Decorating your Hutch {A tutorial}

 I am celebrating my Friday by having a working lunch with my boys at Panera today.  So, while they are working hard on independent study work (we are headed out on adventure next week), I thought I would work on the hutch decorating tutorial that so many of you asked for over in my Instagram stories.

Taking Christmas stuff down earlier this month gave me a week of what the Nester calls, quieting the house.  No new decor up.  Just empty shelves and spaces.  It's a nice time to quiet my house and in turn, my soul.  It allows creativity to move in and inspiration to come.  So for about 7ish days, I sat there with an empty hutch.  Once the kids headed back to school and things slowed down a bit and before new commitments begin, I slowly started to pull out some decor and place it on the table.  It feels weird and unnatural to leave your house looking empty and "quiet," but I promise you, it's worth it.

I am pretty minimalist when it comes to decor.  I have a few things hidden in the cupboard of my hutch and in my hall closet (Christmas and Fall has a box in the garage, but other than that, my decor is pretty minimal).  Most everything that I use for my hutch gets recycled throughout the house and seasons.  It helps keep clutter low and keeps me not running to the store for new decor each season.

I start by placing all the decor in my color scheme on the table.  I am currently loving neutral colors and in that room, with the blue walls, they just sort of pop.  I recommend picking 2-3 colors. . . one being the color of frames.  This week, I chose brown, black, and green tones, with some galvanized metal thrown in.

Next, look at your shelves.  Mentally, take note the length and height of each one.  Note what decor fits where.  Then start placing a tall item on each shelf. I try to keep the tall things on the edges of the sides, making sure to alternate tall things going down.  For example, I put my tall hurricane on the Left side for the top shelf so on the next shelf down, I placed the taller item on the right side.

Then, on the shelves on the other side, I placed the tall item on the Left side so it balances the whole shelf out.  The middle of the Right hand side I just placed a wooden wreath (Hobby Lobby) and a square grape basket in the middle. And that's that.  Super easy.  Sometimes, one thing is enough. 

 Decorating your shelves and/or your hutch can seem to be a little daunting, especially if you are under a budget.  Let's be honest, sometimes our money has to go other places than home decor.  So before you do anything, shop your own house.  Look for picture frames that you already have.  I think I bought one thing when I did my most recent Hutch update and that was a $4.50 wood picture frame from Target (they have great inexpensive ones!).  Sometimes, I have even painted an old frame to get the color I wanted (I actually did this with a frame that just got relocated from our kitchen to our hallway and it needed to be white to match).   Pinterest is also a great place to "shop" for free prints to decorate your walls and your shelves.  And, it's also a great place to find ispiration for creating your own art or wreaths. 

My favorite places to get things for my shelves are. . . 
1.  Target Dollar Spot. . . if you see it, buy it. . . it most likely won't be there when you back! 

2.  Hobby Lobby - their decor is pretty much always on sale and if it's not, there is always a 40 percent off coupon in their app!

3.  Ikea - I love their frames, vases, fake plants, and plus, they have some great random stuff. 

4.  Your local craft fair.  Twice a year, one of my favorite stores throws a weekend event called the Old Town Clovis Flea Market.  It's a great combination of antiques and really talented local creators (and food trucks) that makes for a fun day and a great place to shop local, gather inspiration, and spend a little bit of money!

Here's some ideas from different parts of the year.  You will probably notice a lot of things reused over and over again.  Don't buy one thing that you will only use once (except Christmas stuff. . . a lot of that is hard to use other parts of the year). 

And that's all I have for decorating Hutches and shelves.  Have fun!  Don't make it a chore and if you're stuck, let it hang out and see what inspiration slowly floats in. 

Happy decorating!