Our Newly Refinished Dining Room Hutch

Have you ever had a piece of furniture or space in you house where something always felt “off”? I know I have. This dining room hutch was one of them for me. This piece has had quite the evolution over the past two years. And now, I finally have it right where I want it. 

How I arrived at this current color combo has a little bit of backstory. Not long after we brought the hutch home, I discovered that what I really needed at the time was a buffet table. I had nowhere to place extra food for when guests came over. So, the top went to the basement. Once that was out of the way I painted the bottom half to better fit my overall color scheme. I painted it in the color Original by Annie Sloan. After keeping it the plain white, I decided to try my favorite aging technique with Annie’s black wax. Well, on the front of it anyway. I actually never got around to aging the sides. Lazy, I know ha! 

Then, right around the holidays last year, my mom found a gorgeous china cabinet on Facebook marketplace. When I saw it in her home, I was so inspired and knew I wanted my cabinet all in one piece again too. So, back up it came. That then begged the question of what color I should paint the top. I didn’t have any of the white on hand, so I went to my local stockist to check out some more paint. Part of me desperately wanted to try the new Athenian Black, and that’s exactly what I ended up doing. The color was so rich and beautiful on that hutch. I loved the look of the whole piece for a while, and then that’s when it hit me that something was “off”. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was still pretty. It just didn’t feel right to me, personally, and for the look I was aiming for in this room. Here is a look at the cabinet with that setup:

I lived it with for a long time when I finally made the decision to cover up that striking black to see if painting the top white as well would make it feel more “right” to me. As soon as I did it, I knew it was a huge mistake. The entire cabinet being white looked far too monochromatic, and it washed out the dining room entirely. I had never felt so frustrated with a piece of our furniture before. No matter what I did, it always felt wrong to me. That’s when a revelation finally dawned on me. I had the colors right the first time around, I just simply had them backwards. I now needed to paint the bottom black in order to get that perfect balance I was searching for. 

I didn’t have any of the Athenian Black at home, but I did have some Dixie Bell in the color Caviar on hand. I love that shade of black as well and decided to just use what I already had. And now I LOVE it. The piece itself and the room feel so much more balanced to me. It finally feels right! I did a quick coat of spray paint over the knobs and pulls in a brass tone as well to make them pop against the black. 

I’ve been told before that color seems “easy” to me. Sometimes that can be true, but in reality, I struggle with finding the right colors (or balance of colors) more often than not. But that’s the beauty of design. We are always learning, growing, and evolving into our best styles. I’ve painted the beadboard in our breakfast nook 4 times now trying the find the perfect color balance for the room. And, I put two dozen paint samples on my living room walls before I was able to find the right color. Sometimes, our first try works. Sometimes, we have to try two, three, or twenty four more times to get it right! But in the end, the journey to finding the design we will love is a great learning tool. And it’s different for everyone. I hope this encourages you if you’ve been finding yourself in a design or color rut too. Sometimes we just have to keep making those mistakes to find the perfect fit for us and what we will love most in our spaces.

Thank you so much for checking out my newly refinished hutch (this had better be the last time I paint this thing haha). Let me know what you think of the color switch! And if you are struggling with a space or piece in your home, I hope this encourages you while you are in the process of trying to make it feel “right” for you and your family. Thanks again for being here!