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

C gets a desk now too!

My neighbor offered me an old oak desk if I wanted it for either of my kids. When I went to look at it, I was shocked at what great condition it was in. It looked brand new, all the drawers rolled smooth and it it solid! Of course I wanted it! 

C has been asking for a desk since I was looking at desks for L. He has also been planning what color he wanted me to paint it.

This desk was quite fun to work on. There were no little cracks that I had to remove paint from first, I got to get right down to sanding and filling all the oak grain.

If you do this yourself, buy a fresh container of DAP Latex Plastic Wood. Mine was a little dried out, which made it really difficult to put on and it didn't get into the grain as well. I bought a new one and it went in much better.

C wanted a black desk, so I talked him into a dark gray desk with an almost black top. I went with an ebony stain and used spray paint on the desk. I wanted to try the mat spray over it, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out so I left it shinny. C choose the red chair.

We are slowly adding things to his walls now. Finally after 4 years in this house. 

If his room was a little cleaner, I would take pictures from far away. Here is his wall that we added stripes to, remember from this post to lighten up the room. He wanted that so bad, I couldn't understand why he wanted a black desk.

C picked out all the signs for his walls.

Hopefully he can keep his shelves a little nicer and not so cluttered. He is my organized pack rat.

Kristen

Re-finishing Oak

If you have been following for a little while, you have slowly seen the Mr. C's office transform. We have been working on the front waiting room but have not been able to finish it. In the mean time, here is the magazine rack that I have re-finished.

I have mentioned before that oak is everywhere. I wanted to update this magazine rack.

I filled in the wood grain with some stainable wood fill.

Then sanded it down smooth.

I wanted to show the difference, so on the inside of the rack, I didn't fill the in the wood grain. You can still see all those tiger stripes in the oak.

Here is the front where I filled and sanded. Quite a difference in the look of the wood. It still has some variation in the color, but it does not at all look the same.

Here is the finished rack! I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Yes, the wall is a different color. But, I can't do a final reveal of the waiting area because there are a couple major things that are not finished and it just looks, well... unfinished. Even a couple patients have asked if we are moving... Hopefully we can change that soon.

In case you missed them, her are some posts on the hallway and Mr. C's office.

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