What do you do with a piano?

 A friend collects scrap metal. Last summer he showed up with a piano on his trailer. I asked him, "What are you gonna do with that?"

He answered, "Burn it!" He only wanted the metal inside it. I was dismayed. This was one of those really old upright pianos and the wood appeared to be well maintained.

So I talked him into letting me salvage as much wood off it as I could before he burned it. Have you ever tried to remove 107 year old flathead screws? Ones that had not been touched in 107 years? I did what I could. Roy and Eugene helped.

This is the piano cabinet I made. I have not refinished the wood. It was that beautiful! I designed it to fit in an odd corner of the dining room. You can see half of my pantry behind the cabinet. I used it to hide an unsightly piece of plywood I used to cover where a door had been before my kitchen renovation. The entire piece is made out of parts of the piano. I didn't want to cut the legs down to fit so they are at an odd angle. They are not supporting the cabinet. Maybe one day I'll pull them out for a different project and place something else there. Hmmm. I could do simple 2x2 wood posts at the corners and stained to match.

I was able to remove all the keys. Now these have ivory on them which I cannot sell or even give away. While I was looking for ideas for something to do with them, I checked Esty. An artist named Oleg crafted wings out of piano keys and is selling them on Esty. He used new pine boards for the back and designed a harness so you could actually wear them! He attached the keys with drywall screws. I used a piece of the piano for a back and attached the keys with finishing nails. His project is all cleaned up and stained and beautiful. I kept mine original. I call mine tattered wings because the old ivory is chipped along the edges. I've started adding pictures of loved ones who have passed above the wings. I like to think they would be our guardian angels. I'm not sure I want to add my late husband's picture. He had a wicked sense of humor. I can only imagine how much trouble he could give me.

Here you can see the one by twelve pine walls I installed over twenty years ago to the living room and the dining room. I used my router to cut a V along the length on both sides.The master bedroom has original tongue and groove single V wood. It is really dark which I like in the bedroom. The builder alternated the width of the planks to compensate for the wood shrinking and swelling due to humidity. After I removed twenty years of neglect, I applied amber shellac. I like it. The lighter wood behind the red recliner is newer wood and where I removed an extra door.

Then Roy showed up with ANOTHER piano. This one had already been gutted. I added castors to the bottom. Then installed the screen to the back and hid my computer underneath. I built the shelves and drawers using scraps. My piano keyboard fits under the screen. Now I can scan a piece of music and enlarge it enough to see to read it. I am slowly going blind, but this allows me to adapt and enjoy my music. Notice the wall behind the desk? Yep, more single V homemade planks. I have cleaned it, but I haven't added the shellac yet.

What will Roy find and bring next? Well, he has already given me what could be a bedside table. It is well made, dovetail drawer sides and all. I want to refinish it and sell it for him. Someone gave him a manual garden cultivator. It is rusty, but works fine. I've enjoyed 'tilling' the garden quietly. I want to use naval jelly on the rust and paint it. I have some red automobile paint, yep, another thing he scavenged.