I’ve been secretly aching to give an old piece of furniture a bold coat of obnoxious awesomeness. Aaaand last weekend, I found the perfect old china hutch on craigslist for a mere $40 bucks! HOLLA!
(actual craigslist photo!)
My favorite part of making over china cabinets is giving the ‘backboard’ my own personal touch (like this and this). And having painted the body of the piece crazy bright Krylon Pumpkin Orange (this post contains affiliate links). I wanted something funky and awesome on the backboard to really give that BAM effect. So naturally, I consulted my list of patterns and decided to try my hand at the Ogee (onion shaped) Pattern! Here’s the example I used:
(source of photo unknown)
So I started by priming the backboard using my good buddy Kilz! Then I cut a template (modified from my inspiration pattern) and drew it on with a pencil… one ‘onion shape’ at a time!
I’m totally talking on the phone in that picture with my friend Rachel. Anywho… I thought to myself, ‘what’s the ugliest-most-out-of-style-color’ (seriously I did), and chose hunter green to go with my crazy orange. I mean, the 80’s are back right now… and we all know what’s coming next. So why not be a trend-setter and bring the 90’s back prematurely!
Nick kept saying… ‘it looks like a corn stalk’ or ‘it looks like a big tire track’.
Once I had that step done, it was time for the orange, and an accent of sky blue. (these are just basic acrylic craft paints)
And the last step is to make everything crisp and perfect by outlining in white.
I wanted my brush strokes to show a little… because it IS painted after all! And it didn’t want it to look too much like wallpaper.
Having finished my backboard, all that remained was assembling… putting doors/hinges/hardware back on, and the backboard of course… and there you have it!
Doesn’t this china cabinet make you feel inexplicably joyful?
I’m SMITTEN with this baby, and would totally keep it if my kitchen/dining room weren’t inundated with the color orange already. I mean, you can’t have this thing in the same room as the orange chair, right?
Have you painted anything obnoxious? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!!
~Bethany
Would you recommend spray painting vs chalk painting for this type of project?
Curious what you did about the gold stripes on the windows… can you just scrape that off?
Truthfully, this post was written 4 years ago… and I don’t remember! Haha! I’m so sorry! I think we might have had new glass put in.
What part of Iowa are you from? Our craigslist is just horrid! (Southern Iowa). The only ones who post items for sale on there is this local resale shop that overprices everything. I’m bemoaning. And jealous. And I love that piece!
We live near Marshalltown… so anytime we’re traveling to Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Ames, or Waterloo (because we’re right in the middle of all 4!) I’ll check over their craigslist pages to see what there is. It’s definitely gone downhill over the years though. Seems like rather than ‘garage sale prices’, people want to make a fortune on their junk. Frustrating.
Absolutely stunning!
I LOVE this! I’m in the midst of my own hutch transformation and your piece provided some much needed inspiration. Thanks!
I too bought a china cubboard and re~painted mine a country red awhile back, just recently I put a backing inside but I didn’t free~hand it… I bought a red ~n~ white swirl type pattern and nailed it in(lazy I know). Looks good. Still not used to it. Next time instead of a nail gun I will use staples, dah..!!! I have to go back and tap done the nails.. I’m someone who wants the results right away therefore find my mistakes later… you’d think, live and learn….
What a great color choice. I saw this at Better After and knew that i needed to leave a comment for the brave artist who did this. Wow. Great color and a very nice surprise that you painted the backboard pattern.
I just saw this on Better After and said out loud, “YES! That’s how it’s done!” My cats looked at me weird, but I don’t care. This is beyond amazing.
Words cannot express how much I love this!!!!!!!
OKay, now I know I was MEANT to find you! I just read your infertitlty story! My post yesterdayt was to my Mom who passed away in 2007, and Yesterday,
July 8 was her birthday.
Happy Birthday to your precious baby Girls…your story is inspirational…and I am so happy for you ALL. (BTW – I too had endometriosis…it took 4 surgeries, but we have 3 amazing kids…11, 14 and 15…)
I don’t need to tell YOU to enjoy the ride, you were already there!
TO DIE! TOI DIE TO DIE!!!! LOVE this, I found you and your blog via inspire me heather where I also have a HUtch featured…LOVE you blog…the name…the design…I AM you latest follower!!! Come by my Old Country House for some Modern farmhouse insanity!!! I start my KIds ART CAmp today…You would Love it!
Very, very cool! You’ve done an amazing job with that and the backboard is just gorgeous! I have this linked to my dining room hutches post as well today, for inspiration!
holy cow! That is amazing!! And Im pretty sure that orange would totally match my kitchen. (my entire kitchen is painted orange) If I had the room I would totally buy it!
Love this! I was skeptical throughout the post. But this is FANTASTIC!
Love it! You have such VISION!!
omg that looks amazing. i’m a sucker for the retro greens, oranges and yellows and the onion pattern is something i would totally choose. i never would have thought to do hunter, but it totally works.
If shipping wasn’t going to be outrageous to have it shipped, I’d so be emailing you. My hands are gonna start shaking–that’s how very badly I want this!!
Love love love it! Great job, Beth!
This. Is. Amazing!!
MAYBE Renee! 🙂 depends where you live!
This is my favorite piece that you have done! I love, love, love the orange! Do you deliver??
LOVE! If only I had room for it. When we buy our house next year I am totally having a S and E masterpiece.
Amazing! I was skeptical throughout the post. But this is FANTASTIC!
I LOVE IT! and I hate orange usually. I think you should totally keep it, who better than you with your love of orange? I’ll come over and help you move things out of the way for it.
Wow! Just discovered your blog and I am amazed at your vision! I too, bought an ugly dirty mustard yellow corner cabinet at a yard sale for $12 a few years back. I repainted with a white over navy crackle with navy inside the cabinet. I have people begging to buy it from me. I’m still using it though ready to change it up. Hmm, orange could be refreshing…
Awww!! I totally want this cabinet but we just don’t have room for it 🙁 not until we actually buy our own house in a few years. I hold out hope that when the time comes you will create another colorful masterpiece that I can decorate my home with.
Wow! Absolutely Gorgeous. You guys have such an amazing talent. Love!!!
the first picture i seen and then you said orange and I was like that is ugly, but I do like bright, but that hutch was just ugly before!! LOVE IT!
I am amazed at how this turned out. When I first started reading I was like “giant bright orange hutch?” but now I’m like “WOW” You have such a talent. The backboard is Awesome… if I had any idea of some way to use that hutch in my home I would totally buy it, but, it would not go anywhere here (and hubby probably wouldn’t like it) but I love it you have done an excellent job!
Beth this is awesome! I must admit that I am not prone to painting furniture bright colors, but you seem to have such a gift for making me want something that is totally out of my element! Thanks for sharing your talent, it really is an inspiration to fellow aspiring DIY-ers.
(P.S. I thoroughly enjoy your use of “HOLLA!”)
do you ever email the people you bought things from and say “LOOK HOW SWEET I MADE YOUR UGLY CABINET!” …. I think the compulsion to do so would be overwhelming. haha. I already am having urges to send the previous homeowner photos of the updates we’ve been making to the house.