Like all pianos, mine has a history. It's been loved many times over, thousands of songs have tickled its keys. I cherish this piece of furniture so very much so I decided to dive in and give it a make-over. There's one problem: I am NOT DOMESTIC! I don't have my Mom's amazing ability to be artistic. I don't have my sisters' talent of making quilts and pay attention to painstaking detail. And that's okay. I made up for it with this project.

This is the before picture, along with my teaching chair. (...that is now purple!!)

For a couple days I poured over blog posts, pictures, paint websites, piano websites and talked to other people that have painted theirs. I had a list of why I was hesitant:

• I didn't want to move the thing outside to paint, so it would have to be done on the spot
• I didn't want to take it apart piece by piece, I would be broken if I couldn't put it back together!
• I didn't want to drive 2 hours to Highland, Utah to get the type of paint I wanted
• I didn't want to make my own paint, I was so afraid of messing up
• I didn't want to sand it down, making bigger messes than originally intended (which ALWAYS happens to me!)
• I didn't want the project to take more than a day to complete

BUT....

• I did want to make my living room to freshen up with some color
• I did want to have something fun for my students/children to play on
• I did want to put some of my personality into it, it IS my 'office' after all

I started researching how to make CHALK PAINT. (It's basically a textured paint that adheres to a surface better than regular paint alone; with NO prepping or sanding needed) There are MANY recipes for chalk paint so I just picked one and played with it. This is what I came up with.
I started with 1/2 cup plaster of paris and added it to 1 cup warm water, stirring it with a paint stick until dissolved. Then I added 1 1/2 cup matte paint. (All of my research showed higher-gloss paint didn't work as well as the lower gloss.) I walked into Lowe's and picked a pretty teal that I liked. I bought a gallon. I ended up using only about a quart of it! Now I have more pretty paint to do other projects. If the paint mixture gets too thick (mine never did), you can add a few tablespoons of warm water to help thin it out. It always mixes well with water, I was impressed. Never separated.
I laid down a sheet, opened a can of Diet Coke with Lime, turned on a movie on Netflix and started painting! I used a sponge paint brush, I never had to use my expensive ones! And I ended up taping down the keys and using a little paintbrush from my son's Crayola Paint set to paint the part BEHIND the keys. And by the time I was done with the first coat, it was nearly dry!!! I put on another coat and then stuck the fan on it and went to bed. (It was time to go to bed, it was 4 am)
The next day, I hand sanded the edges to make it look stressed and antiquated. After sanding, I stained the entire thing. I used Minwax Wood Stain to finish it and seal the color. My research showed that people can use soft wax to finish and seal it, but I didn't want to get into all that. The can of Minwax was on sale and so I bought it!

 

I am thrilled how it turned out! I wish I had more than one piano to paint and now that I got the painting niche, I have painted several more things in my house...much to the irritation of my husband! I think it brightens up my house and gives it character. Plus all of my students LOVE it and it is fun to play on. I would have loved taking from a piano teacher with a different color piano!

 And I keep thinking "Why didn't I do this years ago?"