How to Redo a China Hutch Cabinet for Linens & a Bookshelf

Find the right china hutch. Look for one that’s sound underneath the awful finish – your job is to refinish the cabinet, not rebuild it. Scout for the perfect china hutch at flea markets, junk yards, antique barns and garage sales or find out whether there’s a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your area (see resources) so you can help this worthy organization to continue efforts on behalf of those who can’t afford to own a home while you find your furniture piece.

Clean and refinish the china hutch. Strip off the finish using a paint removal product. Wear gloves and eye protection. Attend to the interior first by sanding and refinishing interior shelves or add a new element – like glass shelves and a mirror to the cabinet’s interior back panel. Paint, stain or apply a special effect like whitewashing, crackling, distressing or another finish that gives the cabinet the appearance of having been plucked from a vintage furniture store. Add a coat of sealer.

Use the bottom shelves of the china hutch for your book collection to stabilize it. Either arrange your book collection within the cabinet by jacket color or subject matter or place the books you consult more often than others in the middle for easy access. Break up the book continuum by incorporating a theme. For example, if you’re a fan of all things nautical, as evidenced by the topics in your book collection, place miniature lighthouses, small sailboats, shells, and other nautical art into the cabinet.

Stow your linens on the tallest shelves so they’re within reach when you need fresh towels, sheets, pillowcases, etc. If you don’t own enough linens to stock a mini-mansion and your china hutch is big enough to hold more, keep kitchen linens there, too, but don’t stack and go. Fold and roll towels into Tootsie Roll shapes, stacking them into the china hutch sideways. Bundle sets of bed linens using long ribbons to encase the pyramid-style stacks so there’s no searching for an errant pillowcase. If there’s room left over, continue the theme established on the bottom rows by tucking a lighthouse or shells into the cabinet.

Make use of hutch drawers for items you’d rather not display. Soaps, personal items, toothpaste, reading glasses, coasters – anything small that relates to your linens and library storage works, and if you place divider trays into the drawers, you’ll keep the clutter to a minimum. Don’t forget final touches that can turn a beautifully finished project into a masterpiece. Stay away from plain Jane hutch and drawer knobs, for example. Track down pulls featuring sailboats, shells or clever shapes.