I rescued an old, dilapidated wooden hutch from an architectural salvage store. It was in pretty rough shape, and I felt like if I didn’t take it, no one would.
We were redoing our kitchen, and I originally intended the hutch to replace some cabinets we were taking out. I wasn’t quite the right fit, though, so instead we decided to make it a stand alone bar. I was inspired by the sand bar in beautiful Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii.
Here’s some before and after photos:
The rest of my dining room is still in a pretty rough state, but it’s nice having this finally finished!
I’m not sure where it falls on the sustainability scale.
Sustainable:
- Kept the hutch out of the landfill
- Used tile & materials left over from tiling our kitchen countertop
- Used wood leftover from other projects to rebuild interior shelving
Less sustainable:
- New paint
- New hardware
- Additional wood for trim and drawer bottoms
I hope that restoring something old, even though I had to buy a few new things to do so, has a better social and environmental impact than buying a brand new hutch or bar. At least I know the labor that went into it was my own. And after putting so much work into it, I will keep it for a long, long time.
