Shabby, Funky, Eclectic Hutch

For the past two weeks I've been revamping this hutch. It all started as we were re-purposing our office/ guest room/ homeschool room to a Mac Room. My husband collects vintage Macintosh computers. He really needed a place to be able to set the machines up and work on them. The hutch was used to store all the school supplies. Since we moved the school books to a closet upstairs, we didn't need it in that room anymore. I was ready to Craig's List it when my hubby said..."You could paint it and use it in the craft room." The thought of a project was irresistible. So I set out to transform it to something fun and funky. Here is what I started with...

DISCLAIMER!-Just to let you know, I had no idea what I was doing. I checked a few blogs and just went for it. Definitely learned some things in the process!

I found a really cute hutch online that inspired me here. I didn't have the same cute designs to work with, but liked the black and white. Many of the blogs mention that a furniture piece has great "bones." My hutch is a 1970's pressboard cabinet. Does that mean it has osteoporosis?

 Since the inside was paper covered pressboard on fixed shelves, I decided to spray paint it.

 I ripped out the ratan. Woohoo! The hardest part was deciding how to fill it in. Read on to see my solution.

  I painted a darker brown first, hoping it would show up when I sanded/distressed it. (It didn't work so well....) I tried using a foam roller. Didn't work so well either. Paint went on really thin and when I went to put another coat on, it seemed to pick up paint instead of spreading it evenly. I started using a roller with some nap and that helped a great deal!

And here's the finished product...

 

I filled the gap from the rattan caning with black beads.

 I used a tablecloth I found at a garage sale for a dollar, to make the valance.

 The Eiffel Tower was cut using Make the Cut. It took three sheets of Vinyl. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.