Shabby Chic Makeover

Well, my crafty-ness continues. The last two days I have been working on a project that has been in my plans for years. We have an old upright piano in our basement. The piano man checked it out and said it would take at least $500 to make it playable but it would always sound awful and never hold a tune (and he told me that about 15 years ago). So I've been brainstorming ideas for this formidable wooden beast which really is just a high-rise spider apartment.

Here is one idea but I can't find anybody to do it and I'm afraid it would cost a lot of money: Piano desk But it would be whoa cool, eh?

I really hate just taking it to the dump; the thick oak wood is beautiful. What I decided to do was to take it apart, keep the large pieces of wood, maybe someone would want the keys and wire for crafts, and then trash the rest of it. Like I say, this has been in my head for years. And Hubby doesn't like the idea. He has never played this piano; he doesn't even know HOW to play a piano. But he has "known" this piano all his life...and he is attached to it. I don't get it.

 Earlier this year I tried to strip the finish but discovered that whatever nasty red stain that was originally used was IMPOSSIBLE to completely remove!! So even after many layers of stripper the lid was pink...PINK! So I got frustrated and set it aside. Anyhoo...since I have more time on my hands, I decided to finally figure out what to do with this thing. After a bit of research (which actually means scrolling through pictures on Pinterest) I chose to paint it give it a distressed finish. Here is the completion of two days' work:

Before:

After:

The paint I used was a cream color....but that foul red stain tinted the paint PINK!!! But it looks cool so I'm not too upset about it. And it goes with my decor so it's all good.

I had an old book I got from a used book store that was full of color pictures of religious Byzantine art. I modge-podged them inside the bench. I think it looks very interesting and if I were a child I'd spend hours just staring at these and trying to figure out the stories and the people!

I also have an assortment of old hymnals so I photocopied the hymn "Tread Softly" onto fancy tissue paper and then modge-podged (is podged a word??) it to the lid. My parents and Herman and Melba Myers used to sing this hymn as a quartet so it brings back good memories and I can hear them singing in my head.

Everything I used for this project I already had laying around the house...except the piano hinge. I had to spend $6.98 for that but it was worth it. The old hinges were yucky....and I can't remember where I put them...

So, there you have it! My Shabby Chic Piano Bench Makeover!!

No sermon. Pretend I'm sayin' something about God's Makeover of us...