apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

it's hard to see what's going on there because of the blur, but i bet if you left the detailing/woodwork white and painted the walls a rich color (complementary to your redroom) then that area would pop intensely. also some big fresh flowers will always do the trick.

Maybe if the walls were off-white or even latte-brown the bench would stand out just as it is. Also, how about a small, round basket on top of the bench (only covering1/3 of the seating space) to catch your mail and keys to keep it clutter free. That way your guests could actually tie their shoelaces?

Your mirror unit (hall tree?) looks like an antique. Is it? If it is, get that white paint off there and have a good (expert) refinisher restore the finish. Those antique hall trees like yours are amazing when refinished. The natural color of the wood, which is most likely dark, will "pop" against those light walls and I guarantee people will be impressed. It should be a crime to put paint on antiques like that. I would most definitely invest the time to get that horrid paint off of there. Otherwise do what mmj said - paint your walls darker and the piece will stand out.

I know it's been said, but I have to agree... that hall tree would look really impressive if it weren't white. Not that it's ugly, it just blends right into the wall. Getting it stripped and refinished may not be in your time or money (or energy) budget, but that would be the first, best solution.

Outside of that, you could paint the wall behind it to make it pop and stand out. Also, what material are those finials? Are they the original wood finish? Or something else. The blur makes it a bit hard to see the piece.

totally - the walls should be a color (any color) and then the mirror would just pop.

Another possibility...paint the piece black if you don't want to strip it. I would consider HIGH gloss, and/or a glaze. Every space needs a touch of black.

I vote for considering a paint color (or wild wallpaper) for the walls, and letting the halltree do it's own thang.

I'd strip the paint off it using Peelaway 7 (for antique wood) and refinish it myself. You don't need a pro to do that. I'm the least handy person I know but I managed to refinish a lot of woodwork in our brownstone... and it looks awesome, imho.

What style is the rest of your house? Traditional? Modern?
Tame? Wild?

the issue is not with the white mirror unit, its with looking into the mirror and viewing the peripheral out of focus entry way, the dark red is to aggressive for the mirrors placement.

castles inn the sky.

If you go with high gloss black as someone suggested, try a sample size of Benjamin Moore "Impervex" latex high gloss enamel.

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/wrapper_pg3.asp?L=prod&K=intprods&groupid=24&productid=84#article

I'm in the middle of painting my kitchen cabinets with it and it really is glossy. Use a foam brush or foam roller with this stuff.

Thank u all for the comments. Unfortunately, it's not an antique that was painted over. It's made of different color wood and plaster. So we're going to paint it glossssy black.

Thanks