The Hall Part 3 - Building the mirror and coat rack

When we first moved into the house, we found a dismantled dining room table in the attic. It was made of veneered wood but the wood under the veneer looked pretty nice. I am not sure but it might even be oak. I saved not only because I save everything but because I knew I wanted to use it in a project some day. Another thing that the house came with was an assortment of mirrors.

I thought that this was the perfect project: to build a sort of built-in mirror / hall tree for the front hall. I began by sanding down the wood, removing most of the rough spots and all of the finish.

I made a very simple frame and then stained and finished it in much the same way that I finished the rest of the wood in the house. For the mirror frame finish, I used tung oil instead of the typical varnish though.

What is nice is that the finish allows the character of the wood to come through but there is also quite a bit of distress visible from its former use as a table top.

I mounted the mirror in the frame and then mounted it to the wall with butterfly anchors. Two screws are also installed, top and bottom, through a stud in the middle of the wall. It is very sturdy and isn't going anywhere.

I used brash washers and screws for mounting so it has a simple yet classic detail.

I was originally fretting over getting expensive fancy hooks from one of the restoration companies but couldn't choose so I ended up at Home Depot and bought something inexpensive instead. I installed two hooks on either side of the mirror for coats and two double-hooks at the bottom for keys and umbrellas.

I am ultimately happy with the hook choice. Hopefully this will keep stray jackets off of the furniture as well!

I finished out the room by hanging one of the prints that I made last summer. It is great to have this room finished!

The Hall Part 2 - finishing and painting

The finishing work was fairly simple. Like the rest of the woodwork in the house, I have it stained and varnished. I chose the colors for the hall some time ago but it took me a while to sort through the hundred or so cans of paint in my cellar to find the two that I chose.

There are two colors, though they are very close shades of gold. I painted the area below the chair rail a little darker than the color above the chair rail.  

Overall, the hall looks great and it is nice to have a finished entry to the house.

The Hall Part 1- You would think such a small room wouldn't be such a big project

I don't know why I waited so long to start this project. It is a small room and should be pretty quick, right? The problem is: when I did the wood cleaning and refinishing throughout the rest of the house, I quickly learned how difficult it was to strip doorways. Though this is a small room, it has two doorways. I also knew that I wanted to create a built-in mirror/coat rack in this room so it would take a bit more time. 

 After we moved in, we bought a wardrobe and placed it in the front hall to store coats. Before moving it in, I had taped an outline of where I wanted a future mirror to be. Of course, when I pulled out the wardrobe, the tape, from ten years ago, was still there.

The room had other issues too. There was pealing canvassed walls and cracking plaster that needed repair. I decided not to fuss with these elements all that much and just did a plaster patch and repaint over the papered and plastered areas.

The wood in this room was much like the rest of the wood ocne was in the house: splattered with paint, poorly stripped, dirty and all around crappy-looking. I spent quite a bit of time with the denatured alcohol and steel wool cleaning it all up.

The door was a particular challenge because it has quite a bit of detail. I cleaned out the lambs tongue molding and made some minor repairs to the door. 

I then stained all of the wood and this room in much the same way that I stained the wood throughout the rest of the house. I followed up with a varnish over everything.

Fixing holes

According to my blog (I had to check back because it has been so long since I did anything and I couldn't remember), I had some lighting fixed last August.  This was the first step towards actually refinishing the hallways (front and bedroom) in the house.  The down side of the project was that there were two gaping holes where the old sconces were.

It seems like a simple enouigh project but it took a little extra thought.  The lights were in place over an old-fashioned gas junction box.  It was an odd size and there wasn't an apparent way to easily "fill" it.  I ended up cutting down some lath and back-screwing it to the mounting-holes for the fixture on the box.  I then screwed a piece of gyp board to the lath and filled it with plaster.  

I am happy with the result. I now have a nice flat wall and can begin deciding on the paint color.  Actually, this is a sort of half-truth.  I started hanging up paint chips back in August.  They've been adorning the wall like an abstract art project since then.  I think I know which one I want to use.  Refinishing the woodwork is another story.

The First Project of '07

After a bit of deliberation, I have decided to tackle the front hall as the first project of the New Year. There was a close tie with the bedroom hall but since that hall has more doors and more woodwork, I figure it is better to “experiment” on the smaller hall. There is also a need in the house for a place to hang coats. This will be part of the hall renovation.

The coat rack will be made of stained mahogany and will incorporate a mirror that was found in the basement of the home. We hope to have enough hooks on it so that our winter coats are all stored there.

In addition to a built-in coat rack and mirror, we will also be changing out the lighting. It is funny. Most people that come into the house comment on this small mission style fixture in our hall and usually ask if it is original. No, it is not original and though it isn’t so bad, it really is not in keeping with the rest of the style of the house. We will be putting in a simple brass pendant fixture at the ceiling with a globe that was salvaged from my friend Will’s house. Changing the light will accomplish two things. First, we will have a fixture that would be more typical to the transitional arts & crafts style that our home has. Second, it will put the fixture out of the way, giving the room the sense of having more space. In a home like ours, every inch counts. Perhaps we will find a use for the old fixture on the back of the house.

A major part of this project will be experimenting with the wood finish. The home’s original wood finish has been stripped. From the evidence that I have found (back of attic door and fragments on our base molding), it appears that the woodwork originally had a darker appearance and was varnished. I imagine that subsequent owners wanted the room to look more “natural”. All of the wood in the house seems to be birch. I have seen other bungalows in the area with similar woodwork, stained dark and varnished, and it looks great. This will be what I will try to achieve. For the colors in the hall, we will be using some of the golds that will also be painted in the living and dining room. This is not final though.

For fun, I estimate I can get this job done by St. Patrick’s Day. Good luck, huh? Stay tuned.