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Painting our Piano

We have wanted to put a piano in our house for years but never got around to the task of it. David can play a bit, and I remember one song… A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton, because really, what else do you need? Piano sheet music is a girl’s best friend when it comes to trying to remember this song properly though! Poppy has loved playing around on here, and I hope that she enjoys learning as she gets older. Although she probably wont, because I haven’t met a kid that didn’t loathe piano lessons. My piano teacher actually wanted me to quit, can’t imagine why.

We recently found a small one for free on craigslist and hired movers to bring it to our house, then we found a nice selection of piano benches online that we could choose from to accompany the piano. The reason it took so long to put one in our house is that it was such a daunting Saturday job for David to go rent a truck and get his buddies to move one. So I finally just called movers to pick one up, definitely worth the money. If you’re looking to hire movers to handle your piano, you can find pricing details here.

I knew I wanted to paint the piano white so I started as soon as it was dropped off. I posted on Instagram asking for any piano painting tips, but who was I kidding, I never wait for instruction I just go for it and see how it turns out anyway. It turned out good! I didn’t sand it down only out of laziness, but good thing I’m lazy, because someone messaged after saying make sure you don’t sand it because it might effect the sound.

I used a brush and applied 5 thin coats of just regular interior eggshell white paint to the entire thing. I didn’t bother taking any of it apart because I don’t trust myself to put it back together properly. Someone said they took their entire piano apart before painting it, go you, but that sounds like a lot of work to me!

Next time I would definitely start with a small roller on the large sections to avoid having to do some many coats.

You can see in the photo below that I taped off the keys and that one section of wood behind them. I didn’t want to risk the paint back there making the keys stick, and I actually like the little pop of brown.

15 Comments

  1. August 23, 2017 / 1:21 pm

    Love the white piano with that pop of brown! 🙂 What a great way to spice up an old free piano!

  2. August 23, 2017 / 1:39 pm

    LOVE! Thanks for sharing!

  3. Nancy
    August 24, 2017 / 7:03 am

    What was the brand and color of the paint you used? It looks amazing!

    • bethanymenzel
      Author
      August 24, 2017 / 2:09 pm

      I had Home Depot colour match to Benjamin Moore Simply White

  4. Erin
    August 24, 2017 / 10:35 am

    This is great – I’m going to follow suit!
    Quick question…our old piano has no bench – yours is cute. Can you lead me to one like this?

    • bethanymenzel
      Author
      August 24, 2017 / 2:08 pm

      Are you from Canada? This one is from Homesense.

  5. Shani
    August 31, 2017 / 12:07 am

    Love your jean shorts!
    Can you please tell me where they’re from?

  6. Beka
    October 3, 2017 / 8:14 am

    That macrame!!! Where did you get it? I’d absolutely love to have one just like it!

    • bethanymenzel
      Author
      October 3, 2017 / 8:16 am

      Do you live in Canada? I got it from Homesense, for $30!!

      • Beka
        October 6, 2017 / 11:54 am

        No we live in the US in Nebraska but I checked their site and I see Marshall’s and TJ Maxx are part of their stores. I’ll have to do some looking around here or Etsy for a similar one. It’s just so cute!

  7. David
    October 20, 2017 / 2:07 am

    The outcome looks great and elegant. You give me an idea with my old piano. The house/case is actually old and not good as the original due to aging. Thanks anyway for sharing your ideas. I will try it now with mine.

    Dave
    Pianoin21days.com

  8. Beka
    October 29, 2017 / 8:32 am

    Would you be willing to give me the dimensions of your macrame as well as the width of your piano? I think I’ve found one that will work but I don’t want it to be too big or too small.

  9. Katie
    February 24, 2019 / 9:07 pm

    I am in love with this bench and am also looking for a more modern/elegant bench! Where is this from? 🙂

  10. Paige
    July 1, 2019 / 12:25 pm

    So beautiful! What are the dimensions of this piano or the brand? It looks smaller than average and I have been searching and searching for a narrow piano like this! Thanks!!

  11. August 11, 2019 / 4:21 pm

    Love the piano stool! Where is it from!? Such a beautiful set up!

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