Recovering the Bench

The piano was missing the original bench, however, my husband's Aunt offered up this vintage sewing machine bench.  It needed to be recovered but I thought it was unusual and would add a little character to the overall look.

Before I started, it looked like someone had tried to recover the bench but didn't finish and the material really wasn't the look I was going for...so I had to remove the material which meant using a screwdriver, some pliers, and patience to pop out a few hundred staples.

Surprise!  There was another layer of material but this time it was the original stuff.  No clue how old this was but I decided to leave most of the first layer since I wasn't interested in changing out the cushion or removing the nails.  Guess back when this was done, the staple gun wasn't around?

Finally time to start adding the new fabric.  This was some fabric that I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  A little more elegant and neutral in color.  

The finished product!

Piano Thrash Day 1

My daughter has recently taken up piano lessons and is currently using a Casio keyboard for practice.  I don't expect her to become the next Beethoven and I really don't want to shell out any more cash than necessary for a piano, however, my husband's Aunt Patty has a really cool thrift store (Ken & Patty's) on SE 44th & I-35 in Oklahoma City and she offered this piano to us for free if we'd come get it.  We took a look and saw it had some potential as a great beginner's piano.  It's a Baldwin Aerosonic, and from what I gathered it's from the late 40's or early 50's.  

Here's what we started with after we unloaded it.

Dust bunnies and few deep scratches here and there but overall, it was in good shape.  I knew with a little a TLC this piano could look pretty decent, and I've been dying to try a new stencil technique that I spotted on Pinterest.  This would be the perfect project to try it out.

Before I spent a great deal of time fixing this up, I had a man who tunes pianos come out and look over it, just to make sure it was worth my time.  He said it was in pretty good shape but it did need a full tuning.  He suggested we finish our project and once we get it in place in the house, he would come out and tune it for us.  If you tune it now then move it, it may need to be tuned again...so better to wait and fix it up first.

The billiard's cloth that was adhered to a few places inside the piano was in pretty poor shape.  It was faded and torn.   The piano guy said if we wanted to replace it that vinegar would dissolve the glue.  I decided it was too ugly and needed to go.  The vinegar worked really well, I soaked it pretty good and although it took it a while, the mess finally came off with a little sweat and elbow grease of course.

It was a big, stinky, purple, mess.

Ta daaaa! Now its ready for the new cloth to be installed, but that will have to wait until the outside is finished.  No need to put it on now, it would just get all dusty and dirty. 

Next, I decided to take off a few of the pieces.  Surprisingly, the pieces were easily removed.  A total of 2 screws had to be taken out to remove the top lid.

I discovered a few other small places, where the billiard's cloth would need to be replaced.

After using my husband's air hose on the inside and outside, I did discover a few unusual treasures inside.  A random spoon, 2 beer bottle lids, and a plastic thing.  I was really hoping for a priceless coin that would have made me rich, but no such luck.

                                                            























There are few brass pieces on the piano that were heavily tarnished.  A little Brasso and they polished right up.


I plan on using a polishing tool that my husband has in his shop somewhere to buff these out better.  They should be sparkling when I'm done but I can't find the tool!  Guess it can wait until tomorrow.