How can I finish the backside of a piece of furniture?

Cloth for fabric store

You might be able to use some wallpaper on the back of the hutch. I would use some primer first and then a coat of paint just to make sure if you ever wanted to change the wallpaper that it would come off easily. It won't look pretty with the primer and paint so I doubt you could use it without adding the wallpaper or fabric as someone else suggested. You might have to add some trim on the sides if you are going to use it as a room divider. You also may be able to glue on a ship lap kind of backing using thinner wood-perhaps 1/4 plywood.

You might consider painting the pressboard in a contrasting color or even the same color as the walls and then hang artwork on it, or add some hooks and a few decorating items to make it look intentional.

You could purchase a sheet of plywood 1/4" thick and cut to size to cover the back then paint.

There are other options probably cheaper than plywood. Take a look at your local box store.

Do you have enough room to put a small bookcase against the back of your hutch? Paint the back of your hutch to match the front of your hutch and get a bookcase and paint it the same color....good storage too. If your hutch is tall, you could paint it all, put the bookcase against it and hang artwork on the back of your tall hutch. If it is a low hutch, just get a bookcase of equal height and it would look okay with nice storage.

Could you hot glue (or nail) a thin strip of wood or even plastic from the hardware store to cover the rough edge? (Most stores will make a free cut for you, so have the length measurement with you.)

I think about that – I love any project that involves a hot glue gun! Thanks

I think about that – I love any project that involves a hot glue gun! Thanks

How about Contact paper? I was just looking into it to cover a desktop. Many colors and patterns - even wood grain. Might be less pricey than a wallpaper and can be easily removed if you want to try something different.

I would be interested in what your final

decision was ... I too am trying to use a long side table to separate my dining room from living room in a very open concept. I have few walls. I do need to separate the space Abd I don’t think I want to put up a pony wall. Did you try painting over plywood or using wall paper. Thank you if you can advise

Well, I did not end up using the hutch as a room divider. What I ended up doing was putting it on heavy duty casters. In the kitchen of the new house there was a small pantry. I removed the pantry door and put the hutch in front of the opening, with the hutch now on casters. So now I have the storage and access to the hutch and if I need to get into my pantry where I keep my pots and pans, I just wheel it out-of-the-way enough to give me entry to the pantry. If you search for “can I put a hutch on casters “on this home talk channel you’ll see the photos however I don’t know if this is going to help with your project.

There was a time when I separated my open space living room from my dining room with a long, sofa table. I put a piece of mirror on top of the table with some green plants. It turned out that the mirror from a full-size mirror like you get in dollar tree was the exact same size as my sofa table so it fit perfectly.

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