Not a door but a tree

As I was walking down the hallway of Ramsay House in my mind I realised that I needed somewhere to sit and take off my garden boots and hang my coat. I love what some call 'Hall Trees' if they are somewhat substantiel and not flimsy. I had seen this one on Pinterest and it looked not so hard to do in miniature. 

I did some small sketches to work out the scale and finished size, not too big and not too small. This was going to be an important element in the hallway.

I missed some stages in the build, it looks fairly straight forward but oh the cuts and recuts and bits added here and there to make assembly logical. I wanted to include some turned elements, shop bought, to make it look more professional! hihihi !! I lined the coffer with part of an old map as painting in such a confined space was going to be difficult. Believe me when I say that maneuvering paper with glue in one piece into a confined space without tearing or leaving to make tea with cake is really hard!

A close up before I added the panel inserts and the back trims.

The top panel inserts are Simply pieces of obeche and the lower panels are bits of blind wood sanded to look mitered.

I used blind wood to make the coffer lid/seat which was not a great idea as it doesn't take stain very well. I completely forgot that I had the dark wood blind. Several attemps led me to use some dark oak varnish that made such a mess and had to be sanded down as it looked like glass when dry and not old wood.

The open coffer with the map lining and wood supports for the top piece. 

I added two of those sticky beads that are used in scrapbooking.

First coat of gesso paint, hides a lot of problem areas.

At this point I didn't know what colour to use but given the colour of the hall walls it had to be in the yellow range and also not clash with the floor. I really dislike things that match.

I bought the hooks from Julies bits and pieces via her website and after sanding the backs to flatten the 'seam', I painted them with some metal patina used in jewellery.

I looked out my hinges and as I am a mean Scot, I decided to cheat and save my hinges for when they are actually working or seen and made a fabric hinge instead. I cut the coton on the biais, glued it and trimmed when dry.

Voila, one cheap hinge.

It looks more yellow than in reality, it's more of an ochre colour. I tried photographing in different lights but only this one turned out ok.

I rubbed down the paint, patinated with burnt umber then varnished with matt acrylic. I sanded the nasty gloss off the seat and waxed it with my usual antique wax.

Some decor for the fun of it. I still have to muddy my wellingtons and flower pots and one day when I feel brave, make a couple of raincoats, Burberry and Barbour of course.

And some straw hats and a trug full of garden tools for the imagined garden.