Tuesday, November 17, 2009

so..you see...I have this piano...


I have an antique upright piano that came with my house...why oh why did I let that slide through on the contract???...it must have been the buzz I had from buying a new house.

So here is the story. The piano resides in my finished basement. I am currently going through a reno of my basement to transform it into a fabulous and long-awaited work room for my painting and whatever other projects come to life down there. I am so excited...painted floors, a 9ft antique farm table for an island...chandeliers...all kinds of old, chippy painted cabinets...I can't wait to show you!

So that brings me to the piano. Within my fabulous new space is this antique upright piano. It has been sitting downthere looking so sad and lonely. It has beautiful carved legs, and gorgeous bench that looks so graceful and pretty...it would be great with a little restoration. It has seen some use and abuse over the years, so it is not a 'fine' piano, but it is still so pretty.

So there is my question...what the heck do you do with a piano that weighs 600 lbs and won't fit up the basement stairs?? Oh. did I fail to mention that? The previous owners finished the basement and now the piano won't go up the stairs. I would have to rip out part of the ceiling. Yikes!

Should I make lemonade out of these lemons??

Do I use it as part of the room...even though it would be an inefficent piece in a work-room where storage is so important? But look how darn cute those stocking are...love them!



But this would be yet another project on my long list of things to do. And I already paint somewhere in the ballpark of 60 pieces of furniture each month. I don't know if I have it in me to take on a piano on top of that. Ugh!



I could sell it...but remember..that option would require a very sweet "honey, can we take out just a little bit of the ceiling so this baby can get up the stairs?"...is it worth the trouble?



Or do I just smash it. Put it out by the curb..and move on with my reno? That seems like such a dreadful idea, but according to my realtor friend...it happens all the time. Sellers find it is too heavy to move so they smash it and throw it out before their house goes on the market. Isn't that sad??



I want your thoughts! I am apparently too emotionally involved with this piano...more than I thought...and it is once again clouding my judgement. Similar to the day I said "sure the piano can stay...put it in the contract. No problem!"

My husband is such a keeper. He came up with the idea of gutting it and using it for storage. He said he could modify the inside (the front panel would lift and open) and make a custom "cabinet" out of it. How cool does that sound?? But...not much storage for how big that thing is.

Ugh! What's a girl to do?