Hall Tree Reveal: It's All Over But The Waxing

 

-Before-

This Hall Tree is something that I picked up about 12 years ago.  It has sat at the front door my last four homes. I have used the small table top to display all sorts of decorative 'welcome' items and even used it as a sign in area for meetings. Unfortunately, it is a super large piece of furniture and it has been overwhelming my front door/dining area ever since we moved into this home.  My entryway is just not as large as the other homes.  When we started the project to paint the interior of the house a few months ago, I knew that it was either time for this Hall Tree to go or time to find it another location.   I decided to bring it up into the master suite as an entry piece.  In the image above it is sitting in the master bedroom looking rather unloved and undecorated.

As soon as the guys set the piece down, I knew it was staying.  I also knew that my work was cut out for me.  You see, I am in the middle of a complete re-decorating of the master bedroom and bath.  We are going from a red and green with dark wood color scheme to an all white and neutral color scheme. 

I decided to paint this piece in Sherwin William's Alabaster.  The four poster bed, which I haven't revealed to you yet, is painted with Annie Sloan's Old White and is heavily distressed.  For this piece, I didn't want to distress it very much, if any.  With all the details in the carvings, I knew the white paint would help pop those features. I didn't want to busy it up with added distressing.

I started by removing the old hardware, including the four hooks.  I picked out new drawer and door pulls in a silver nickel finish.  I also masked off the mirrors, something I would later regret. 

Primed and drying

I primed with Annie Sloan's Paris Grey because someone out on the blogs mentioned that they were using it as primer and it worked great.  I didn't have the same results unfortunately. 

After a day for the 'primer' to set, I painted 2 to 3 coats of the Alabaster, sanding between coats.  The third coat was needed because I had a hard time getting the Sherwin Williams paint to bond to the Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  A real mess, let me tell ya.  I won't make that mistake again.  The two products do not pair well together at all.

As I painted I tried to make sure and leave the deep details in the carvings exposed.  I waited at least a half day between coats.

I sprayed the four hooks to match the hardware.  I used Rustoleum's All Surface Metallic Spray Paint in Satin Nickel.  I was super pleased with the results.  The match was so exact, it made my heart skip a beat!

Poor masking and poor
adhesion with the primer.

Then there came.....taking off of the masking. Oh my!  Earlier in the process, I got lazy and decided to butt up paper, instead of just using my trusted blue tape, to the sides of the mirrors.  In some places, I even worked the paper between the mirror and the outer wood trim where I could.  What a mistake!  I should have known.  Cutting corners rarely works and in this case, it made a ton of work in the cleaning up process.  I mean, just look at this mess that it created!  I had to use an exacto knife to painstakingly remove the mess, some of which is still stuck under the outer wood work!  

Ugg! That stuck paper!

With all the extra work, it was still so worth the results.  In the end, I decided to distress by sanding a few of the details.  For the most part, I did not distress the table top, the edges or any large areas.  I really wanted a cleaner look.  Plus, just the size of this piece is overwhelming.  It doesn't need the extra noise.  

I still need to put a few coats of wax on it.  But, for the most part it is complete.  I will be using clear BriWax for those of you who are wondering.   I am also planning on using a few coats of MinWax's Wipe on Poly (satin) on the table top.  I love the finish that the Wipe on Poly affords. The added durability is a plus too.  

So for the full reveal.... (by the way, notice the pale yellow swatch on the left wall next to the Hall Tree in the first image.  That is going to be the new room color.)

-After-

The next step in this project is to get the walls painted.  The pale yellow is a formula that I came up with through trial and error this week.  I will talk more about that later.  If you are wondering why I haven't shown the bed, the reason is quite simple.  I really want to wait to get the room painted to show it.   I hope you like my Hall Tree.  I am super please with the outcome. 


I am getting so excited about this master bedroom! I feel like I am in the home stretch!  Stay tuned.....

-The End-
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