Here is ours:

{{!gwi}}

Wow! That's gorgeous! Mind if I add another question to the mix? Is your piano vintage/antique? How did you go about choosing it?

We're at the lake this week so I can't take a pic now, but we have an upright at our home.

It's a real oldie. We bought it from a couple retiring south over 22 yrs. ago when DS was 6 and started taking lessons. When we moved to our current home 6 yrs. ago, there was a wall in the LR where it fits just perfectly.

DH took lessons for 2 yrs when the kids left for college - he'd always wanted to play - but work, travel demands, etc., never left him with enough practice time and he made the call to put it on hold till retirement. I took lessons till I was 10, then stopped to make room for other things (I now regret that choice..) and it never "took" with DD who wanted to do anything besides practice.

DS, though, is an accomplished musician who played through HS, attended jazz summer camps and even found time to fit lessons in during his undergrad yrs. The old upright holds a lot of sentimental value for him, and I think when we eventually move from our current home to retire here at the lake house he may have settled in a permanent home and we'll offer it to him.

I will really miss having a piano in the house, though. My bias, but I think the upright style just says "Home & Family." It's so understated and fits in with our casual entertaining lifestyle. DS is always called upon to play carols during the holidays, and we have sing-alongs that everyone looks forward to. Geesh - now that you've got me thinking about it, I don't know that I can give it up!

I'll try to get & post a pic soon.

No, it's not. We bought what we considered a starter piano for our daughter at a piano store. Unfortunately, she doesn't play much anymore, but I still keep it there in case she does or sometimes we have guests who like to play so we can have a sing along. Having music in the home adds so much enjoyment--no TV in this room. It came in this shiny mahogany look and black. I'm glad now we went for the mahogany (bought before the rest of the furniture), though it really is too shiny and shows all fingerprints. We bought at a store that allows you to trade in and upgrade, though we've never done so. I've seen some lovely vintage pianos, but havn't the knowledge to judge the quality--if you or your mother does, it would be a wonderful way to go.

Val - it is possible to have a piano technician or store buff the finish down so it is matte, not so shiny. You might call the store you bought it at and ask, or ask your tuner next time he comes if he knows anyone who would do that kind of work. (All they do is buff it with 000 steel wool - you could probably even do it yourself, though, even though I have done my fair amount of furniture refinishing, I personally would be afraid to try something like that on my piano, LOL!)

I very recently acquired an old upright piano that's been in my mom's family for 85 years. It had been at my mom and dad's house for the past 45 years. I played this piano when I took piano lessons as a young girl. It replaced a spinet piano that wasn't played very much. I know I will sit down and play more often at this piano because it has so much sentimental value. We have the perfect 6 foot wall for a piano.

I still haven't moved the picture hanging above the piano since the "new" piano arrived. I guess it should come up a few inches.

You might want to find a copy of The Piano Book by Larry Fine. It will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about pianos, but it's worth checking out before you spend money on one.

"Antique" in an upright piano that you want to use for playing (rather than just as a decor item) is not a desirable quality. Pianos are complicated machines inside that wear out over time. Repairing them is expensive and not always satisfactory -- and not worth it for most uprights.

My 2 cents. But if you get into this, you will find it very interesting!

Harriet speaks of an excellent book - I was going to recommend it myself.

We have a console - not as tall as an upright, but taller than a spinet. It's 26 years old now, as it was one of the first large purchases (after a car and our first home, a mobile home) that my husband and I made. I play, and now, our oldest daughter plays. At the moment I can't get photos into my computer (long story), but the photo linked below shows the left edge of the console.

Pianos should always be on an inside wall of the house and not right next to a door or window that is always open. Ours is on the wall shared with the kitchen, and I was careful not to put the range or oven on that wall when we redid the kitchen last year! (The refrig doesn't create enough heat to worry about.)

The top of my piano has several knick-knacks and an old piano lamp. Above the piano, on the wall, are two musical motifs (a violin and a mandolin, though the violin's chinrest is on the wrong side which has driven me crazy for years!). Between them is a small knick-knack shelf which is supposed to house our coffee cup collection (which magically disappeared during Christmas, somewhere in that mess we call a "garage").

Our piano, btw, is an Everett - back when, it was owned by Yamaha Corporation and it put out a good product. My piano guy says that Everetts are trash these days and he won't sell them any more. Yamaha puts out a good instrument, though. So does Kawai (if you can afford it).

DonnaR/CA

Here is a link that might be useful: Donna's living room with piano

Here's ours -- in our living room.

Cheri, Your piano is gorgeous! I love the style. It's a wonderful thing that it has been in your family for so many years and you have it now.
Joann

cliff_and_joann: Every pic I see of your lovely home, I admire more than the last.

We have an 1910 or something upright grand in our dining room. We acquired it for the cost ot moving it. It was a starter piano for our DD. We refinished it ourselves, it had been "antiqued" painted white and then oversprayed with gold spray paint. Never could stand the thought of refinishing the bench! one day.
Both the teacher checked it out for us and the tuner always kept it in tune. With the advent of high school, sports and dating, piano was dropped. But she still sits to play from memory one of the pieces she learned for a recital.

BTW both our tuner and the piano teacher said if you have ivory keys to always keep them uncovered- otherwise they will yellow. Our keys are still good and white!
No pics today though sorry.

I love looking at pianos in rooms - very nice, everyone. And, now for a completely different piano look:

We bought ours at a garage sale and wheeled it several blocks through the neighborhood to its new home. It's a Baldwin Acrosonic. Keeping it right in the middle of things keeps the kids playing it.

I too played as a child and sold mine when I went away to college (so I or my mother wouldn't have to drag it everywhere we moved). Off and on, I thought about getting another one when I was all grown up and felt a bit settled. Finally about 4 years ago I bought one. Then I had a child, so I didn't get much opportunity to play, and then we moved into the current house where there is only one spot where it fit. It looked awful. I lived with it for a while but hated it there (in the dining room), and given that I wasn't playing it much, I sold it. If I have time to pick up a musical instrument in the future, or if my child shows an interest, it will have to be violin or guitar, or something else that's small!

Pianos are lovely, but IMO they don't work well in our mobile society.

I'm glad my piano can't read....it's been very mobile in it's life time, as I am a professional musician/teacher/church music minister. My piano is the focal point of our LR (the lesser points are a dozen or so other instruments :^) Because I own 3 or 4 tons of music +/-, the piano is boxed in by bookcases. The "bridge" over the piano, between the bookcases, is a stack of square wooden organ pipes. The bookcase tops and the bridge are about 7' tall.

Thank you for all of the input and for the photos of beautiful instruments! I guess I had forgotten that there was more than one type of piano that's not a grand/baby grand -- the upright, spinet, console (are there others?). Some may work better than others in the tight space that we have too.

I'm going to keep my eyes out, and also appreciate the book recommendation. I'll look into that! (Although now my finances are becoming a bit tight -- as of last night we now have a fritzed-out computer at home, a vacuum cleaner that will probably need a new motor to the tune of $300, and we had to put a new $100 battery in my Jeep this morning. When it rains, it pours!)

My mother gave me hers when she moved to Florida. It doesn't get as much use anymore since my heathens revolted against piano lessons. I keep saying I'm going to learn myself, but too many other projects keep getting in the way.

Mine (the 1936 Chickering) has been pretty mobile also!! It came (previously owned believe it or not!!) into the family in the Texas panhandle in 1944 when my Mom bought it for my brother to take lessons. I started lessons (also at age 4) in 1948. We later moved to El Paso, TX. It made another move in El Paso and it was there that we had the sounding board "swelled" after 5 years in the very low humidity. In 1963 it moved to Orange, Texas with my parents and remained there until 1972 when it came to live with me in Oklahoma. Since it's arrival in Oklahoma it has made 3 more in city moves. So. . .9 moves. Somehow, it always found a special niche wherever it moved. It still has a lovely touch and great sound.

If you absolutely MUST be mobile, there are electronic "pianos" that are lightweight and very portable. The sad thing: they have to be plugged into electricity. The happy thing: they never need tuning. One of my schools has a Yamaha Clavinova, 88 key - plays like a piano except that you plug it in. This even looks like a modern basic piano - no ugly ironing board type stands for this! Yamaha and Kawai both make these, and some of them are lovely pieces of furniture but they don't weigh what a real piano does!

My other school has a baby grand that they used to mistreat. I told them several times: you need to move it away from the doorway, it's not meant to sit in front of a door that is constantly open. The church that uses the Multi-purpose room complained that it was always out of tune. Finally, the district moved it to the stage. I can't use it for music classes up there, so I have one of those little portable Yamaha's that take up space on top of an empty student desk. But it serves the purpose!

Jaybird, I hear ya on how much music. Mine is in the shelving under the stairs AND in two crates in the storage room, and some went to college with my daughter (never to be seen by my eyes again, probably - but no matter).

DonnaR/CA

Forgot to say : A friend has a nice sized ( not huge) master bedroom Her a cream colored studio piano is there. She's draped it with lovely scarf and family photos. Looks very old world/ French salon to me :>) Hmmm, brings magnaverde to my mind:>)

Jen -- check our local Craig's List! Check under instruments AND on the furniture listings!

A vote for a spinet type!

Jan

We just bought ours this March! It's a Charles Walter studio upright in a hand rubbed black satin. An American made instrument that gets rave reviews in the aforementioned book by Larry Fine. We love it's sound and how it looks. Many would probably hate the look--it's not a "furniture finish" fancy piano but very simple with block legs. I am proud of the piano and our 7 year-old who is doing so wonderfully with lessons, but I am embarrassed to post pix of our mismatched family room. : ( It's a room that has gotten no decorating attention since we moved here 3 years ago.