Love this small hutch that I painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I found it in Simcoe from a mother/daughter team that were renovating mom’s house. I had never been to Simcoe and honestly thought it was much smaller than it actually was. Simcoe has these stately homes, beautiful gardens along the main road and a Walmart!! You know you’ve made it if you’ve got a Walmart in town.
This was one of a few pieces that I picked up from mom/daughter and as you can see it had seen better days. As I started deconstructing it appeared as though it had some water damage, mostly beneath the upper hutch so I needed to take some extra care here.
When I unscrewed the top of the cabinet from the bottom I knew I wanted to refinish the top surfaces of both units. The walnut always comes out beautifully after it has been refinished and stained with a walnut stain. I chemically stripped both of the tops from both units to disintegrate the many coats of varnish that were on the cabinet. You’ll notice below that in order for the chemical to not dry out too quickly I like to cover it with plastic to allow the stripper to do it’s thing.
After the surface had been scraped with a putty knife, cleaned with mineral spirits and with some cold water I allowed the surface to dry. In the mean time, I began to clean all the surfaces, take off all the hardware and get myself organized to begin painting.
I decided to do the inside of the cabinets in a combination of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old Violet and Aubusson Blue. So I began with the interior of the cabinets. Two coats for good coverage.
I then began to paint the exterior of the cabinet in my favourite Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White that I watered down a bit to allow for better coverage and it also allows for a longer working time as it tends to dry quickly.
I had to apply three coats of the white as the wood colour was quite dark. While it was all drying I cleaned all the hardware with steel wool to reveal it’s original antique copper/bronze finish. The hardware on this piece is really special especially the back plates on all the droplet style pulls.
The dimensions of Lady Simcoe are 33 1/2 “W x 18″D x 61” H, a little on the small size but lots of storage in the bottom cabinet and in the hutch above. Each cabinet has one shelf to allow for extra space in the cabinets. The glass door on the front is quite large and with its natural wood fretwork looks very ornate. The lower cabinet to has some lovely carved doors, a pull-out drawer, and lovely feet.
In the photos below you will notice that there are magnolia petals everywhere. This is because the magnolia tree that I take all my photos beneath is in full bloom and looks absolutely beautiful now!!
This is a fine example of refinished and painted furniture and what you can do to create your own style at home.
We are located in the Niagara Region. If you’d like us to help you with your painted furniture choices please send us an email to studiopaint@yahoo.com.
Before and After:
Sharon Kuehnel says
Beautiful!
Studio Paint says
Thank you Sharon Kuehnel!!