Project Post 8: Kitchen Buffet & Hutch

In my opinion, the best kind of furniture is free furniture, but next to that, the best furniture is a piece that comes from family. This piece of furniture has both of those characteristics.

I mentioned before that my kitchen island was the first piece of furniture I bought for our house, and I pretty much planned our kitchen around it, even down to staining the cabinets to match the wood top of the island. After we had the island and cabinets, I sought and found our table and chairs on Craigslist. I needed a quick-fix, and found it pretty fast - the table is a great basic black rectangular table (exactly what I wanted for the space) and the chairs are just ok (never have been crazy about them - might eventually switch them out), but they also match the island/cabinets and you won't find a set of 8 chairs 7 chairs very often (it was 8, but my dear husband {I love you} neglected to fix one until it finally broke after being used multiple times without all its supports).

{Kitchen table - this is from last week when our dishwasher was out, hence the paper plates}

All of these pieces I had in storage before we moved (thanks Dad!), and shortly after we moved in, my Aunt Karen told me she had a buffet in her barn if I wanted it (I planned on a tall piece for the blank kitchen wall). SCORE! She even delivered it.

I knew I would paint the piece even though there was nothing wrong with the wood - it was in great condition. My grandma really hates when someone paints over perfectly good stained furniture. I agree with that, to an extent. But the reason I decided to paint it was because the shape of the piece in conjunction with the color of the stain really made it dated - and not in a good way, so it needed at least one element to make it semi-modern. At least in my head it did, and I'm no expert, but it is my house!

I painted it black to match the table and island, and to have 3 "matching" pieces in the kitchen. Our living, kitchen, and dining area is one large room, and I like having the "matching" pieces in the kitchen to define the area and to just keep it cohesive and not have too much going on since it is all one room. That's a lot of words just to describe one piece of furniture (well, actually it's two pieces, but who's counting?), so without further ado, I will be quiet and share some pictures.

{Hutch before}

{Buffet before}

{in progress}

{in progress}

{Don't worry - I dusted under the buffet after I saw this}

{Again, don't worry - I dusted!}