Gracie Blue : Thrifted & Relifted Link Party!! {Antique Hall Tree}

Ok friends! It's Monday and time for #ThriftedandRelifted!!

Today I will be sharing my antique hall tree makeover!

You can join in the fun and share your thrifted and relifted find with us too!!
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One thing I will never get tired of are amazing vintage and antique finds, especially when you find amazing items under $30!

Awhile back I found an amazing antique hall tree on a Facebook tag sale site. It was listed for $25. I was second in line and of course the first lady snagged it! It was an amazing piece and I was so bummed because I really needed something for my tiny entry that wouldn't take up so much space, it also had to be super cute!

Well, I guess the lady before me didn't find it so super cute. She ended up posting the hall tree on Craig's List a few days later and I immediately jumped on the opportunity to make it mine once again! This was a sign from the Good Lord that this piece had to be mine! I picked it up that very day. Little did I know I had my hands full!
Here is what the hall tree looked like before.

I knew right away that this piece would require a ton of work. The stain was caked on from years of climate changes and I'm pretty sure it dates back to the early 1900's. It's very light and the hooks & beveled mirror are original to the piece. The backing had an old moldy pillow that I just threw away. It was pretty gross folks!
The first thing I did was scrub the wood clean. I actually choose to use baby wipes to clean wood surfaces, but this piece was so super grimy and because the finish was in such horrible condition, I knew that I was going to have to sand it down so I didn't go crazy with cleaning. I just made sure to remove all surface dust and spider webs!!
The major work of this piece was the sanding. I can tell you I spent more than 6 months of sanding this piece down to it's original wood. I started with 60 grit and then work my way up to 220. Because the stain was so old and just layered it was a major labor of love. Here are some more photos of the progress. Please for give the grainy cell phone photos, at the time I really wasn't thinking about a blog post. I was just focused on getting her all cleaned up for her new look! And believe me, like any female, I put her through many different looks!

This photo was about half way through sanding. I will have you know that I went through dozens of 60 & 80 grit sandpaper to get it just to this point. I used this sander and it was a life saver in getting into all the little areas of the piece. I did this for about two hours every weekend for roughly five weeks. When I got to a certain point I decided to just take a break and think about the exact finish I wanted. I was very hesitant to paint it because of all the hours of labor I put into sanding it down.

Here is what it looked like this past fall.

Once I got the piece down to it'a natural wood, I decided to replace the wood backing with something a bit more cozy. I purchased a vintage grain sack bag and filled it with foam and nailed it to the back of the hall tree. I was the perfect touch and went very well with the current decor in our home!

After the fall I was not loving the orange tone of the natural wood and at this point I was DONE sanding! I decided to paint it. I wanted a contrast so I decided to go dark...

Here she is all decked out for the holidays. I added vintage inspired crystal knobs I found here and painted her Urban Bronze by Sherwin Willams. I painted everything except the top of the seat. I loved the contrast of the dark paint against the natural wood, but it was also a reminder of all the hours, weeks and months of sanding I put into the piece.

I'm going to be honest. I HATE how this piece looks painted in this color. I was so upset I actually cried that I let myself paint something I had promised myself I wouldn't do. So back to the drawing board. I did not want to sand the piece again and I also knew that bright white was out of the question. It took me a good two months to decide on a color... I finally decided on Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore. It was the color I used on my Antique Mantle makeover. You can read all about that makeover here.

Here is what she looks like today....