A Pine Hutch in Duck Egg Blue

Nothing quite as nice as rescuing a piece of furniture off the side of the road. My friend heard from her aunt that this poor vintage solid pine hutch was on the side of the road in Portland. At the time my workshop was jam-packed and I hesitated to take on yet another project, but the lure of free furniture is damn near irresistible for me, so I drove over there the next day and snatched it up.

         The piece is very nicely made, all solid wood, and very sturdy, but was marred and scarred all over the place, as pine often gets after years of hard use. I meticulously filled most of the scratches, though some of the more appealing ones I left, as I wanted the piece to have a warm worn farmhouse feel. I sanded the top and stained it in a honey tone, then sealed it coat after coat until it was smooth as a baby's rump and shiny as glass. I painted it in three different shades of blue, with two coats of the top custom mixed duck egg, then distressed it so all the coats would come through for a nice deep surface. I sealed it with dark wax and swapped the drawer pulls out with a combination of knobs and cup pulls. One of the lower doors was cracked. It could have been repaired but would have been tedious, and I just loved the idea of integrating baskets and open storage into the base, so rather than repair it, I chucked it and its partner into the fire, bought lovely baskets that fit the piece perfectly, and painted the backboard and interior is a custom mixed shade of buttermilk. Not gonna lie, I'm over the moon with this hutch!!