In which a hutch gets a makeover

I've been collecting pieces of furniture for painting or refinishing for a while now. My time in North Dakota is where the infection set in, but small apartment life wasn't conducive to creativity. I'm working on changing that now that we're in a home again and have the necessary room for rehab jobs.

My first paint job was of a bright orange coffee table Larry and I picked up in Minneapolis, at the halfway point during a trip from North Dakota to Illinois. I found it on Craigslist for $15. When we finally got to work on it, we realized that the previous owner didn't just paint the thing the nastiest shade of orange ever, she painted it it orange with the thickest brush strokes possible. So we sanded it down to it's naked state, then pulled out the spray gun. I chose a turquoise latex paint, lightly distressed the edges for definition, waxed the legs, and went over the top with several coats of clear polyurethane. Unfortunately my laptop's original hard drive crashed and took this among hundreds of other pictures with it so I have no before to show, but here's the after: 

After our move to Washington I found a hutch at a sweet little shop full of redone furniture. It was off-white, heavily distressed, and had no glass shelf inserts. What this lovely lady needed was some help, and although it took me about three months, I finished her makeover this afternoon. Well, all except the glass shelves. It's not like I have anything to put on them yet so no matter...

Hutch, before: 

Hutch, after:

I left her hardware on; I just couldn't part with her original stuff. Her outer skin took two layers of fresh white latex in flat finish to amend the over-done distress work, but between baby feedings and meal cooking and everything else it got done. I re-distressed her, but very purposefully and in all the right places. A coating of BriWax gave her a silky feel. Inside I experimented with making my own chalk paint, which I must say worked wonderfully. I think the dusty blue complements the white well.

And there you have it. A few completed projects, many I haven't even begun, and several I am in the middle of. Like this telephone chair I unearthed during a Freeport, IL shop crawl.

Again, no before, but here's the during:

Dark red wood, a not soft chair pad covered in red and brown striped cloth- it was probably a fresh 1950s look at one time. But I have this love affair with white...