Converting a Hutch to a Buffet – A Revisit

Mom and I had a wonderful week-end together, and we are easing back into our blog.  I have to admit that turning off the computers and phones was so liberating and relaxing.  We did manage to add a photo to our instagram account now and then (you can sign up to follow us here,) but mostly we stayed off-line.  Yankee, Little Miss, and I, along with our dog Gracie drove to Lexington and spent the week-end with my parents, my brother Cory, and my sister-in-law Josie who were there from Washington, DC.  We had a full roster of things to do, and managed to do most of them despite rain and thunderstorms.  We decided at the last minute to skip the outdoor patriotic concert because of rain predictions, and we ate our picnic at home instead.  And guess what!  We learned later that it didn’t rain until the concert was over.  Little Miss has adjusted to our family’s life pretty well, and the only activity that made her nervous was going to mass in a different church.  She really enjoyed watching the 10k race that my family did, and waved her American flag for the 2,800 runners while wearing her smocked flag dress.  The runners appreciated her enthusiasm.

 

Since today is the our first July blog post, we are going to revisit a post from July 2015.  The one we selected is the post Mom wrote about converting her kitchen hutch to a buffet as part of some tweaks she made to her kitchen last year.  Enjoy the revisit.

We are continuing to make our way around the kitchen and see the tweaks that have just been completed. From the get-go, I wasn’t a fan of the buffet that we put in the eating area of our kitchen during the major remodel we did four years ago. Frankly, it just looked too granny to me. I could never get it accessorized the right way, and it just seemed to loom over us when we ate. I decided that the best decision would be converting the hutch into a buffet.  (Note – to read the post about the new lamp shades, go here.)

 

 

It was an simple fix, actually. I guess that’s easy for me to say since carpenter Greg did all of the work. I asked him to remove some upper cabinets in our pantry and to replace them with the hutch top.

 

 

Then he made some repairs to the drywall, sanded it down, painted it, and it was all finished. This is what it looked like before.

 

As soon as I saw the cabinet without the hutch top, I knew it was the right decision. Like many of us, I asked myself what took me so long to make that decision. I know the answer, though. That hutch top was an investment, and I just felt I was wasting money to move it. However, now that it is in the pantry, it looks so much better, and the pantry looks so much better. You will be seeing it soon.

 

Back in the winter I mentioned here on the blog that I bought a mirror on a random stop at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Kitchen designer Debra Hupman suggested that I paint it the same gray as our peninsula. That’s after I had already painted it three other colors that just weren’t working. The mirror weighs a ton and cost me only $35.00. We might have hung it a little too low, but I’m fine with it for the time being.

 

These lamps that I made from demi-johns in wooden crates were in the great room. Debra and I decided they would work on this buffet. The wood goes perfectly with the old wood used on the new shelves. I do plan to paint the shades a lighter color. They were custom-made for these lamps, but Jordan suggested they might look better if they were lightened.

 

 

This buffet will be loads of fun to change up with the seasons. Right now I just have a huge mirror tray on it topped with a maiden hair fern.

 

There’s tons of texture with the Cararra marble, wood on the lamps copper pots and pans, mirror, and chrome. It really adds to the look, and I love it!

 

 

Thank you all for stopping in.

 

Take care.

 

Cheers, and we will see you tomorrow.