A Hutch in a Clutch
Those of you who read my last post may have noticed an interesting cabinet in the video at the bottom of the post. Here's how that furniture confection and its colors came to be.
After renovating our kitchen, I realized that we needed one more cabinet for glassware. A wall opposite the kitchen was just waiting for it. I could have gone the easy route and had another kitchen cabinet made, but I didn't want that. I preferred the warmth and interest a piece of furniture could give, rather than another neutral box on the wall.
I found the perfect cabinet on the Devol Kitchens site, devolkitchens.com. Devol Kitchens is located in England, so I wouldn't be purchasing it from them. (Have fun drooling over their gorgeous kitchens!)
I loved its skinny glass panels, the clean, vertical lines of the piece. I loved the warmth of the wood, its nod to history, and its overall humble handsomeness. I wanted one just like it. But it would be a difficult piece to make, so getting it made by a local master carpenter would be pricey.
A few weeks later, I entered a furniture consignment shop with a client, and behold! Look what I discovered -- the exact cabinet I wanted! Design serendipity graced my life once again.
I had the delivery men place it on our blue chest (see photo below), which needed some sprucing up. I painted it a glossy teal and cleaned its hardware as well as the cabinet's hinges.
Here's a tip for you -- the handles on the chest aren't solid brass, but rather some sort of metal alloy; brass cleaners don't work on them. Instead, I sanded the grime off the handles. Now they look like gleaming brass!
Against our dusky blue wall, the glossy teal chest provided a striking contrast and complemented the cabinet hue. In other words, blue (the teal chest) is opposite orange (the cabinet wood color) on the color wheel. Opposite colors are called complementary colors. When they are placed next to each other, they enhance each other. In this case, the blue and the orange would read vibrant and fresh.
Set on top of our chest, the cabinet looked pinched. I wanted to give it some breath, and create more usable surface space. I had hoped we could hang it on the wall, but since the cabinet EMPTY weighed about 125 pounds, that wasn't an option. Too much complex engineering involved to make that happen. Our brilliant builder, Diane Eckland of ShadeTree Construction, www.shadetreeconstruction.com
solved the problem by building us a stand for the cabinet. She attached the cabinet to the stand and to the wall.
Originally, I painted the stand glossy black, matching the base of the chest.
However, once the cabinet was installed, I realized that the stand needed to appear as if it was part of the cabinet. Painting it black made it look like a separate piece of furniture. The cabinet/dresser combo appeared disjointed and busy.
I pulled out my paint brush again and found a brown that matched the cabinet. I chose a satin finish to echo the subtle sheen of the wood.
Now we're talking!
What an education. It's looks great there.
Absolutely wonderful! Great way to take us through it with explanations and also teaching us patience rather than dashing out shopping.