Before and After :: the Old Piano


BEFORE
When I was little the story goes that one day my parents got a random call from my Grandmother, Marge. She lived in Oakland, CA. both of my parents grew up in California but had moved to Seattle the day after they were married and at the time were living in what I understand was a tiny little house up on Capitol Hill. The call came in to let them know that they were inheriting the old upright piano. My Mom said that she really didn't know where they could keep a piano in their small living space. My grandma said "it's for Becky, I am giving it to Becky" (I was called Becky when I was young)...they ended the call wondering how to handle the situation when literally not twenty minutes later a moving truck pulled up in front of the house with Becky's Piano. Oh boy, this baby has been through it all. Truly. I remember it inside for a few years but mostly it has gone from garage to storage unit to garage. It got pretty run down and I almost gave it a way once to a guy who said he'd give me $50 to take it off my hands. For some reason I couldn't do it. It is one of the only things Marge ever put my name on. 

A few years back I got the hair-brained idea to paint it. Some of the wood veneer had pulled off and it had become an eye sore. Chris thought that sounded like a lot of work (mainly code for I think YOU should paint it for me :)) so it sat at least another winter in the garage. 

For my birthday I told Chris that all I wanted was for us to spend a weekend together, no kids, eating cupcakes and takeout and working on the old piano. We were all set to go, kids at his folks house, cupcakes in the fridge, me about to burst at eight months pregnant - serious nesting was going on. Chris got super sick over my birthday weekend so the old piano project was postponed. But not to fear after our number three was born Chris got to work on it. It has been a looooong labor of love and still needs a few more touches but she is coming along. I chose marigold yellow...

What do you think?

AFTER
I really love it! The right yellow is such a hard thing to pick and it is super dark in our front room so the color in the photo is a bit off. What you can't see are the turquoise blue ceilings. I think the combo of blue and yellow is my most favorite part. 
I can't really speak to much about the process because Chris did ALL of the work on this one but he did tell me a few things to add here and a few cell phone pictures of his process:

 
First he cleaned it really well with TSP then taped off the areas that needed to be and sanded it all with a fine sandpaper. He cleaned it off really well at this point making sure there was no dust on it and began the tiring work of painting it. Between every coat he sanded it again to make it as smooth as possible. I think one thing he mentioned a few times was the paint that we purchased was not as high quality as we could have. If we ever do something like this again I think Benjamin Moore paint might be just a bit better even though it has a higher price tag. The cheaper paint tended to run after a bit making super frustrating drips even when he had carefully gone over spots meticulously. 

After all of the painting and sanding coats were done (I think he did at least six) then he painted a polyurethane top coat over it to seal and give it a better protection from wear. 


I definitely have been enjoying changing out the display on top since we don't have a proper mantel and I love doing seasonal displays. She is mighty pretty now and one of my favorite birthday gifts (I have another one to show you soon - it's to die for!) oh and to the left in the photo you might notice an adorable celery green fiberglass mid century inspired rocker. Yup I got that little guy under the Christmas tree but apparently Chris ordered it for me the first week of June as a birthday present (end of September) and it arrived two weeks before Christmas! Isn't he sweet! 

Thanks Babe I love it all, and you are the best!! xoxo

21 comments:

  1. absolutely stunning. chris did an amazing job, and your display looks gorgeous on top. so, so fun to see these photos today! so happy for you to have your rocker too. your home is straight out of a magazine, rebekah. i love that i can come over and enjoy all the beauty in your home! :) and i love the story behind the piano--i'm so glad you kept that gift from your Grandma Marge; makes it so much more special that the piano was passed down to you. (you should submit this before/after to design*sponge!) xoxo

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  2. shut the door! this is feakin' fabulous!

    seriously love it! with everyone painting everything white these days it's a joy to see this piano sunshine yellow.

    i adore it. and your display surrounding it is the icing in the cake! seriously. love, love, love!

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  3. This is beautiful! So fun to have a piano to play with your family- I know how important music is to all of you! And I meant to comment earlier- but I'm LOVING this new little blog! I don't know how you're posting as much as you do with 3 little ones- but thanks for giving us a peak into your life right now :)

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  4. Nice vision as always wifey! Now I need to have the vision to get someone else to do the work, that piano was certainly a bear...but I have to admit, it looks pretty sharp...now we need to find a good piano tuner and we will be ready to roll!

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  5. Please come decorate my place! This is so, so cute! Nice job on the piano Chris!

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  6. It looks amazing! I love the yellow, too. We just got a free piano and I have been considering painting it but I need to choose a color...maybe greenish peacock blue? Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. Oh goodness, this is amazing! I love the story, the color, and the way you've created beautiful seasonal displays. Not sure if you read the blog 'you are my fave,' but she is into all things mustard yellow right now. Along with the submission to design sponge, you could send it along to her, too! I have been waiting to paint my front door mustard yellow, and this makes me even more excited for spring time to take on the project. Love these photos of your home!

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  8. Wow! Well done. That yellow is perfect and the piano looks amazing.

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  9. Great job, it looks beautiful! love the color you chose!

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  10. What a wonderful idea! I have an ugly black piano that I've been thinking about painting, but I'm having a difficult time choosing a color. Your home is fabulous. Love the rocker!

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  11. I just bought an old piano at Goodwill TODAY and am debating between yellow and turquoise. I LOVE how yours looks!

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  12. My first thought on seeing this post via DIY Showoff was to cringe - I can only begin to imagine the change in music quality due to the refinish (since timbre is in large part due to the type and quality of varnish).

    But then I realized - this piano was not getting *any* use in the garage. none. And now it's in a happy part of the house where (hopefully) people are drawn to plunking around a bit. This completely trumps any music-snot complaints. While it's not an approach I'd suggest for an instrument already in good condition, you've done a wonderful job of bringing the opportunity to share music into a greater part of your lives.

    kudos!

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  13. This is so beautiful. Love, love, love it. Hope you don't mind that I linked to it on my new little blog.

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  14. Yur Marigold Piano and My Krazy Green Piano could get together and have lovely, little fun piano babies! I am collecting painted pianos on pinterest, and I'm thrilled to add yours to my collection. Watch out UGLY VENEERED PIANOS, the DIY girls are comin' for ya!!!

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  15. This is one stunning transformation! It just smiles me smile!

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  16. Can you please tell me the color your used for this darling yellow?

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  17. Hi Can you please provide the paint color and name too, thanks!

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    Replies
    1. We would love to know which color you used as well!! We plan on refinishing our newly purchased piano.

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  18. I'm so glad you posted this! And I was super surprsied to read that you were 8 months pregnant when this went on... I just inherited my childhood piano from my dad for my kids and here I am, 8 months pregnant with #3. I am wanting to paint it SO bad, but I also know it won't be (realistically) possible for about another year, so until then, I can dream about it's awesome potential of it being a super fun piece of art in my home and find the perfect paint color. I am considering using chalk paint (Annie Sloan or the like) so I can skip all the coats and sanding steps. Yay for fun pianos!

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