Learn how to create two separate pieces of furniture from an old china hutch! Create the look of stylish custom furniture simply by adding legs and make your furniture budget stretch further!
Wouldn't it be awesome if you could score two pieces of furniture for the price of one? What if I said you could! In fact, this DIY furniture tutorial is SO AWESOME it's even better than walking into a 50% off furniture clearance or a buy one get one FREE furniture sale!
Do "buy one, get one free" furniture sales even exist? Wishful thinking!
In this post, we're going to share with you a creative and innovative way to furnish your home with stylish and custom pieces for a fraction of a fraction of the cost that you would pay if you were buying brand new furniture. :)
You are going to learn how to create two pieces of furniture simply by separating the top and the bottom sections of a tired china hutch.
Are you ready to have your mind blown? This repurposed furniture idea will knock your socks off and it will give you all sorts of inspiration for upcycling old furniture. What if I told you it was possible to create two pieces of furniture by repurposing a china cabinet. Do I have your attention? Good! If you've followed us for for any length of time you know that we love to repurpose and refurbish furniture into show stopping pieces and we don't like to spend a lot of money doing it! So, this upcycling furniture idea takes the cake! This budget friendly upcycled furniture makeover allowed us to create a china hutch and buffet from just one piece of furniture. No surgery was required. ;) Today, we're going to show you how to create gorgeous repurposed furniture pieces from ONE china cabinet! You could create media consoles, buffets, or sofa tables from one china cabinet. That's two furniture statement pieces for the price of one!
An easy tutorial on how to up-cycle a hutch to create two separate pieces of furniture with Pure & Original Classico Paint.
Sometimes, it is love at first site. Sometimes, it takes some warming up to. Sometimes, you can give a piece a facelift with just a little bit of paint. Sometimes, you make alterations first. This one was Love. At. First. Site.
These gorgeous arched doors were staring at me and I knew I had to have it. I didn't necessarily like it "as is", but I saw the potential and the potential called for some alterations. The vision? I would separate the two piece china hutch and create two distinct pieces and functions out of them.
While Pure & Original provided the products used to complete this labor of love, we supplied the elbow grease, rescued furniture, design concept, and opinions! All of which reflect our own point of view, regardless of affiliation.. This post may contain affiliate links. You can view our full disclosure here.
When I'm selecting a hutch to dissect, I like to look for ones with straight lines at the top as opposed to an arched top. When you're creating two separate pieces out of a hutch, a hutch with a straight line at the top gives the new piece a more natural look rather then looking like a hutch top that you've tried to turn into a cabinet.
Two reasons most straight lined hutches are open on top. First, if its a lighted cabinet it needs space for the cords. If there aren't any built in lights, it simply just saves the furniture company money and time when let's face it, nobody can see up there anyway. ;)
Since the top of our hutch was being turned into a stand alone cabinet and the new height would allow someone to see the top of it, we needed to create a false top. We selected a pine board from our local big box hardware store and had them cut it to size.
We didn't want to worry about whether or not the existing hutch top was square so we opted to give our measurements an extra 1/4" inch overage from our hutch dimensions. By doing so, we created the illusion of another layer of molding.
We used some wood glue and a nail gun to secure the board to the top. Then, we gave it a quick stain so that pine closely matched the existing stain. This cabinet was going to be distressed so giving the cabinet a universal base color before painting it would help those distressed areas look more natural.
What we did to the top we also executed to the bottom. We added another stained pine board to the bottom of the hutch so that we had a thicker surface area to work with when we added our feet. We selected inexpensive bun style legs and gave them the same stain treatment before securing them to the bottom of the hutch the hutch.
When we finished, our new cabinet looked like this...
Two pieces for the price of one! This blog post covers our furniture makeover for the top portion of the hutch. If you missed what we did to the bottom section, you can catch that here. If you enjoyed this post, you'll want to see some more examples of up-cycled furniture using Pure & Original Paint!
This little furniture makeover has my heart. She is staunch. She is feminine. And she has curves for days. Behind that cute delicate door are three more drawers. Those legs make my heart pitter-patter.
I've had my eye on this lovely dresser from Anthropologie for some time. But sadly they would like me to empty my pocket book to the tune of $1300.00 for it. So, I'll continue to gawk at it and use it as inspiration instead. :)
Have you heard of Prairie Colors Chalk Finish Paint before? It's a newer paint line that gets its color pallet inspiration from The American Heartland. Prairie Colors offers a beautiful color selection, the chalk finish paint goes on smooth, it has fabulous coverage and it's so easy to work with! With my Anthropologie inspiration and my love for Prairie Colors in tow, I decided to use Prairie Colors in Telegram to refinish The Carolina Dresser.
Would you like to try Prairie Color Furniture Paint for FREE?
Yes, FREE.
Then, you're in the right spot! In celebration of Spring, Prairie Colors is offering a fantastic giveaway valued at $35.00!
Your prize?
- Two (2) Sample sizes of Prairie Colors Paint in Wild Rose and Spring on the Prairie
- One (1) 16 oz. jar of Prairie Colors Paint in Cobalt Blue
What would you use all that FREE paint for? Would you paint a piece of furniture? Dress up some picture frames? Lamps? Create pallet wood art? The options are endless!
Here's how to enter:
1. Follow Thirty Eighth Street on Instagram and tag three friends.
2. Like Thirty Eighth Street on Facebook
When you've finished, hop on over to the lovely Stacy at Anastasia Vintage and Kelly at Typically Simple for TWO more Prairie Colors Giveaways!
Thirty Eighth Street will select a winner on April 4, 2015. Winner will be notified via Instagram and will also have an opportunity to feature their completed project(s) using Prairie Colors at Thirty Eighth Street. And we can't wait!
Oooooh it feels good to be back with my brush in hand! Oh, I have missed you! We've taken a long siesta to do some traveling, moving and house projects over here. But, it feels good to be back in the saddle to tackle some long awaited furniture makeovers.
I love thumbing through my Restoration Hardware catalogues. Just about every page is eye candy for me. I just wished their prices matched my wallet! It has a permanent spot on my coffee table and I enjoy thumbing through it to look for inspiration for future projects. I'm currently obsessed with this bookcase. I'm digging the dark grey hue that's paired with the gold/brass tones of this particular space.
I
came across this vintage dresser at an estate sale. It was in excellent condition except for some scratches and a bit of wear. I love those kinds of makeovers!
Check out these handles... they were dark. The handles original patina was masked under I don't even know how many years of age and dirt.
Lucky for me I know about Brasso and the toothbrush. Works like a champ every time. I didn't have to scrub very long before its original shiny self decided to come out and play.
Look at the difference! That Brasso stuff is really amazing!
I refinished Mr. Manchester in a custom color mixing 1 part Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Graphite and Coco and finished him off with Clear Wax. And here he is all put back together...
I'd love to see someone purchase this RH inspired piece and customize it as a bathroom vanity. That would look FABULOUS!
I have a piece of furniture that I refinished years ago that sits in my living room and makes me smile every day I walk through the door. There's a story behind this piece that contains some wonderful life lessons for me. One of the reasons that I was drawn to it were her legs. She had six of them.. something you don't come across very often. My husband has tried to convince me to sell her on several occasions, but I'm still in love with her, so in the living room she stands.
I found another six legged friend that I'm excited to share. It's lovely in its simplicity, straight lines and detailed trim. Once updated, Mrs. Roosevelt would look lovely in a bedroom, in a dining room or fabulous converted into a vanity in a bathroom.
Her before wasn't too horrendous, but the color of the wood wasn't outdated and she had some wear on her top and edges. Like my piece in my living room, I decided to refinish her in Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Old White and Clear Wax. Her original vintage handles were updated in black. I wish I had room for two six legged friends at my house. ;)
Here she is in all her glory...
Never look at just what stands before you. Always look at the potential...
I thought I would show you a little before and after of a piece only a Grandma living in Santa Fe could love. At one time somebody worked really hard to hand paint that Aztec detail on this vintage Bassett buffet. The hardware? Beefy western man handles and improvised metal twisty ties. Oh yeah, this one was a beauty. :)
This one was an easy visual. I loved the clean lines, the feet and the circular details of this piece. I closed my eyes and forgot about the bright colors and rusty handles and I pictured her soft and elegant perched in somebody's dining room. Their sparkly chandelier would dance off the bling bling that I would purchase for this piece. It was a pretty picture inside that head of mine.
So, I turned to an old favorite color of mine. Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Coco. And protected it with a ASCP clear wax. The original piece came with three different types of handles & knobs. I chose to simplify the piece by painting it in one solid color and I selected two rhinestone circular knobs to play up the circular detail that was already in the piece. The rest of the drawers received matching silver pulls and the outcome? Ahhhh... so much better!
Don't be afraid to paint. Don't be afraid to change out the hardware! It's simple. It's easy. And it will give you a big impact for little money...
Some people get excited when they get a rebate, a birthday card or coupons in the mail. I like those things too. But, my smile gets even bigger when I receive my Ballard Designs & Restoration Hardware catalogs. I love it when the house is really quiet and I get relax and slowly flip through each and every page.
I saw this next piece in its raw form and after getting a quick glance of the hardware, it reminded me of something out of RH. There's something industrial about them. (Oh, you can't see them? Is that because the darn photographer I took a picture before the volume indicator turned off?) Sorry. :(
Here. try this one...
If I went dark with dear Mr. Andrew, I decided those babies would really pop. So, Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan in Graphite it was. I love the contrast. Here are a few pictures of the after.
Go find yourself a thrift find and paint it! You'll get dove tails and heavy solid construction at a fraction of the cost!
