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

Weekend Project

L got her very own sewing desk! I found this adorable desk on Craigslist...

Unfortunately, I was not in the mood for a project this big. This desk needed a lot of work! The pulls needed to be scrubbed, not just cleaned, really scrubbed, just look at that rust!

The paint was thick with lots of wear.

I really didn't want to dive into this project so I went to a furniture store looking for a couch and found this cute cheap desk. I was with a friend that warned me, price matches quality. I didn't care, I just wanted simple. I got it home, put it together and was already regretting my decision. My husband was appalled! He was so against this desk, plus, L's room stunk that night like chemicals. The desk was all particle board and it was missing paint in some areas. 

I told my husband I would get the other desk if he would watch the kids and dog all weekend while I worked away. So, I took the desk back we went and looked at the craigslist desk in person and had to get it. It was old, well built and perfect for L's needs. He LOVED that the drawers were tong and groove. I liked that it was solid and I could make it just how L wanted. She is a very particular little girl.

I was going to sand it all, but Mr. C said I should use a stripper first. I found an eco friendly one so that worked for me. It hardly had a smell at all.

The stripper worked so well!! I still did a lot of sanding to make the desk as smooth as I could because L wanted it white with gold drawers. White shows everything.

The drawers were the easiest so I started with those. L was insistent that she had gold drawers and I think it's a big deal to let my kids personalities come out in decorating their rooms. (Within limits of course.) She actually wanted drawers that were gold, light pink and dark pink. That was a bit much so I convinced her that if we did that, the desk might not grow with her, she may get sick of it.

I was worried about the pulls because they are 2 different sizes, both unusual sizes, so I was hoping when they were cleaned that L would like them. Unfortunately, when I cleaned them, 2 of them were real solid brass. The rest were brass plated. I should have left them rusted and tarnished, that would have looked much better.

First coat of paint and the desk is looking great!

 After all the work cleaning the handles and searching the internet, Hoby Loby, World Market, Home Depot, Osh, Ace (who has thousands of pulls), I could not find matching pulls in 2 and 2.5 inch. I even looked for some pulls that would look good together and this size is near impossible to find! I found a couple 2 inch ones, but no 2.5 inch. So, I painted them white...

I really don't like them white, so I ruffed them up a bit. Still don't like them, but they are better. I bought some hammered paint, but L absolutely doesn't like that color. For now I am going to let them sit for a while, I screwed them in loosely incase I find what I'm looking for in the right size I can replace them. I may just paint one the other color and put it on so L can get used to it then I can change them all. But overall I love the desk and her little spunk that comes out in her decorating.

Don't forget the last picture, there is a little surprise when she opens the drawers.

L got her pink on the inside of the drawers and it's not just light pink. The spray can's I used to paint the inside of the drawers was terrible!!! They must have been really old because I shook and shook them and they were spitting out particles and the color would change. Some of her drawers fade from light to dark. If I had started with the pink, I may not have finished the project!

Now, she can sew all day long and we can still eat dinner on our table. (That little bag on her chair, she sewed herself!

If you are interested, here are some of the products I used on this project.

For desk:



For the drawers, I used the same Universal line but in a Metallic and the color was Champagne Mist. I can't find it on amazon at the moment.

For the stripper:



To clean the handles (it works great on pots and pans also):



Now, I need to work on her wall...

Kristen

Sprucing up some chairs

I had these old chairs around my pool. They were functional, but not very pretty. So, I decided to spruce them up a bit. 

I had to wash them off and since it is almost 100 degrees out, I didn't have to do much work on drying them. I did have to knock off some chipped paint also.

L and I primered the chairs and little table first.

Since I love pops of color and we have a pool with turquoise water, I decided to go with "seaside" for the chairs. If you want the color for yourself, you can click the color name or click here.

I love how they turned out. Nice and bright and clean!

 

The old chairs blended in so much that I forgot I had 4! I just noticed the other 2 in my yard this morning and quickly painted one more. I need to go get more primer for the other one.

I left the table white for a little contrast. (Again, you can click the color for the exact paint) They also have it at any home improvement store in the white. In the end, I ended up using painting 3 chairs and a table, I used 3 cans of primer, 1 can of white, and 3 cans of seaside. I have some seaside and white left over.

I have 4 other metal chairs that are bigger and rock. I am thinking a different color for those. Maybe a rusty red to tie in the pavers on the patio outside the pool. Feel free to let me know what you think for a good color to add!

Renewed Table

A friend found this old table and thought I might like to restore it.

Here is a close up of the top, all pealy and yucky.

Here are the drawers.

The whole table was really weathered. We decided to spray paint the black parts black and stain the top.

Here is it half sanded, already looking better.

Now, ready for the stain. It already looks so much better!

I kept some of the old paint on the edges to give it more of an older antiqued look. It didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, but not bad for a free table.

We also got new knobs for the drawers.

I love the color of the stain on the top!

Much better then before. Now I have a table to work on my sewing projects. I can cut standing up instead of criss cross apple sauce. 

Kristen