Five years later...

So here is an interesting story!  Growing up in my farmhouse, we had an old, primitive hutch in my kitchen as you can see in this picture.  It mostly housed mom's collection of tea pots, but we decorated it for Christmas, etc.  It is nothing special:  the drawers don't close all the way, the wood is roughly cut, and some of the boards are crooked.  It was obviously hand-made.  Who knows how old it is.  My parents probably bought it for a hundred bucks.  It looked at home in our kitchen though, and I became quite fond of it.



When my mom moved to WV, it moved too.  Without room in the house, the hutch found a place in the dirt-floor barn with the horse stuff and storage.  As you can see in this picture, the hutch got dirty, weathered and just gross.  You can see the paint peeling off on the inside of the top portion.




When my mom moved again, she would not have room for the hutch at all and would have to leave it in this barn.  I, being the sentimental person that I am, had to have this hutch (along with a few other pieces that my mom couldn't bring with her).  So, Clay and I rented a truck, drove to WV, loader it up and brought it home.


The crazy part of the story comes in here:  I have spent the last 5, yes FIVE, years working on this piece off an on.  It has moved 4 times since my mom's house.  I stripped off the paint and the stain underneath, sanded and cleaned this thing.  Sounds easy, like it wouldn't take long...but guess again.  It took forever.

I had initially planned on stripping it clean and staining it.  I gave up that plan early on when I realized that all the paint was never, ever, ever coming off!!!  I scraped and sanded that thing over and over to no avail.  So, I finally decided to paint it.  I wanted it to have the antique look, as this is an antique, so Clay recommended that I use milk paint.  Milk paint is made with natural materials and used to be used "back in the day" before chemical-filled paint made a debut.  When you paint with it, it is supposed to chip off in random patterns (not like crackle, but actually chip off to show what is underneath) to give it an antique, natural look.  It is also very matte, not shiny at all.

I painted the hutch with milk paint, probably 2-3 coats total.  It chipped and cracked in some areas, not in others.  I guess this is because I sanded it well for the most part and the paint bonded better.  I actually would have liked a little more chipping, but oh well.  There is one spot on the side that it chipped a lot.  The outside of the hutch is white, the inside of the drawers are yellow.

 Here is the finished product!  Joe, my landlord, graciously installed new shelves.  I waxed the whole thing.  Wax is a good sealer instead of using polyurethane.  Polyurethane will leave it super shiny while wax lets it keep it's antique, matte look.  I got the pulls at Hobby Lobby and Clay helped me drill new holes for the knobs.  You see, the old holes weren't even centered!!  Love it!

I am so relieved to have it finished!  I put way more money and time into it than it is worth, but it was worth it, being sentimental to me.  Looking back, I probably should have just given it a rough sanding and painted over the old paint.  You live and you learn :)  I can't wait to decorate it...and then start my next project.  I already have something in mind.  Maybe it won't take 5 years!!!