Piano Facelift

I love piano's! I have for as long as I can remember, I love everything about them and I have always wanted to take lessons. So when my daughter started asking at around 2 to take lessons, I was all over that. By the time she was 4, we tired lessons and she informed me that she wanted to, "Know how to play the piano, not learn how." Well, that doesn't really happen for most people.

Fast forward quite a few years, L is taking lessons and after 6 months of negotiating with my husband, him seeing how much she enjoys it and me showing him the price of a weighted keyboard, he agreed to let me get a piano that he clearly says we don't have room for. (I let him know we can sell his workout equipment that takes up 1/2 the room and put a pretty piano in it's place.) Anyway, I found this gem for just $50.

My husband isn't usually a fan of me taking on furniture projects. It takes up quite a bit of my time. But he saw this and the first thing he asked when we got it inside the house was, "Are you going to refinish that?" Needless to say, I was happy to say, "YES!"

As you can see it is a bit worn in some places.

I really though long and hard about black. It's classic, it would have been a lot easier, and it would hide some of the imperfections. But, I just don't see black or a dark stain in this room with the dark floors. It looked like a blob. I even took to fb to ask what my friends thought and most said black.

I even gave it a shot with the bench...

The dark was pretty, just not in this room.

I decided to stick with my original plan of white. What's a little more work, it should be fun! However, these keys are one of the reasons I was considering black. It would cost $500 to fix them. Unless I do it my self which is a little more then $52.

L is quite enjoying her real piano.

I paid the piano tuner a ridiculous amount of money for the 10 minutes it took for him to take apart. I put it back together since it was so simple and now I know how to do it if I ever get sick of white.

The project would have been a lot more fun if I wasn't cramming it in between helping my husband with work and soccer practices. Life really gets in the way of a good project.

At least I got it primed before the sun went completely down.

After it was painted I was excited to take the tape off and freshen up all the brass on it. Usually I am not a fan of brass, but I love the look of it with our simple 1950's piano.

I used a little suggestion from my friend Lancine at Timeless Interiors. She told me to use Bartender's Best Friend.

I am very happy with the end result!! Although there are a few things I learned along the way when you polyurethane white like, don't let any amount pool in any cracks or it turns yellow. But over all, most imperfections are gone, I was happy leaving a few and it looks 100% better.

I hope this motivates you to transform your old piano!

Kristen