Im a Project Junkie: Front Porch Project

Custom Built Entry Hutch

This is one of my favorite projects!

My cousin gave me an old horse barn door a while back and I held on to it until I knew what to do with it. Then one day I came across 2 pillars at an estate sale and the idea came to me to somehow build a hutch with the door and the pillars.

So I first attached the door in between the pillars using L brackets. Next I built the top by doing what made sense to me. I attached a 2 x 4 to the back at the height I wanted the top to be. Then I laid the whole piece down with the front facing up. I made a rectangle attaching 2 x 4's to the sides and the front using wood screws. After I got the top rectangle made I repeated this process on the bottom. Then I attached more 2 x 4's as legs to support the top.

Before moving to the next step I lifted the whole piece up. To create the bottom shelf I added more 2 x 4's on top of the rectangle. To create the table top I added 2 larger pieces of 1 x 2's. I finished it off by adding wood trim and paint.

I am not a carpenter but I sure think I am! I really had no idea how I was going to put this all together but somehow with the help of L brackets and screws it all came together and it is quite sturdy.

You don't have to know how to do something in order to do it, just go for it and when you get stuck watch a YouTube video or ask for a little help. That's my motto!

After I got it painted I liked it for the fall because it matched my fall wreath but this spring I didn't like how the colors looked with the brick, so Deanna (my sister-in-law) showed me a new product of gel stain by General Finishes.

I'm not much of a gel stain fan, but after using it to re-stain my coffee table I decided to try it over painted wood. I figured if it didn't work I would just replace the wood on the top.

To my amazement it really turned out looking like stained wood. I just wiped a large amount on with a rag, dragging the rag from right to left until I got the desired look.

This metal door mounted on the top of the hutch is from an old oven Russ found at a garage sale for $3!!!!!

I managed to attach it using hooks, I screwed 3 into the wood, then placed the door within the hooks and added the 4th hook by using E6000 glue. It's not going anywhere, I'm not sure what I would do if I needed to remove it...

I found this adorable metal table at a garage sale, thank you Dena! The white bucket came from an estate sale the same weekend we worked on this project. I added other items I've collected over the years including an antique porcelain insulator from New York, thank you Lisa, and a black pump thank you Mom!

Since watching Joanna Gaines on the Fixer Upper paint just about every brick house they redo, I'm just about ready to do the same to my house.

I am not one of those people who think " O you should never do that "... if it isn't the right shape, color, or style I am willing to redo it any way necessary to make it look just right.

I never liked our brick color but I picked an accent color that gave enough contrast and interest to this space. My front door is a mixture of colors. I used a turquoise base color then white washed it and added touches of gold paint to the edges.

I decided to paint the inside of the barn door the same base color as the front door and keep the metal table the same color it was when I bought it. I love how it all goes together.

These are a couple of homes I'm looking at for inspiration...