Edit: It's been over 2 years since I wrote this painted piano post and it still gets so much traffic! I want to add a new photo to this post! I've gotten married (moody winter wedding inspo!) and bought a house, so here are a couple updated photos of my favorite black piano! ;)
This is one of my favorite before and afters that I've ever completed!! It took YEARS, but I finally painted my antique piano matte black and I couldn't be happier!
The before: a hot mess! A light orangey stain that someone else DIY'd years prior to me buying the piano. I love my piano story because it's so unique!
I actually bought this piano as a surprise birthday gift for an old roommate. I found it on Craigslist for $75!! I couldn't believe it- a steal!! Well, we had to rent a Uhaul to pick it up and the piano weighs about 700lbs. After moving it, I found out why they were selling it so cheap!! Ha! Such a mess to move! I highly recommend hiring piano movers and saving yourself a ton of pain. The piano was made in 1907! (whoa!)
Well, my roommate got married and moved out, and couldn't take the piano with her, so I inherited it. After years of it sitting in my house, untouched, I knew that I had to do something with it! I wanted to paint my piano black but everyone kept telling me not to.
Good thing I didn't listen...I finally worked up the courage (and budget!) to hire someone for the job of painting my piano black and I couldn't be happier.
He used a sprayer and oil-based paint. He primed with white first, then a matte black. The below photo was taken just after it was painted and was still wet and glossy.
Painting it was only part one of the transformation! The piano needed to be tuned, too!
Years prior, a friend had started tuning the piano for us, but stopped about 1/3 of the way through. (not helpful!) Again, I finally worked up the courage and the budget to hire a professional piano tuner! It was SO out of tune. He raised all of the strings and brought the piano into tune with itself, but it's still a little low overall. It's been about a year since then, so now it's time for the next tuning and he'll be able to raise it to concert pitch!
Pianos should be checked and tuned every year or so (to avoid having to do as much work as I am now).
Now, my black piano is one of my favorite pieces in my house.
AND I love that it's playable! Even though I don't personally play, at our Christmas party last year, someone sat down and started playing and we ended up having a sing-a-long! It was so FUN!
Thank you to Rachel Bilson for being the one inspiration photo I could find on Pinterest years ago when I was looking for painted black pianos! The above photo of my new painted black piano is my ode to her, substituting a disco ball for her pouf, in true Rhonda fashion. Now you know the history of my painted black piano!
