When Sausha first encountered this hutch she thought it was too far gone to be worth refinishing. It had been repainted more than ten times and was in need of a major sanding effort, among other things. But instead of trashing it, she took it as a challenge and made plans to repurpose and refinish the piece...
Sausha chose to work with just the lower portion of the hutch and began by sanding it down to remove the build-up of paint. She then painted the piece and used a distressing technique to create a chipped paint effect. Next, she glazed it and applied a clear coat for protection. Check out the step by step details of Sausha's process on her blog Sweet Pickins.
Since her favorite hobby became her fulltime job, Sausha has transformed a variety of forgotten furniture into beautiful custom pieces. She embraces the little imperfections in each piece, uncovering something new and unique in every item she refinishes. If you're interested in learning about her techniques, she blogs about her "furniture re-do's" on Sweet Pickins, incorporating progress photos and tutorials for a range of projects.
(Image: Sausha Khoundet)
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
That looks great! What happened to the top? I think you should finish the top the same way and inlay beveled mirrors in each section...
I love it!
I expected something completely different. Nice job but I agree with Michael W.. Keeping the top and doing the same technique to it.
However I always admire when folks put some much into a broken-down piece of furniture and saving it from the dumps.
Beautiful...
I'm just not sure why she bothered to sand it.
I love the new drawer pulls!
Oh, SO cute!
this is great! I like it without the hutch.
great transformation!
According to the linked article, the upper part was -- inexplicably -- "trashed."
A shame.
omg, i love the distress look of it!
That red is perfect and the distressing is down to a science.
Nice work and this is perfect for spring.
Looks good except I don't like the choice of hardware...make sit look childish
That is an excellent distressing job on the red....
LUV!!
LUV the handle's!!
I think the hardware was a great choice -- gives the piece a sense of an Asian antique. Beautiful makeover.
Great transformation! My mom has a china hutch in much better condition, but she's contemplating storing the top and just using the base... I might recommend she give it a shot after seeing this!
@PIPPIGIRL - AGREED!
AWESOME!
I love this transformation! The red is gorgeous! I love the distressed look of it! the hardware is beautiful and unique, which I love! Sometimes, you may need a smaller piece foe your room and I would have never thought of taking a bigger piece of furniture and making it suit your needs! I will remember that next time I am shopping for older pieces of furniture! Great job!
I would have trimmed down the wavy lines, removed the ugly moulding off of the bottom, taken the shelves out of the top, painted the entire thing, added new hardware, put a decrative mirror in the top, and possibly removed the drawers completely and put pretty fabric covered boxes and baskets underneath.