Could you imagine my excitement when my friend gave me this beauty? She thought it was beyond repair! It was sorely beat up, missing pegs, a broken key, cracking finish, and a decent tone, I knew underneath it all was a gem.
All I needed to do was convince my hubby that this piano would be great... then I had to convince him that this piano would be great RED!
A little elbow grease... okay OKAY, a lot of elbow grease later, the piano makes a statement! I covered the piano bench with black and white hounds tooth fabric, and a big fat cushion! I really love how it turned out, it is such a fun piece!
It is amazing what paint, sandpaper, glaze, and polyurethane can do to an old worn out piano! I am tickling the ivories in style now.
Items needed:
Light Grit Sandpaper
Cheese cloth
Kilz spray primer
(FYI: Mine took 3 cans)
Krylon Paint
(FYI: Mine is cherry red, it took NINE cans)
Glaze
(I used a color called dark granite, it is a dark brown gray color)
Polyeurathane
Step One : Prep
Refinishing a piano is a lot of work, so make sure you have a good working piano... You don't want to do all of this work, if the piano is not in decent working order! The piano I was given was no beauty, but it does have decent tone.
Clean your piano thoroughly. Using light grit sandpaper, sand your piano.. You do not need to remove all the varnish just rough it up so that the paint will adhere to it good. I had spots where the varnish had cracked that I had to smooth out with sandpaper. Once it is all clean it is time to take it apart!
This is the fun part... okay not really. I will have you know I did this all by myself, and it was not as hard as I had thought.
- Take the piano apart. Remove all the large pieces that you can.
- Put the hardware in envelopes, and label them. This will help you a ton, when you have to put it back together.
- Remove the keys. I read on many blogs that your keys will be numbered so you can figure out where they belong. MINE WERE NOT. So I placed them in order on a board.
- Protect the inner workings of the piano with paper or plastic and tape.
Place the keys in order on a large board (mine is actually an old cabinet door) This will make it easier to put back together when finished. You can see the broken key in this picture. My piano tuner says he has a spare black piece I can have.
Step 2: Paint
Now that you are finished with the prep work it is time to paint! Make sure all of your pieces are clean and lightly sanded. I used cheese cloth to make sure there is no dust on the surfaces.
All Things Thrifty, has amazing beginner tutorials, on how to spray paint and glaze on her blog. Pretty much everything I learned about furniture refinishing I learned from that blog! So if you are new to furniture refinishing go check out
All Things Thrifty's tutorials for beginner painters and glazers!
- Apply Kilz spray primer to your piano. Kilz leaves a little bit of a bumpy surface, so I make sure to sand in between each coat, and whip clean with cheese cloth. I sprayed two coats of primer. (Sorry I was so excited I forgot to take a great picture of this step).
- Now it is time to paint! It took my NINE (yup that's 9) cans of Krylon (cherry red) spray paint to get this red color that I love, but it was worth it. In between layers of spay paint (sometimes I would cheat and go two layers) I would lightly sand the surface and wipe clean with a cheese cloth. This will give you a smooth surface.
- When you are finished painting you can add glaze. I love glazing, it adds depth and dimension to your project. A tip I learned is have paint thinner handy. I don't like heavy glaze, if you get to much glaze on, dip a rag in a little paint thinner, and surprisingly it will take the glaze off, but not much of your paint. Also, I was lucky enough to have my sister help me with this step. She would paint the glaze on, and I would wipe it off!
- I like to apply a brush on water based polyurethane to all my furniture, after the glazing and painting is done. You can buy spray, but I like the brush on version better. I did about three coats, and boy is it shiny! As with paint and primer, I lightly sanded in between coats, and wiped it clean with cheesecloth. This will give your project shine, and added protection.
Here is an enlarged picture of the glazing.
Step 3: Bench
- Cut a piece of foam to cover the top of your piano bench. I found the best place to buy foam is at Home Depot. They are called camper pads, they are huge, and so much cheaper than the craft store versions, that feel the same. Cut a piece of fabric larger than the top of the bench, with room to cover the foam.
- Begin stapling your fabric onto the underside of the bench seat. It is kind of like your wrapping a present.
- This picture shows what the underneath looks like.
Put it all together and what do you get?
A red piano might not be for everyone, but I sure love it!
I see a lot of jazz songs in this piano's future!
Cost Estimates:
Paint (9 cans at $3.50 ea) 31.50
Primer (3 cans at $5.00 ea) 15.00
Polyurethane: Given to me free from local paint store:)
Fabric: $6
Portion of Foam: about $5
Glaze: I have had one pint of glaze that has lasted me years.
Sandpaper/Cheesecloth: $5
Total: $62.50
Not to shabby!
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