apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Most pianos are painted -- black. So no need to weep for the wood.

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Pianos come pretty cheap on Craigslist, because they're the sort of thing one wants to get rid of fast if they're taking up too much space, and a piano is only useful if someone in the household can play it. What I'm trying to say is . . . that fact that it's a large musical instrument doesn't necessarily mean it's worth much. Lots of people own a less-than-perfect hand-me-down instrument, inherited from a relative, perhaps stored for years in poor conditions. Good enough to keep around, but not worth the cost of restoration. If it's a high-quality instrument of heirloom quality, that's one thing. But if it's not particularly valuable or if the wood is already messed up, I say go for it!

I have a piano, and it is and will remain unpainted. It was the childhood piano of my husband and his sister. It's not teak, but it has that colouring. I love the painted look, but it just won't fly over here.

I'm not saying this to point out a flaw with this post, but more as a call for further images. The write-up talks about painting a piano to help lighten its visual load, particularly in small spaces. The two images that actually show the piano within the context of the larger space its in really aren't small spaces (in my view anyway). My space is small, and the piano does feel big. I'd love to see more images of how people in small spaces have effectively incorporated pianos, painted or not.

Personally, I really dislike this, but I have a flat-finished grand that I absolutely adore; I might feel different with an old spinet.

Pianos are usually open-grain veneered, so they really need to be filled prior to painting. Also, never, ever paint or stain the soundboard!

(3) The blue piano does give the room a fresh lift

But does the paint affect the sound? If so, what's the point?

Half the piano's I've seen are painted white or black so I imagine there's no reason it has to affect the sound, unless done badly.

I was debating a painted or stained-a-non-wood-colour spinet.

My piano is a hideous high gloss black - like so many pianos. No character. I'd definitely consider painting it.

None of the spaces that these pianos are shown in are small, so very bad example.

I would think you'd have to be careful painting a piano not to screw up the sound - so I'd have to hope it was done professionally.

As a musician, I hate it...

No doubt there are some things that can't be improved w/a coat of paint, but I can't think of any at the moment.

I think the pianos look great, esp. the first one.

People - it WILL change the sound. My guess is that it would deaden it, for a couple of reasons.

We're looking at the difference between piano finish - a finish that has been specifically selected for its flexible, warm, reverberating acoustic properties - and the stiff, harsh stuff that has been developed for its abilities to be tough in harsh environments like the outside of your house or the walls of your kitchen.

My guess is that a coat of paint, even on a shoddy piano, will take the tone out of the dark and delicious range and into the bright, harsh, tinkly, percussive sound. Yuck!

Then again - if you have never used your piano and it is basically landfill fodder, your piano can live out the rest of its days as Art.

I just like that (w the exception of #1) these look like someone plays. Nothing gets my pet peeve up more than a piano covered in tchotke and which cannot be played until you clean it of junk. Give me a painted piano any day as long as I can sit down and play!

i love the first three, and hate the fourth. i've never understood the attraction of the whitewashed look. basically it looks dirty or like it's primered and waiting for its paint.
of course the main thing to look into before painting a piano is the effect on sound quality. if you don't play it, why have it? if you do play it, don't mess with its acoustics.

I am a former classical musician though not a pianist---but I know some things about acoustics and wooden instruments. Pianos are made of 3/4" thick wood, if not thicker on some parts. A thin layer of paint isn't going to change the sound noticeably, if at all. They're already coated with varnish, polyurethane, shellac (if really old), lacquer, or enamel.

This is different from a violin or other stringed instrument, which is made of very thin wood that reverberates a lot. The finish does matter a lot on stringed instruments.

As someone else pointed out, the piano soundboard shouldn't be painted since that could affect the sound. The soundboard is in the back of an upright piano and under the lid of a grand.

That said, a lot of spinets and old upright grands (the tall, very heavy uprights) are not good instruments, let alone great instruments. Many are junky, just as many other musical instruments are junky. If your piano isn't a high end instrument, go ahead and paint it if you want.

Oh, and one of the reasons they go for cheap at auctions and yard sales is because the cost of moving them is fairly high.

The previous owners of my house gave me their old piano. It had been painted with a flat white paint giving it a look similar to the piano in the last photo. I didn't really like the way it looked so I stripped off all the paint, repaired the veneer wherever it was damaged, stained and waxed the wood. It was a lot more work than I bargained for and in retrospect repainting would have been a lot easier. However, I was quite pleased with the results and putting all that work into it made me very motivated to actually learn how to play. I've been taking lessons for 4 years now.

Thank you spanky for your detail...

I am a reasonably accomplished pianist, and love to play. I have an utterly normal upright, which I bought for the sound and the playability. I still play at least once a week...

That being said, it would be so cool to have a funky-looking piano where my bland one is now. This post makes me so excited!!! So please, if anyone else has any knowledge, or first hand experience, please keep contributing to this post! I don't want to destroy any part of the sound, but I love pretty things :)

Thanks for the info spanky!

I wish I could play the piano, I love the sound and I've always wanted to sing carols around the piano at Christmas. Alas, I have no musical talent. Maybe I can marry a guy who can play! For now, I have my ipod.

Turquoise makes just about everything better...