Farmhouse Hutch DIY

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Hey friends! It’s been awhile since I have posted. So much craziness happening with the huge Texas snow storm and trying to get life back on track…but we made it and here we are. Throughout all of this chaos, I was able to complete my FIRST big DIY….my farmhouse hutch!!

picture of farmhouse hutch

I am in awe over this project because I absolutely love how it turned out! I have wanted a hutch for yeeeaaarrrs now. As a child, I remember my mother had a hutch with a matching dining room table. She decorated her hutch every season with holiday décor. I learned a lot of my decorating habits from her as I watched her change her decorations year after year. For some time now, I have wanted to have this experience. 

However, I did not want just any kind of hutch, but I one that has been updated and painted. I have seen various styles painted on Facebook marketplace and Etsy. But they are priced so high and I knew that with time and effort I could put together the hutch that I have been envisioning. Here is how I created my farmhouse hutch.

How I found the perfect hutch:

I began hunting for an inexpensive hutch on Facebook marketplace for some time. Its been hard finding a style that I like and within my price range. I finally stumbled upon this one.

picture of hutch

I wanted to paint this hutch a crisp white color with some distressing. During the process, I tried some new tricks just to see if they would be successful. I learned things along the way and I am so proud of how it turned out. 

One thing that I tried new this time with using chalk paint was I decided to use primer on the hutch after I had sanded it down. I wanted to see if this would prevent future scratches or reduce the amount of chalk paint I would have to use. Well, unfortunately this created more of an issue. The primer came through as yellow, so I had to use multiple coats of chalk paint to cover it up. This was hard to do in small crevices. However, after I learned from this experience, I was able to correct it and move on. It was just a bump in the road. 

The First Steps I took ::

  1. Removed all of the hardware. Labeled the baggies on where the hardware was located and kept them in a safe place. I also removed the glass and lattice wood inserts. I did end up throwing away the lattice wood inserts.

2. Next, I sanded down the entire hutch. Since the hutch can be pulled apart into a top and bottom piece, we separated the pieces and sanded both parts down. It was a rough sanding using 80 coarse sanding pads. 

picture of farmhouse hutch sanded down.
picture of farmhouse hutch sanded down.

3. After sanding, I used the primer. However, I think I will skip this step next time and go straight to painting with the chalk paint. Chalk paint projects usually don’t need a lot of prep or primer applied. Using the primer with this project created a lot more stress for me too. I discovered that parts of the hutch that weren’t heavily coated in chalk paint came through as yellow from the primer.

picture of farmhouse hutch with primer applied to it.
picture of farmhouse hutch with primer and paint on it.

4. Painted. I used Rust-o-leum’s Linen White Chalk Paint. This is my second third project using this brand of chalk paint and I absolutely LOVE it! It provides a good quality coverage for an inexpensive price + it is easy to find in stores/online. I painted the entire hutch in all of it’s corners, crevices and inside of the hutch. The first layer may look rough and streaky. That is ok. Once you paint the second coat, it will look better.

5. After the first coat has completely dried, paint the second coat. 

Putting it All Together::

6. After the second coat of paint dried, I used my 220 coarse sand paper and finely distressed the hutch. The arches, corners and places with detail were very easily distressed because of the natural raises in the wood. This had to be my favorite part of the project. I loved seeing the piece come to life. WARNING this part is messy!

picture of farmhouse hutch and the distressed detail.
picture of farmhouse hutch and the distressing detail.

7. I pulled the back board off of the top of the hutch. I wanted to add a shiplap look to the back, so I purchased inexpensive untreated fence posts for this. For each fence post, I paid $1.92 and the whole back needed 6 of them to cover it all up. 

Fence posts used as shiplap.

8. The fence posts created many challenges as well. For one, it took me some time to make the decision on what kind of wood to use for the shiplap. And then the fence posts that I purchased were untreated, so they needed to be primed heavily before painted. I learned this the hard way.

9. After painting the shiplap or fence posts we nailed them to the back of the hutch. We used 3/4 inch nails and made sure to nail it in on both sides of the post to secure it in place.

Nailing the shiplap onto the back of the hutch.

10. Ta-da! Here she is! I can’t stop looking at this beautiful piece of work. I recently decorated it for Easter and love how it looks.

picture of farmhouse hutch completed.
sign off for simply life with allison