This clever little hutch will prove useful in more than one room of your house, but our reason for offering it to you is as a training piece on creating a simple but stunning antique finish.     A. The edges of the drawers, and of the drawer opening are worn to show repeated use. B. Circular Wear Patters around the knob and on the edges. C. Mouse hole for a fun effect. D. Sharp edges and corners are blunted with a hammer after staining, and worn through after painting.   Distressing: Shown above are a few results of simple antiquing. The stained level of the finish shows through behind the paint, and the paint is worn in areas that would likely see use through the years. The antiquing was done with a grey 3M pad. The mouse hole was done with needle nose pliers.

Using the template provided.  (In order to view the Pullout Plans, you'll need Adobe Acrobat), mark and cut the shape on the sides, then sand the edges to smooth the profile.

Now rout the edge treatment of your choice on the front and side edges of the top and bottom pieces. I used a simple ogee bit.

Double-check the drawer sizes against the Schedule of Materials, then cut the drawer pieces to size. I used rabbeted joinery to provide a little extra strength to the drawers. Cut a 1/4" x 1/2" wide rabbet on both inside ends of the fronts, and another 1/4" x 1/2" wide rabbet on the back ends of each side. Next cut a 1/4" x 1/4" groove on the inside bottom edge of each drawer side and front, starting the groove 1/4 " up from the bottom edge. Assemble with nails holding the drawer backs flush to the top of the drawer sides to allow the drawer bottoms to slip into the side grooves under the drawer back. Leave the drawer bottoms loose at this time. Cut the hutch back to size and attach the knobs to the center of each drawer. Now you're ready to put an antique finish on the piece.

Have a little fun. Use a ring of keys, hammer or screwdriver and beat on the piece a little. The idea is to provide the appearance of decades worth of wear, not abuse. It's tempting to go overboard. Think about how the damage you are inflicting could have happened — corners on the moulding would be dented, edges would be blunted and the drawers would have seen a fair amount of use. This is only the middle of the antiquing process, so don't go too far.

With the paint dry, get the keys back out and add some more “time” to the piece. As a next antiquing step, take some steel wool or an abrasive pad and wear through the paint at points of high contact. This would be around the knobs, where the drawers slide against the top and bottom surfaces of the cabinet, the edges of the shelves and on the edges of the sides.

As a final step, add a coat of flat or satin clear finish to protect the paint and glaze.

Your completed antique hutch can be placed on a counter or table top, or can be hung on a wall. Enjoy it, and happy antiquing!