Vintage Hutch Restore

To keep or to toss? That was the question I was faced with, being advised that maybe these 80ish year old (1940s probably), shabby looking farmhouse hutch cabinets were beyond repair.

Well the question was an easy one for me to answer. I guess I'm guilty of being a little attached to them. They were my Grandmothers cabinets where she kept all the tasty goodies that I so loved to eat. The one with the enamel shelf is where she made homemade biscuits from scratch.

So now what?

"They are sturdy cabinets, still in good shape. A little love is really all that is needed"

Decision is made then. I shall restore them to their glory and maybe add a little upgrade with a theme reminiscent of my Grandmother. New paint is a given, but what else can I add that would tie it all in? The answer seemed obvious to me.

Pool green? Seriously?

I don't know who came up with the pool green, and to tell the truth, I am perfectly ok not knowing. I am content with this design faux pas forever being a mystery.

Let's get it together

"Do you really want to keep those old cabinets"?

Yes...yes...and yes. First of all, a trip to Home Depot is in order. I needed some white paint, brushes, rollers, tray, rags - the works. Oh, and how to tie it in with something that would remind me of Gran? Gran's favorite color was blue, mine too. We share the same birthstone of sapphire. Gran also loved the blue willow dishware. I went on one of my favorite sites, Amazon, to see what I could find and I came up with some awesome wallpaper. I believe the seller was RoomMates. Both rolls probably ran me $30 and I spent about that on pain supplies. It is blue willow style wallpaper that looks like old tile. I took a chance and ordered a couple of rolls thinking I would add it to some other stuff later. I was amazed at how awesome it looks. It really looks like tile, you have to view it up close before you can tell.

The proper way would be to strip all the paint first. It just seemed way too tedious for me. I opted to wash it good. I put painter tape over all the hardware and got started on giving both cabinets a fresh coat of white paint. Then I used the wallpaper on the back panel of the shelfs.

Check that out!

They turned out fabulous if I do say so myself. Ignoring the mess there in between. I'll deal with that later. My family was so impressed, they couldn't believe how well they turned out and was glad that I decided to keep them after all. So think about it, before you decide to toss out something that maybe just needs some minor attention. Truth is, I need the cabinet space and new ones would cost a heckuva lot more than the $70 dollars and a couple of hours spent to restore these awesome vintage hutch farmhouse cabinets. Totally worth it!