Paint

How to Paint a Piano

Have you ever considered painting your piano? Check out this painted piano makeover tutorial!

Painting a Piano Tutorial

I recently gave our family room a makeover (you can see all the details on the previous painted piano tutorial HERE). After that makeover was completed, I realized our yellow-painted piano with all of its distressing didn’t really work in the new space.

It was previously painted with milk paint and chalk paint (you can see that makeover HERE).  Style preferences change over time, and I just wasn’t loving the more shabby chic look of the matte paint anymore. Here’s a photo of the original image of the piano – before it was painted yellow.

We loved (and the kids played) the yellow piano for the past four years.  However, I was ready to give her a more sophisticated paint job. I began by sanding the piano with fine grit sandpaper.  I had previously used wax on the piano, and I have found that wax resists paint.

After the sanding was done, I used a cleaner to wipe down the piano.

I don’t recommend using spray paint inside, but I definitely didn’t want to move the piano out to the garage to paint.  It was just too much work.  Instead, I opened windows and doors for ventilation and covered everything in my home.

Using painter’s tape, I taped off everything I didn’t want to be painted on the piano.

After everything was taped down (including the piano keys and foot pedals) and the prep work was done, I added Amy Howard’s at Home Furniture Lacquer Primer.  I used three cans of paint primer for the piano.

After the coat of primer was completely dry, I began with the first coat of Amy Howard at Home’s Furniture Lacquer in La Grange.

The nice thing about spray paint (or using a paint sprayer) is that you can easily paint all the nooks and crannies.

I painted several light coats of paint and allowed them to dry in between.  Once dry, I sanded lightly and use a lint-free dry rag in-between coats.

Lacquer is tricky, but it does provide a gorgeous glossy finish without paint strokes.  You have to move slowly and carefully (but not too slowly that you have excess and it drips).

It took patience and time (and around 4 cans), but I had a gorgeous new piano in one day.

I had gold spray paint on hand, so I used it for the final step to add gold-dipped legs and brighten the pedals.

The piano (and piano bench) has a sophisticated new gloss paint look that fits perfectly in my newly designed family room!

Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.

Find me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Pinterest *This post is a sponsored post by Amy Howard at Home and contains affiliate links. I take pride in reviewing only products that fit my brand and will be beneficial to my readers. And while this post is sponsored, all the opinions are my own.

Paint

Painted Piano

A painted piano adds so much character to any home.

I painted a piano this week.

Painting a Piano

We’ve been talking about getting a piano for a little while since our oldest son is going to start lessons this fall. While on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I ran across someone selling an upright for $50. I was excited because it obviously needed help. My husband would definitely be okay with me painting it, and it was so inexpensive that I couldn’t mess it up. Plus, how cool would a painted piano be?!

piano Now, I decided to use milk paint for the first time ever. Note to self: Don’t try a paint you’ve never used next time you paint a piano. I’ve heard a lot about milk paint because I follow Miss Mustard seed, and she has her own line of (Miss Mustard Seed) Milk Paint. Her stuff always looks so amazing.

piano3 What I didn’t think about was how unpredictable it can be. For someone like me, this isn’t really a good thing. I like plans and predictability. I like to be the one to distress where I want to distress. I’m not saying this is a good thing, but it’s how I work. So you can imagine my frustration when this started to happen: piano8 The charm of milk paint is that it does have a tendency to chip. However, to avoid this, you can mix a bonding agent with the first paint layer. I did – but I ran out of paint for the first batch and got a little lazy with my second batch and didn’t add the bonding agent. The areas I painted without the bonding agent (obviously) are where the major chipping occurred. Another thing about milk paint is that it comes in powder form. I didn’t love having to mix my own paint. I’m a pretty impatient person and mixing just added another layer in the process of painting. It’s not a huge deal to mix, but there’s something great about just popping a can of paint open… All that being said, milk paint does have its charm. If you like the (very) distressed look, this paint is for you. It comes in a bunch of BEAUTIFUL colors and it does have a unique look. It’s also a great paint for color washing pieces – you can easily water the paint down to achieve the washed look. So, after I painted the piano, I used (cream) chalk paint to accent some of the parts – and I also used the chalk paint on the areas that I hadn’t used the bonding agent in my first layer of paint. I wasn’t loving the extreme chipping happening in these areas and luckily my cream “accents” look intentional. piano11 After everything was painted, I took a sander to the entire piano. All the tutorials I watch show the people sanding by hand. Again, I don’t have patience for this. So, I used this big guy: piano7 At the end, I did wax the entire piece with both clear wax and a small amount of dark wax. I used Annie Sloan wax because I had it on hand. Overall, it’s a little more distressed than I had originally planned. However, I think I’m starting to like the piano more and more. It may be because we have a family pass to Conner Prairie and have been spending too much time there, but I think it will work well in my house. And, my son has a piano to practice on! piano14 piano13 piano10 piano9

Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home. Find me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Pinterest

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins