Farewell Old Friend... The Dining Room Hutch

The dining room brainstorming continues.  Do I keep the old hutch?  I gave the table and chairs to my sister who is going to paint it all black and reupholster the chairs - should be gorgeous. 

Now I have this big heavy hutch.  But it is gorgeous - the moldings, the hardware, and it is sooo heavy.  I was going to join the throngs of DIYers and "paint it white" and use the image below as my inspiration.  I bought wooden embroidery rings at the thrift store but I am going to save them for the new window grids.

But then, I was looking at it and saw all this beautiful molding and detail.  I thought I can take a hammer to this and totally give this new life!  So, that is the plan.  This is the way it looks now (full of junk I put in there while I am painting). 

I was going to keep it until I found this little beauty - now I am thinking this on the horizontal with silver crystal buffet lamps.  Ok - now the top part of the hutch can go.  :-) 

My plan is to add a small divider between the living room/dining room with the transom window and low wide bookcases on the floor - no columns.  So I was looking at the doors and the molding and HELLO - I can build my knee wall bookcases out of this stuff.  Paint it white and WOW!  Look at this molding.  And the bookcases can have glass hinged doors on each side since I have the doors now and the hardware.  YAY!  And I also have three sets of lighting!!  This is a no-brainer.

From scotttribe.com
This is an idea of my room divider but I want the bookcases lower and wider and no columns.

 I am going to keep the sideboard bottom and paint it white (imagine that) and silver rub the hardware to match the finish on the chandelier.  I am also going to buy new furniture feet to life it off the ground and give it a new look.  It is the perfect width for the mirror - I love when the decorating gods smile on me! 

 Here are close-ups of the molding - SUH-WEET!  I cannot wait to get started with this project. 

This picture is of the camelback top - I think I am going to remove this and somehow incorporate it into the crown molding over the entryway from the foyer into the living room.  The living room SHOULD be my summer project after the foyer!  Why do I have a feeling that I'll still be painting my dining room while listening to Christmas music? NO!  Easter Sunday is my goal!  I have to do it!  LOL!