Farmgirl Paints: yellow piano BLISS

Well hello there my sweet sweet friends. I'm finally crawling out from under the Etsy craziness. I really was a little nervous about cutting down my hours and going occasional, but God had other things in store, and He showed up in a big way. You showed up in a BIG way! Thank you for blessing my shop...my family! My hands are aching from all the cuffs I made in the last ten days:) I really can't say thank you enough!!!

So with that said...I've been dying to show you my painted piano finally. I've got most of the room pulled together. It was a labor of love, and by love I mean L.O.V.E! Here's how it went down.

Sometimes I wonder if I don't have a little bit of that bipolar thing going on. There are days where I walk through life in a depressive fog...lethargic...floundering and then there are the sublime moments when a ray of sun shines down from above and the angels sing and I swear I can move mountains. I walk through my house paintbrush in hand and I conquer. YES CONQUER just about anything that has been bugging me. Any unfinished project comes under my will and determination and that's where I was a couple of weeks ago. You have to take advantage when it happens;)

My piano room was fine. No big problems there, but it was just blah! The red, white and black was a little lifeless and the piano (which I painted years before) just blended into the space like a big black hole. So I got an itch to repaint and then I instagrammed that I wanted to repaint, and then I HAD to repaint! You know how that goes.

If anything, instagram is one giant accountability partner...you gotta love that. Everyone voted their favorite color and it was a split big time between turquoise and bright funky yellow. However the bright funky yellow was calling my name.

IMMEDIATELY I ran out and bought the paint because that's how I rolled that week. And I was off to take down that black hole of a piano. After the first coat I excitedly texted a couple of friends and one said ooooh that's gonna be a challenge because you didn't prime. And I was like whatev...it'll be fine. :0

I had a reason for not priming. I was going to distress and I wanted the black to pop, BUT holy cow four coats in and I was starting to panic. It was not looking good. I had drips everywhere. I couldn't cover the black for the life of me.

This always happens when I paint. There is that midway point when I want to curl up into a ball and cry in the corner...sucking my thumb. Well it came and then it went because once I got my palm sander out that piano started to SING!! If you don't have a palm sander run right now and go GET ONE! Best thing ever. It makes your mistakes look intentional. It takes a disaster and makes it look like magic:)

So here are the steps for those of you wanting to try this at home. And just to clarify here I'm not a pro. This is probably not the proper way of doing it.

Obviously take it apart and tape off the areas you want to protect.

1.) If it's not painted already prime it. If it is, gently sand it to rough it up a bit and wipe it down.

2.) Paint. Paint. Paint. Paint again. It took me four coats. That really sucked. Sorry, but it did.

3.) Use that palm sander I told you to buy and sand the heck out of all the edges...any drips and place you want it to look old and aged. You really can't mess this up. Just be careful not to leave the sander in one place too long or you can eat the wood up a bit.

4.) Wipe it down and if you want rub on a little black coffee Martha Stewart metallic glaze. Especially on any areas you may have taken down to the bare wood. Rub on and off with a cloth.

5.) Then take a clean white rag and apply a very thin coat of paste wax. This will give it a hard top coat and protect it and kind of finish and shine it up. Then after it dries...about 20 minutes buff it off in small circles with another clean rag. And VOILA gorgeousness!!!!! Seriously you'll be kicking yourself that you didn't do it years before.

I wasn't really feeling the stark black piano bench, so I went hunting and found this sweet little industrial stool at a local antique store and voila...instant make-over...

MAGIC!

Promise you won't covet my sewing skills;)

I displayed one of my vintage toy trucks, painted my brass lamp a funky turquoise and added my clock collection. And all of a sudden it was bliss...pure decorating bliss. All my favorite little things in one spot;)

I finally hung my BE tree (which had been sitting in a corner for two years) and added a new piece I'd been working on...dare to stand alone;) Funny when I started that yellow farmhouse it was before I even knew about my yellow piano. I didn't plan to put it in there. I really didn't have a plan at all...but it looks perfect!

After it was all done I needed to revamp the room a bit, so I ran to Joann's IMMEDIATELY and bought some fabric to make pillows to tie it all together. Cause that's how I roll remember;) However my machine was not cooperating AT ALL...so I only got one made and I just pulled the rest from around the house. Love the look though. That one pillow made it;)

I have to say seeing that yellow piano makes me almost giddy. The room glows. It does! It's happy and funky and suits me just perfectly.

I still have a little area I'm working on. I'm thinking that lamp shade needs a redo, and the table needs a fresh coat of paint to pop...maybe turquoise;)?? I love pittering around the house. It truly brings me joy changing things up. Making them personal and mine.