Look!: Piano Guts as Wall Decor

Years ago, my (now) husband inherited a piano from a neighbor while living in a 3-flat. Unable to pass up the beauty, the neighbors joined forces and were able to move the piano out one window and in through another. Getting it in was hard, but getting it out when it came time to move a few years later? That was impossible. Rather than leave the whole thing behind or pay to have it disassembled and moved, my husband did the only sane thing (yeah right): he took out the guts and took those with him...

It now hangs on our wall, over an old Grundig stereo, and although the dust settles terribly, we love the story, the inspiration, and the conversations it encourages when new people come over. (And we apologize to those that may find pulling apart an innocent piano a sacrilege!)

What surprising, nontraditional stuff do guests see on your walls?

Comments (5)

i saw a slightly different version in new orleans when i went to pick up a craigslist purchase from a private owner. she'd found a piano in the neighborhood that had been 'drowned' by katrina, and scavenged the keys and the guts, which she hung separately on two adjoining walls. it was pretty spectacular.

posted by loislane on January 15th 2008 at 9:37am
view loislane's profile

oh -great idea - we have an old untuneable Wurlitzer that we couldn't even "dump" for free on CL sitting in our hall - I was thinking of turning it into a piano "bar" but didn't know what to do with the guts? now i do!

posted by anaguy on January 15th 2008 at 11:15am
view anaguy's profile

It isn't really nontraditional but our guest are usually shocked by the amount of religious iconography on our walls.

posted by Swan on January 15th 2008 at 11:31am
view Swan's profile

I have a fireplace mantle that I have mounted in the middle of a wall -- up and down as well as side to side -- as a sculptural architectural fragment. It "floats" above the TV -- sort of hovering over the electronic fireplace.

Swan -- I've had guests upset by some of the Vodou and Christian art I've collected over the years. On the other hand, religious iconography from Isalm, Judaism, Buddhism, or Shinto as well as anything clearly ethnic/tribal doesn't upset the guests. In the case of Christian art the upset seems to be caused by the cognitive dissonance created by having to look at Christian artifacts from the same point of view as the artifacts of other religions.

posted by JonathanB on January 15th 2008 at 12:30pm
view JonathanB's profile

My husband has a suit of chain mail on the wall. And our umbrella stand holds plastic swords. (Our 12-year-old says his friends think we're cool.)

posted by Lisa Hunter on January 15th 2008 at 5:43pm
view Lisa Hunter's profile