a love affair with a hutch

Of all the corners, nooks and vignettes in my house, I’m pretty sure the built-in hutch in my breakfast room is the most photographed, by far!  (If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you know this to be especially true!)  This little corner of our home gets beautiful morning light, looks out over our deck, pool and backyard and is where we eat all our meals, where little miss paints and colors and it’s also where I’ve been blogging as of late.  And yet, it rarely, if ever, makes an appearance here on the blog.

When Annie over at Most Lovely Things tagged me over the weekend to share a picture of my favorite, cozy weekend spot, I didn’t hesitate to post this little corner.  What makes it so special for me is the ginormous hutch we had installed about a year after we moved in!  It took about that long for me to realize that nothing I put in this space would ever look proportionate with the vaulted ceilings unless I had something custom made to fit and I’m so glad I bit the bullet and had it made.  Sometimes, custom is the only way to go and, in this case, it ended up costing much less than some of the bookshelf options from big box retailers!

I ended up commissioning a local cabinet maker with whom I had worked on a number of new construction homes for past clients and he did such an amazing job of making it look like it had been here for years!  (I know the chandelier is hanging too high; I’m in the process of replacing it!)

For those of you who were asking about details the other day, here they are! 

– The hutch itself is almost just under 9 feet tall and 5.5. feet wide. 

– A row of Shaker-style cabinets are along the bottom (there are 4 doors) to match my kitchen cabinets, since this space is directly adjacent. 

– Beadboard runs vertically along the back of the plate wall to match the wainscoting in my bathrooms, dining room and under the kitchen countertop/bar side. 

– Paint is Sherwin Williams Extra White, to match all the trim and cabinetry in the rest of the house.

I honestly couldn’t love this little spot any more and the drama and interest the oversize hutch provides when you walk into my house (you can see it from my living room, too) just can’t be beat.  Sometimes, it’s so hard to pull the trigger and have something custom made but when you are having trouble finding a piece that fits your space and your budget (especially for those vaulted ceilings like mine or awkward large walls), but I promise it’s so worth it!