There are people in the world who love bright, shocking, glow in the dark colors.  I am most decidedly not one of them. Gray is my absolute favorite color and I’m also quite fond of taupe. Now don’t get me wrong……. I do love a splash of red here and there….I’m not completely boring.  Just mostly.  😉

Recently, while out antiquing with George, I ran across a hutch just like I had been looking for. It was perfect……the price, the form, the shelves, the storage underneath….except for one thing.  It was green.  And not any remotely lovely shade of green. No, no.  It was the most obnoxious, rude, offensive–what other negative word can I think of to insert here–oh yes, repugnant shade of green that you could imagine. It was very disagreeable to my senses. Even Kermit would’ve been offended–hence the title of this post. Okay, I think I’ve made my point.  But here it is in all its glory.  You decide.

The Dr. Suess-ish knobs are the icing on top.  Why, why, why would anyone paint such a lovely piece of furniture this color? I’ll try not to be so critical. One of my “artiste” friends loved it. And like I said–I love taupe and gray, so who am I to judge? Maybe for a kid’s room…. okay, I’m done with the conjecture. Let’s move on….

I decided that it would work for my 1765 farmhouse if I refinished it. I wanted to “antique” it. I had the perfect spot in the kitchen in mind. Imagine my husband’s surprise when I announced we were taking this lovely piece home.  I thought I would like it much better if it had an antique black with red undertones. So I bought all the supplies, and got started. First, I primed it……

Looks better already, right? After the primer dried, I painted on the red layer…….

Once the hutch was completely covered with the red paint (which I was initially appalled at–it looked like borscht had been poured all over it!),  I let it dry completely and sent a picture to my sister in law. Turns out, I really, really liked the dried red color, and my sister in law did, too! I decided to just leave it for now to see how it works in the kitchen. I put on the new hardware and voila! Done!

Here it is after I put my lovely summer dishes on it……

I can always paint the black over it and “antique” it as originally planned. But for now, I think I like it just the way it is. Here’s to venturing out of the gray and taupe comfort zone!