Tutorial: Hall Tree Transformation, I love Yard Sales

I love Yard Sales! In fact, if you missed my Yard Sale Tips, you might want to check them out. My neighbor and her cute friend decided to have a yard sale, and since my neighbor rocks, she decided to let me look through their items for sale before the yard sale. What a fun neighbor, huh!?!? Thanks Reagan!

Well, I found this bad boy in their yard sale pile, and I instantly saw potential. An item like this is called a “Hall Tree.” It is intended for a hallway and its purpose is to hang coats/items on.

Here is the before picture: Please disregard all the CRAP in my garage.

The main thing I didn’t like was this amazing (sense the sarcasm) SEASHELL carving in the top. Don’t ya love all the furniture with shells carved in them from the early 90’s? Don’t worry, I had a master plan. 🙂 Something like this shell carving can be covered up VERY easily, and I loved the shape of the top moulding.

I bought some wood putty and filled that seashell right in. 🙂 I let it dry completely overnight, and then sanded it with 220 grit sand paper to make it nice and smooth. (I used my husband’s electric sander).

As you can see in the picture above, I removed the mirror to paint this project. It is MUCH easier to spend the time to remove a mirror before you paint the frame of the furniture. All I did was remove the staples from the back and unscrewed the mirror clips.

I then painted the bad boy with KILZ primer (my favorite primer). Then I sanded a bit with 220 grit sand paper to make sure it was nice and smooth, and then I painted it with Krylon White spray paint (my favorite brand of spray paint).

I’m not going to lie, peeps, I LOVE IT. It turned out so darling. It was very cheap, and very easy to customize this yard sale hall tree.

The birdie/tree branch etching on the mirror was cut with my Silhouette machine using their etched glass vinyl. It is completely removable, but it just adds charm and character.

I sprayed the hardware with Rustoleum “dark bronze” hammered spray paint to give them an updated look.

Not bad for a piece of furniture from a YARD SALE, eh?

Published on July 13, 2011

43 thoughts on “Tutorial: Hall Tree Transformation, I love Yard Sales”

  1. Oh those darn sea shells, my parents bedroom furniture have them not carved in but as decorative wood accents (hurl!)

    My favorite bit is the vinyl bird and branch, so unexpected and sweet!

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  17. I'm all for color but white is always my first instinct. It will never fail. I have never seen anything like this peice either. It's very neat. Another success lady!

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  20. How cute! I love the finished product! I have never had any luck with yard sales…off I toodle to take a peek at your tips 🙂

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  28. Gorgeous!

    I cannot wait until I have the time for these type of things. Right now it's school, food and sleep, and the occasional small craft.

    Keep sharing your beautiful creations!

    Reply

  29. That is amazing!!

    I am new bee in DIYing and very much inspired from your blog.I am planning to do a your tall lamp project with Christmas balls.

    Can you please advise me how to buy paint and primer sprays? i don't know anything about it!!

    You are a real creative genius. Way to go girl!!!!!!!

    Reply

  32. LOVE it! The vinyl you added is awesome. I think all honey colored wood furniture should be painted white like that. 😀

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  33. I love that it has a shelf to put things on (like keys!!). My husband is always forgetting where he put his keys (mine always go in my purse!), so to have ONE spot where they ALWAYS go, would be phenomenal!! (it would just take some 'practice' for him to always put them there!!) LOVE IT!

    Reply

  34. this is great!! i have a question, do you ever use a darker color to spray paint? i want to do my old bedroom furniture, but want a darker color, not white. I am going to do my daughters white with your technique though!!

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  37. See, that's why I follow your blog, so I learn not to walk by anything that can be updated. I wouldn't in a million years got this old thing, but after seeing you transform me, I want one too!:) In short, I wish my mind worked like yours when I see something not so pretty in a yard sale!:)

    Reply

  43. Very cute. We also used the dark bronze paint to update some things in our house. When we moved in everything was still in 1992 brass. Gag! My hubby took down the bathroom light fixtures, towel rods, and a chandelier from the foyer. Everything was spray painted dark bronze and it really turned out great. It saved us hundreds of dollars too!

    Reply

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