Guest Post: The Turquoise Piano

First of all I want to thank Rachel for having me. I just love her and her blog!

I’m Kelli, full time wife to Tom and mommy to Morgan, and part time home stager/real estate agent/DIYer/blogger. I love everything that has to do with real estate — buying, selling, decorating, remodeling, you name it! I started my blog, The Turquoise Piano, because my family blog was getting inundated with DIY posts that just didn’t seem to belong.

Today I am going to share with you the inspiration behind my blog… my piano. My turquoise piano.

I had been wanting a piano for like ever and finally found a free antique upright on craigslist in 2007. We picked it up and took it home to our Utah house. I had a tuner come and fix it up. It really looked great. Then my husband got a job in Boise. We had to move everything and decided that the million pound piano had to go — and not with us — so I sold it and made $200.

Fast forward three years and I’m dying for another piano. This time I didn’t want antique or upright because, lets be honest, a small piano is heavy enough and I don’t want the hubs to complain when he has to move it, so I started looking at craigslist again and came across this beauty for $100.

I emailed the people and offered them $50 and I’d pick it up. They accepted that so my husband, brother-in-law, and our handy man (with the truck and trailer) went to get it. We paid the handy man $50 for a total of $100 for the piano and to move it.

When it was in my garage I sanded it. Don’t be overwhelmed by this step if you want to do this to your piano. A piano is big, sure, but look at it. Straight lines all around! I’ve done chairs that were harder than this. But if you do sand your piano, make sure you have an electric sander or your hand will be perma-cramped.

Next I primed it with a can of primer that was left at our house by the builder.

One day I was jogging and stopped by a garage sale where there were cans of paint for $2. I got a can of off white that was almost full. The people that used it before me got it at Lowe’s so I took it there and asked if they would make it turquoise. I showed them the color I wanted and they did their best to match it. Know the color? Tiffany Blue! Like Tiffany and Co. It’s a perfect match.

So I finished by painting the piano. I used a foam brush because I was worried that a normal brush would leave streaks. The foam brush did great for me. The hardest part was getting around the keys. I don’t have a picture of this but if you do it, push the keys down and tape around them to cover them. That way you can paint where you need to without getting the keys.

I bought the white material to cover the bench at JoAnn’s with a 50% off coupon so it cost around $2.

What do you think of the final result? Worth $104? I sure think so!

You guys, thanks for reading my guest post and Rachel, thanks for having me. Come visit The Turquoise Piano! I try to have at least one awesome tutorial per week to make it worth your while.

Once upon a time…

I started a blog. This is a tale of my projects, goals, and dreams. Thank you for taking a moment to stop by. I hope you have a beautiful day.

Once upon a time…

xoxo, Rach H.

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