Kitchen Coffee Buffet

If there’s one thing you’ve probably found out about me is that I’m not much of a planner when it comes to projects. When I woke up this morning I was planning on cleaning, work on Christmas cards, and pay bills. But then I went to the basement and saw, as if for the first time, the dining room hutch that was doubling as a TV stand and my brain said, “hey, you need more counter/storage space in your kitchen. Why don’t you put that up there?” to which I replied, “That is such a good idea, Brain! thank you for being clever!” So, I set about to transform this piece of furniture in a totally unplanned fashion.

Here’s what it looked like before. It wasn’t bad, in fact, I quite liked the shape of it, just not so much the wood stain.

To prep for painting, I removed all the drawers and doors and hardware. Then, I did something a little gutsy and cut the piece of wood that went between the two doors right off. I knew I wanted an open shelf look. It was scary because I wasn’t sure how much stability I would be compromising, but it turns out that board wasn’t doing to much as it’s still as strong as ever.

Then, with the Today Show on, I painted it with a grey chalk paint mixture that I’d made. I really love this chalk paint for the ease of application. It goes on really smooth and thick and doesn’t often require sanding or extra coats. Plus, the matte finish is lovely, in my opinion. I did end up sanding the entire thing because it was so smooth that, while I have faith in the chalk paint, I wasn’t about to wait for several coats to dry. I have an awesome little sander that does the job quickly.

When you look up how to distress furniture on Pinterest, you get about a million different techniques that get so complicated and expensive with all the different stains and waxes and involve layering different paints and colors. I don’t get it. I just take my handy sander to the thing and distress it like it would naturally. Cheap. Easy. Done.

Do you love it? Well, it doesn’t really matter if you do, because I do! I scrounged around my house for some baskets and decorations to put on it and this is all I came up with. Eventually I’ll fill the space with pretty things.

It’s hard to believe that it’s really grey. I think the yellow of the walls distort it to look slightly blue, but, I assure you, there isn’t even a hint of blue in the paint. It’s grey, I promise. Now the chair is blue. Can you see the difference when they are close? Someday I want to paint our kitchen. The yellow is just not working for me.

This silver tea set was found in my husband’s great aunt’s house. I’ve found many treasures there.

Jordan approves of the new hutch! Please ignore the fact that his shirt is wet, he’s holding an ink pen, and that he looks cross eyed. By the way, that pen is in several other pictures above, can you find it? This is why photography is my weak point, I never think to clear the area. I digress.

If you like my kitchen coffee buffet, feel free to Pin it to Pinterest!

Thanks for stopping by!