The Kitchen Hutch that Made me Cry. And want to go Furniture Shopping.

Let me start this post as a reminder of what kind of girl I am.  If you look at my blog design for like a second you should get a good idea.  I'm a girly girl! I like pink and crafting cute little crafts while sitting at my pink craft desk watching shows like gossip girl.

Enter blog land. WHOA look at everything you can DIY!! DIY EVERYTHING!!! WHOOO!!! So I branched out my crafting into different areas and even did my first furniture redo:


And let me tell you. I was pretty impressed with myself.  Felt very empowered. I CAN DIY ANYTHING!!!!

Enter my quest to find a buffet table/kitchen hutch/side table thingamabob for our new kitchen. 

I went thrifting and found this hutch type piece. After texting a pic to hubby and a lot of indecisiveness I decided to buy it to redo even though it wasn't THAT cheap for a thrift store - after tax it came to 90 dollars. 

I hauled the piece over to the workshop behind my father's business and set out to work on it.  All I really wanted to do was give it a little sanding, slap some primer on, and then paint it.  That seems to be what everyone else always does, right??

Well. I was not allowed. Hubby claimed I had to do it "right" and strip it down first.  Ex-furniture-maker father of mine also insisted on this as well.  So, I started to strip.  The paint! The paint! Not my clothes :)

As you can see there were already THREE coats of paint under here...so I guess it was a good I idea to strip before putting more on.

Here's the end of my progress on the first day: As you can see, I got all the easy parts done. 


That's gonna be a pain

THOSE are going to be even more of a pain!

Next day I bring hubby back with me to help. See, what I didn't realize about the difference between this project and my desk redo: my desk only had a stain on it.  It came of pretty easy. Also, all the surfaces were flat and square.  There were no nooks and crannies to get into. 

This dang hutch was the complete opposite.  Nooks and crannies everywhere and three layers of paint!! So hubby sets to work tackling the shelves of the hutch and I sit down with a tray full of stripper and a little tiny brush and TRY to get the paint of those darn shutter doors.

Needles to say after three hours of work with LOTS more paint to still get off, sitting on a concrete floor with a few minor burns from the stripper flinging onto me and freezing fingers (do stripper and rubber gloves like chemically react to make something FREEZING COLD?? cause that's what it seemed like inside those dang gloves) my lower lip starts quivering and I may have started to bawl out a few lines like this....

WHY DID I EVEN BUY THIS STUPID HUTCH. I CAN'T DO THIS. I DON'T LIKE DIY. I JUST WANT TO GO MAKE MONEY AND THEN GO TO A FURNITURE STORE AND BUY SOMETHING.  WHAAAAA. 

Hubby gave me a little "there there" talk and we decided to call it quits for the day. We went home and I got a hot shower and made pork tacos and forgot all about the stupid hutch.

After some time to mull it over I've pulled myself together a little better and have set out to tackle it again this weekend...third day of stripping is a charm right?? I've already sunk 90 bucks into it and like 7 hours of hard labor. Well, in my mind it's hard labor. 

That being said. I don't know how many more funiture redos I can handle after this....I think it's time to start up my Jewelry Lessons series again.

At least I don't start bawling in the middle of that. 

15 comments

  1. Thank you for someone telling the truth about DIYing furniture. It all looks so easy!

    My idea: take off those doors--unless of course you love them. But you could leave it open or try to make a different kind of door, esp. with your dad being an ex furniture maker. I'd go for glass with a wood frame for a new door if I were you. But, that's my pie in the sky idea. Good luck!!

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  2. You can do it! Hang in there! :D

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  3. I know how you're feeling- I get that way when I try to re-do a piece of furniture! Take my word for it-it will be worth it! Once it's done, you'll just want to sit and gaze at it:)

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  4. Seriously, you sound like me when I redid MY hutch. HATE. It takes a year to recover before you decide you can do another piece.

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  5. At least you got a gorgeous hutch in the end!!

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  6. Hi I'm new hear and loved your story even though it was painful and I totally understand. I personally you should have agreed with the men, nodded and smiled and then did your own thing. I say sand the puppy down as you have it now and start slapping on paint. It's gonna be yours afterall and not a furniture store haha. It reminds me of when my DIY father-in-law suggested I put caulk on one of my pieces and paint over it. I merely said "you're so cute" and walked a way!

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  7. Yikes! Sorry this has turned out to be a headache! The piece has character though! I agree with Rita, sand and paint! Surely it will be worth it in the end!

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  8. I like to watch Gossip Girl while I craft too!

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  9. LOOOVE your honesty! because often people make all these re-do thing easy! and IT IS NOT! but hey, your piece is beautiful, lots of charm, you are on the right track! Can not wait to see it ready ( no rush:))

    Andrea

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  10. Your desk turned out really nice! I'm sure your hutch will look just as nice. All that hard work will turn out for the best in the end:)

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  11. awww I'm so sorry you're so frustrated with this project :( It's a beautiful piece...just is very hard with lots of curves and details and grooves!! But I KNOW you can do it and you will LOVE how it looks afterwards! You will be able to look at it for years and say "YES - I "made" that!!" :)

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  12. I was so excited to see you doing furniture! Your desk turned out so cute! I do lots of furniture diy myself and I have only used stripper once, and it was horrible! I never finished that project. I burnt myself all over with the stripper ouch, One day I will go back and finish it but I gave up for a while because I could never get all the paint off and now it's all uneven, I wish I would have just painted over it, the only reason I used the stripper was because the piece had crackel paint on it before, and I didn't want that look. Normally I just sand stuff really good and if you use an oil base primer it really works well to cover up old layers of paint. I should have just done it my normal way. I never again plan to use stripper again either. That was the only furniture project I have ever done were I was just really at a loss. So don't give up on furniture diy just yet I am sure you can do it!!! I can't wait to see your hutch all done!

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  13. I absolutely hate stripping furniture. I would rather sand or paint over if I can help it than deal with paint stripper. It's not fun at all! Hopefully the rest of it goes better for you. It seems that you already have a lot of it done.

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  14. I think furniture renovation is the most right and good thing to do. And for you to save some furniture that have only a bit damage. Well then good luck!

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