Front Porch Decor – $35 Hall Tree

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When you find a $35 hall tree…you bring it home, paint it, and put it out on the front porch, right?!

Updated 7-12-23

So, as you know by now, I frequent my local thrift stores…often!
Sometimes I’ll come across a piece of furniture I’d love to have but the price is too high.
No worries, most stores lower the price on these items each week or so.

So I wait and stalk…and pray no one buys it before it can be lowered to a price that I feel is worthwhile considering the work I know I will put into it.
This hasn’t gone so well in the last 6 months or so…prices have been up, up lately. And even more so all these years later since I first did this project.

Back in the early days of the blog, I would come across so many amazing deals. It’s become so much harder to find those kind of deals today!
Thankfully, we have places like FB Marketplace to shop now. It’s nice to have more options, right?

Either way, it’s always fun to “hunt”!

This lovely hall tree was priced at over $100 when I first saw it.

I was semi-interested but not so much that I made a point to stalk the piece weekly. I did, however, take a look at the tag each time I came in.
(****By the way, this is NOT an antique piece of furniture for those who might be wondering…hence the price. It is a repro, most likely from the late ’70s/early ’80s)

On my next visit, it was down to $85. Still a hard no.

Next visit….$65. Nope.  (I was thinking it was going to become a permanent fixture at this store…which is unusual for this place!)

And yet on another visit (after what seemed like forever) they had removed the old tag and replaced it with a new one starting at $50.

Hmmm.

I almost bought it ….but didn’t.
Honestly, $50 was more than fair but I thought I’d see how far we could take this. haha!

And when I came back a week later it was still there.

I thought for sure it would sell at $50. Nope, it had just been marked down to $35.

wood stained hall tree with mirror

Yippee!! So, yep, $35 was a deal…..and SOLD! Thank you!

I knew I could do something with it. Sell it in the shop I had at the time or use it somewhere in my home.
For $35, why not?
But in the end, it found its way…. to my front porch, what?? Yep, and I love it there.

I used Old White and Duck Egg Blue in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I used to use that quite often. I’ve since moved away from it as I’ve come to love and use other paints. Fusion Mineral Paint is an absolute favorite and what I sell in my shop. (because I love it so!)

painting the hall tree blue and white

Please disregard the mess in this room (the Study).
It’s a large room that ends up being my “work” room when the garage is full.

Which it always seems to be.
(Oh! And I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it in another post but I’ve painted this room again…wait til you see it. It is no longer yellow and I love it so much. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen it. Update…see this room now here. )

I did 2 coats of paint…..and then distressed the edges. I almost always sand before sealing.
It’s just my way. You can sand after too, if you like.

hall tree outside on porch distressing edges

Since it will be outside (on my covered front porch), it’s a good choice to seal it with poly.
I sealed it with water-based since it was a covered porch.

hall tree on porch without hardware

The hooks got spray painted in an off-white primer and then painted with the same Old White.
The side pieces got spray painted in Satin Nickel. (both were brass, to begin with)

hall tree on porch with hardware added
hall tree on porch with white basket and flowers hanging beside

And the details, up close……

hall tree details up close

Want to know about 26 other chalk style paints?
I’ve got the low down for you right here! >>> 26 Types of Chalk Style Paint For Furniture

Hazy shot….(was still trying to learn the new camera at the time)
For some reason, I could not get a shot from back here without the haze. I’m thinking it was because it had rained and was humid, maybe?
Clearly, I am not a whiz with the new equipment….yet. lol But I still thought the shot was sort of cool looking so am including it.
I’m thinking it was cool from being inside and hazed up with the heat. Who knows?!

front porch with American flag, green fern and hall tree

So yes, I do have a “hall” tree on my front porch.
Not the usual place for one, I know.

But I like it….for now anyway. Everything is subject to change around here.

hall tree with welcome flag hanging over mirror

And surprisingly this didn’t change fore YEARS! I really did love and keep this on our porch for a lot longer than I ever thought would. It is gone now, but I sure did enjoy it over the years it was there.

PIN it to save it!

When you find a $35 hall tree...you bring it home, paint it, and put it out on the front porch, right?! artsychicksrule.com

I also loved the touch of blue up there too.  Everything had been all white for too long.
It was definitely some time for a little color on the porch.
As is the back screened porch. There will be much more to come for both. So stay tuned….. (Update…see the back screened porch how it is now, here.)

Be sure to check in next week when I share what I did with this!

small orange oak child's chair

UPDATE!!! See it now, here!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!

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50 Comments

    1. Thank you Marie :) I actually hadn’t planned to put it out there but I love it there. But so do the birds! Or actually they don’t (during mating season). I have ferns hanging up across the front of my porch and the birds like to try to make nests there so the aggressive males think the mirror is another bird…and they attack it. So, I’ve had to hang an outdoor flag over the front to cover the mirror for right now to keep them front hurting themselves. ;)

      Reply

    1. Aw thanks Debbie! :) It is in the middle of a (much needed) overhaul but I’m am loving the splash of color the Duck Egg adds..now I just need more! ;)

      Reply

    1. Thanks Sherrie! The vision is slow coming sometimes…and then it just falls in place. Most of the time anyway! ;) thanks so much for visiting!

      Reply

    1. Hey Lorraine ! Thank you. I’m trying to make the whole porch a little more welcoming and cozy so that is good to hear!

      Reply

  9. The halltree does look very nice on the porch. My first thought was, “Man, she must live where they never get hail storms with winds that can drive the hail into a horizontal position. I never thought about the mating birds loving the mirror, but our regular, unwashed windows are like magnets to mating birds, so I can only imagine what a mirror would make them think. It appears your porch has enough of an overhang that you don’t have the problem of the sun striking the mirror and then blinding passer-by drivers. Good Heavens!! How do I ever think of all these things??!!

    Reply

    1. Hi Linda, No we don’t get hail storms too often here. And, nope, we have 2 very large oak trees that shade the front yard mostly so not too much sun shines directly on the mirror (if at all, actually!)..plus we live in a very small neighborhood so not too many cars driving by! ;)
      Thanks so much for stopping by! :)
      Nancy

      Reply

    1. Hi Sandi :)
      Thank you so much! I know, it is a different spot for it, for sure! But I am loving it too, but I love doing things out of the norm. ;)

      Reply

  12. Oh dear goodness is that just flipping gorgeous friend! OMG!!! I mean…that..paired with everything else on the front porch….. looks like a dream! Your colors are spot on and the piece is perfect their! I need to come back to this post so that I can appropriately refinish pieces for our porch. I just love this look!! Great work! Wish I could drink some lemonade with ya there!

    Reply

  19. Lessons in patience are not my forte, but you are so right. I should be doing a better job of waiting for cheaper pieces. Probably because our house is practically empty and was too anxious to start filling our empty spaces. But I LOVE your blog and your furniture choices are to die for. Love your work, Nancy. I pop in now and again and always (and gladly) stuck her for awhile :)

    Reply

  20. Just found out about chalk paint and your posts are very inspiring. I have tons of cherry/mahogany antique furniture that I want to play with. All of your work’s beautiful.

    Thanks so much!!

    Reply

      1. I love it and I’ll need to paint my hall tree. Do you worry about rain blowing on it ? I ask because I had a screen porch but my furniture did occassionally get wet,

        Reply

        1. Hi Pam,
          Only maybe occasionally will it get wet. But I sealed it with poly (instead of wax) and it’s holding up well. I probably wouldn’t put it in direct weather.
          Hope that helps!
          Nancy

          Reply

  21. Just a guess, but it looks like the hazy picture might be caused by bringing the air conditioned camera out into the warm moist air – makes the lens fog up and you get a hazy picture. I’ve done this many times, especially at the beach.

    Also, love the hall tree on the porch.

    Reply

    1. You are probably right. Although, it wasn’t very hot yet but with it having just rained I think there was quite a bit of humidity in the air!
      And thank you so much, by the way! :)
      Happy weekend to you!
      Nancy

      Reply

  22. I just moved and have no place for a similar piece of furniture. I actually thought about putting it on my front porch…it has a bench on it so it would be extra seating. It also has 4 small rectangular mirrors-I am going to paint it, and paint the mirrors with black chalkboard paint. Your idea has inspired me so I am going to do it!! Thank you!!!

    Reply

  24. It’s really pretty and I love the colors you chose. Why do you prefer Fusion over ASCP?
    I’ve been using ASCP for years and am curious about the pros of Fusion.

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Lizzy! I really love pretty much all paints. Some I just like better than others. I used ASCP for years and loved it! It’s a great paint but I just prefer Fusion now. I feel like Fusion has better longevity and goes on so nicely. Also love that I don’t have to seal it or add a topcoat unless I want to. I still think there are some applications where true chalk-style paint works great, decorative finishes and such. xo

      Reply

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