbers and attached them to a doily.  I will likely improve this sign in the future.  I'm picturing a slightly larger, ornate painted frame, with the doily and sign mounted inside.  I have a frame that *may* work once it's painted. 

We had such a hard time hanging the sign.  It looks like I pulled a bit of the doily loose in the process.  I didn't notice that until looking at the photo.  The back of the frame has a metal hanger, which are awful for hanging on a pegboard wall.  From now on, I'll make sure that pictures I get for the booth have wire hangers!


We put Martie's table near the Christmas shelf.  Right now this table is loaded down with assorted retro items, but as soon as the Christmas items are moved off the shelf, we plan to redo the table area, so the table itself shows better. It's a cool table.  I love the legs.  It has sturdy leaves that pull out on each side. It might look nice featured in the center of the booth with a minimal arrangement on top. Hmmmm.

 We put the black chest of drawers and the white wicker table on the right "wall" of the booth.  By the way, did you notice that our side walls have changed?  They are now white chenille bedspreads.  When we first moved into the booth, we used some of Martie's sheer white curtains.  The curtains were really pretty, but they didn't work.  I have pondered for months on why they didn't work. Something was wrong about the color with the color of the walls and floor. The white should have looked great.  We have white swirls on the floor. It should have been a great match. When we decided the try the white chenille, I was a little concerned that they might not work either.  But they do!  They look wonderful.  No color issues at all.  All I can guess is that the first set was too sheer and when hung somehow didn't translate to a true white. 

I think I may have finally learned a profound booth lesson.  If there's something in our booth that doesn't look appealing, it's probably because we haven't come up with the best way to use it or display it.  I guess I'm a slow learner.  I should have learned that lesson after the experience with Martie's chair and Beth's couch.  I didn't care for them when they were first put in our booth.  But when they were put in a feature area with colors that went well with them, they looked great... and they sold!  

  ~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, 
RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,  and of course, we love to RE-lax! 
My post today was about RE-arranging! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Take a look at these other wonderful link parties for more clever ideas.  

I'm linking this post with them!

• Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
• Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm 
• Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
• Power of Paint at Domestically Speaking 
• Piece of Work Wednesday at Primitive and Proper  
•  Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
• Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
• Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
• DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff  
• All Things Domestic at Crazy Domestic 
• Boring to Better at Savvy Southern Style  
• Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage 

Auction Hutch - Sneak Peak

I've been looking for a hutch to paint and put in my booth since August.  Before August, I saw hutches all over.  Once I started looking,  nada... nothing...  Isn't that the way it goes.  Well, my luck finally changed this weekend.  I went to the Van Byars auction in Hogansville and won a hutch.  The price was low, but it's requiring several days of work, paint and new hardware.  

This is the photo from the auction site.  Unfortunately it's not very clear.   

It was a dowdy piece with sad hardware. Was is the key word.  I'm not finished with it, but it already has a new lease on life.

I thought about painting it a taupe-y gray, but decided that might look washed out in our booth.  Black will pop and is a safer color choice for now.  I do intend on experimenting with some grays soon on smaller pieces.

I have a collection of images of black hutches.  One thing I noticed is that I prefer two-toned rather than solid black pieces.  Here's my favorite inspiration photo -

photo from British Cottage

 The light backboard and tabletop keep it from being overwhelmingly dark.  I like the distressing on this piece as well, though I might do a little less than this.

A god many of the inspiration hutches I saw left the back and tabletop wood toned.  I had intended to do this, but my tabletop was too stained to warrant it.  The photo below shows the worst stain after the first round of sanding.  What on earth could have made that stain?!?  More sanding didn't help.

 I had lots of sanding and prep to do, but I had plenty of furry help.

I'm not finished, but here's a peak after the first coat of paint -

I'm loving it and can't wait to finish it up and put it in the booth! Check back soon for the final reveal.

  ~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, 
RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,  and of course, we love to RE-lax! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Take a look at these other wonderful link parties for more clever ideas.  

I'm linking this post with them!

• Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl
• Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
• Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter