Mid Century Hutch | Thrift Store Makeover
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This mid-century hutch was a great deal for only fifteen dollars! The reason it was so cheap? The glass in one of the doors was broken.
Thrift Store Mid-Century Hutch
Other than that, it was in pretty good shape, except on the side edges of the bottom. This is pressed wood under veneer, so refinishing it wasn’t an option.
Can you see the bottom edge here? And the broken pane of glass?
Preparing to Paint MCM Hutch
A putty knife and needle-nosed pliers helped remove the glass in the mid-century modern hutch.
This is how the glass was held in place in the cabinet. I took a picture of the hinges to know how to reattach them when the time was right. Tip: take photos that will enable you to reassemble your project.
Step 1 Clean and Degrease
When you buy thrift store furniture, you never know what it’s been through or where it has been stored. TSP is an excellent cleaner/degreaser to remove grease, grime, and nicotine. Look how dirty the water is in the bucket.
Excellent All Purpose Paint For Thrift Store Projects
My new best friend, the Homeright Finish Max Super, is becoming well-loved and broken in. I mixed up some DIY chalky paint primer using some blue oops paint and plaster of paris.
Leaving the inside of the bottom cabinet original wasn’t a difficult decision for me. When a cabinet is meant for storage, paint can get scratched up. For this reason, I prefer not to paint the inside of storage pieces. I used a scrap piece of thin plywood to prevent overspray inside the lower cabinet.
Thinking that I would leave the MCM hutch a dark blue; however, it wasn’t the color I intended. I got the color mixed up with another, oops, blue.
Replacing Glass Shelves With Wooden Shelves
Did you notice that the buffet was missing shelves? They were glass and were broken when they arrived at my home. Honestly, I have no idea if they were already broken or perhaps they broke when there was a “load” shift in the truck. I had no idea the shelves were glass when I bought the furniture piece, or I would have transported them separately. In the bottom image, you can see the difference in the colors of the blue paint.
Related Content: Navy Blue Furniture Projects
The buffet is beautiful after two light coats of the chalky paint primer and two light coats of the navy (dark denim) top coat!
Replace Hardware
It’s time to put the hardware back on. The top left photo shows that I put the hinge on wrong—even after looking at the picture. I was not paying attention to the knuckle. It needed to rest beside the edge of the door. I also added the magnet closures and the plates that line up with the magnets.
The plan was to add some decorative brass metal where the glass had been. The pieces I had were not large enough. I didn’t want to invest any more money in the buffet now. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you would do with the naked hutch doors.
EDITED TO ADD: Melanie on FB said, “I liked the doors hung the original way. But besides that, it is awesome.” Too funny! I didn’t even realize I hung the doors upside down. So, now I have another question for you . . . should I FLIP them back?
For now, I added some pieces to take pictures, and being sans glass made it a LOT easier to photograph.
You can see that I didn’t paint the inside of the bottom cabinet.
I would love for you to PIN IT!
Please leave your thoughts in a comment below, by email, or on Facebook about what I should do about the missing glass. Would it be ridiculous to have a mid-century hutch like this with naked doors?
gail
See other buffets I’ve done below:
`There is a Japanese paper that is fairly heavy, but almost see-through. Inexpensive compared to glass and easy to “install”. And as much of a pain it will be to flip the doors, they would actually look better. The entire hutch looks great in that particular shade of blue!
I’m so in love with this piece! <3 I wish i could find those bargains in my town! i love the way it turns out with the doors down side up, it's just perfect. I would put some some legs, a small ones, but that's just me 🙂
Ohhh, legs are a great idea!
I think it looks great open and I know chicken wire has been done to death, but if you painted some chicken wire gold it would really make a statement against that navy!
I love that! …. to paint the chicken wire.
I don’t know – chicken wire (even painted) would get a country vs MCM vibe going. I don’t think it would mesh (no pun intended) well.
Painted white chicken wire would look awesome.
Super suggestion, thanks!
I love the color, the piece looks beautiful. I would put another piece of glass in, but if you want to make it look farm like, you can use chicken wire. Or Hobby Lobby has aluminum decorative pieces which might work.
The decorative metal is what I was going to use… but my pieces weren’t large enough.
Love that smokey blue color, it looks great with the white props. Beautiful piece of furniture that is just stunning!
Thank you! I appreciate your sweet comment.
Thanks for the ideas!!! My brain is going wild with the changes I can make!!!
Awesome! I need to figure out the doors. Whether or not they’re upside down. 😉
That’s a beautiful color, but I think it needs something more. I think the attraction of MCM, besides the sleek look, is the wood tone. Since you’ve painted it, I’d give it some more interest. What about handles on the bottom that mimic the arches? Or take off the doors? If you’re not going to put in glass, it would be more functional as an open hutch.
Is it me or do your decorative pieces look as though they are in a jail cell..lol.
Thinking with your imagination, there must be a way to remove the vertical bars & leaving an open shelf effect. No glass~ no bars~ just wide open shelves.
I would have a problem deciding what to do about the top arches though. Should they be left in place, but figure a to finish them off so they look like a plan or remove them & go with something more ‘straight lined’?
You created a beautiful piece, as usual, from that $15 hutch… Let me know when a house near you goes on the marked.. I really need to be your neighbor ☺
I would go back to glass in the doors. Anything else would obscure what one would want to display. I’d leave the shelves made of wood, but is the span too long that thin boards would sway. Maybe put a support in the middle where it won’t be noticed much. The reason I say go back to glass is that if I’m going to do a nice display, I don’t want to have to dust. I’d rather clean glass than dust!
It looks beautiful I love that color of blue. You did a wonderful re-do!
Fonda,
I saved the one piece of glass so IF I do glass I only need to buy one. The wood is thin, but won’t sway because they sort of lay in edges just like the glass did. They seem to be very strong. (thanks for bringing that up)
thanks !!
gail
It’s beautiful! LOL I too am ‘hinge challenged’ and always have to take pics before I remove them! Too bad about the glass because it really makes the piece. I would definitely leave it open as anything else I think would detract from the displays inside. I’m sure replacing the glass would be expensive though.
Lauren,
Happy to know I’m not the only one that always struggles with hinges!!! We have a glass shop nearby, maybe I’ll stop in and get an estimate.
thanks so much!
gail
Honestly I like it as is. No handles with no glass not a problem. Gives it a clean sharp look.
Thank you Stephanie!
There were no handles to begin with, there are cut-ins on all the doors. Maybe when I sell it, I’ll make a note telling the buyer that I have one pane of glass if they want to purchase another. 😉
gail