DIY Painted Piano {part 1}

 a little over a month ago a family from church was moving and when i was over there helping out they were talking about how they didn't want to move their piano. so they planned to sell it. 

at that point i was bummed because trevor knew i wanted it but was already reluctant because the thing had seen better days and i knew he would be up for paying any money for it. that's when the best plan ever was formulated...

i had already been talking to the husband about selling him my clarinet for the high school band (he is the band director) and decided to ask him for a trade. honestly i hadn't played my clarinet but maybe twice since 9th grade and it always drove me crazy that it was in the key of b flat. but the piano is an instrument that everyone should learn to play and although i'm not the best, i plan on becoming better.

luck for me there is another guy from our church that builds and tunes and fixes pianos as his retired hobby. he came over and told me that it really was a good trade and he would help me get this thing in perfect condition...for free. can't beat that. 

 so here's what went down.

 the thing was kind of a mess.

 they had 5 kids and you wouldn't believe the things i found inside that piano as i was taking it apart. 

you can tell from above that a few things had been spilled in there too. but the pictures below are after i washed and vacuumed it out.

first i sanded it with fine sand paper to smooth it out and wiped it down again. 

then i used Behr paint plus primer and got to painting. 

here's where i got myself into a little bit of extra work and annoyance.

i chose a tan paint color and once i finished the second coat i hated it. awesome. 

so i decided to go with white. since i figured i already painted 2 coats with primer i just bought regular "antique white" paint with no primer. 

therefor i had to paint 3 more coats to cover the original color. if i would have got paint plus primer white i probably would of only had to do two.

so choose your paint color wisely and don't go cheap by getting paint without primer unless you want more work. 

oh and another tip....DO NOT buy cheap brushes. they make it streaky and you just have to go get more expensive ones anyways. learned that the hard way too. 

but at last here it is!!!

it's still not completely put together...the part that covers the keys isn't screw back on {thus the space}because i am waiting for the piano fix-it guy to come back to fix a key and tune it.

while i was painting with white i also decided to paint/distress my bookshelf which used to be completely wood like the top part. 

oh and that part of my living room has the WORST lighting ever.

 i am still having a seriously hard time deciding if i want to give it a little bit of distressing. 

what do you think?

next up....Part 2: painting and upholstering the piano bench. 

oh and i liked reading these tutorials before i started

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