Tom and my sister can tell you how much I have been wanting a hall tree, with a storage bench. Tom and I have gone to several antique stores and the Least expensive we have seen one was for $799. and it was not big enough for our space. When I was out in Texas, my sister took me to some of her favorite places to antique and I found several I would have loved to have but none were under $1000. They do make new ones for around $200 and up, but they are made of cheap particle board. So, piece by piece over several months, I bought and gathered the things I would need to make my own.

What really inspired me to do so was a piece of wood I found in the attic of the house when we moved in. It was among a bunch of plywood and paneling, and at first I didn't think anything of it. We were ready to throw it out with the rest of the junk, but when I picked it up and saw the back of it I realized it was a really nice piece of old growth Tiger Oak that must have been from an old table top. The side I had first seen was the topside and it was filthy so you could not tell how beautiful it really was. I decided then that I would do something with it. In the meantime, I hate to admit, but I used it as a workbench top as I did other projects for the house. I knew I was going to refinish it, so it didn't matter if it got a little beat up. Having it around all the time reminded me it would become something else.

Finally, a week or so ago Tom replaced a a broken door with a good one we could close to keep the cool air in in the bedroom we use. The broken door sat out in the hallway for days and that is when I came up with the idea to use it as the back of the hall tree! See, if you think twice about things you can find ways to be green! Not only did I keep a door, and a beautiful piece of wood from going into the garbage, but I got the satisfaction of making something for my home that is made of all quality materials. Now that I refinished the piece of Tiger Oak, you can see where it gets the name, the grain looks just like the stripes down the back of a tiger.