Piano happy and cardinal sin

This baby and I have something super exciting to share!  Well, at least we are excited!  Furniture will need to be rearranged, noise will be made, and happy times to come!

Ta-Da!  

After months of looking we have finally found her.  I found her on KSL from a sweet elderly couple.  When I told her I wanted to buy it, she took a gasp and said "I need to sell it, but it's kind of bittersweet."  Nicest person I've ever bargained with.  

Aiko was pretty excited when she heard me playing.  She knows when something is new in the house.  She stands on her tip toes and then plays the keys.  It's adorable.

Granted, she needs some good work done to the wood.  That's mainly why I bought her.  But I was exceptionally please with the sound and the fact that the keys weren't chipped.  

 

I have big plans for this piano...oh, and it has a bench!  

Aiko and I...we have big, big plans.  

I plan on painting her.  

I realize this is a cardinal sin, but if I was going to refinish it anyway, I might as well do it the way I have always wanted.   Growing up, there was this music store we'd go to as kids and they had a giant HOT PINK grand piano!  Hot Pink!  I tell you, it was ugly, but I knew one day with the right color...I too would paint a piano. 

So here are our choices I've been debating so far.  I know, bold and crazy.  I just don't know....I'll make up my mind soon.  Any advice?  Other than...don't paint it?

I'm almost feeling the "Be Spontaneous" is speaking to me.  

Of course I looked at Pinterest...found this sweet pin here.

Venting from a Piano Person without a Piano!

 

 

I was two hours away from having a lovely upright piano in my home.  SOOO close.  We've been looking for the last year or so.  I told the husband if we don't get a piano in this house, God will take away my one musical talent.  I worked with this lady who used to play the flute and piano, she swears because she didn't play after a few years she completely lost the ability to read or play any music.  I can't let that happen.  Plus, I get sad that Aiko hasn't grown up with one...I know, I know, she's only 14 months (15 in T minus 14 days.) But it's always bothered me.  

I really did love the look of this piano. It was from 1895 and in the best condition I've seen yet. The wood wasn't damaged, all the keys worked, there weren't chipped keys...it was just lovely.  Lovely, lovely.   I'm pretty particular about my piano styles, so it was just right.  There were just a few problems.  

A.  It was ginormous, a beauty, but ginormous.  It wouldn't fit in our current home well. 

B.  I'd have to hire a mover every time, it's that big. 

C.  It had a slight harpsichord to it.  Just enough that it bothered me....for the whole weekend it bothered me.  The previous owner was a jazz performer.  Sadly, I'm not a jazz performer (wish I was.)  Sound is extremely important to me.  I like a soulful, deep sounding piano.

I think it was mainly the size and sound that got to me in the end.  I just couldn't handle the twang of it all.  Plus, I currently like my setup in my living room and new this piano would just not fit well.  

Man, if only.  But as I've been searching ksl yet again for a piano, I just get so angry.  What in the world are people doing to these pianos?  I mean really, do your children gnaw on the end of the keys until the chip?  How does one scrape such an expensive been of wood?  

It drives me CRAZY!  

Growing up the piano was sacred. Nothing was placed on top of it, no toys were near it, you just played it.  Don't get me wrong, we were pretty rough kids...but the piano still has all of its keys and they all work.  The the prices people think they can charge?!  It's been sitting in storage or in the garage for 10 years, but it should work okay right?  RIGHT?  I can totally understand a piano that is out of tune, it happens.

Oh, people.  You break my heart.

So here we are, yet looking again, except this time, I've had to compromise my life to not buy an upright piano.  (Yet.)  It's hard to find one that doesn't have all these weird shapes and curves.  All I want it a square shape on people.