Paint

How to Paint a Piano

Have you ever considered painting your piano? Check out this painted piano makeover tutorial!

Painting a Piano Tutorial

I recently gave our family room a makeover (you can see all the details on the previous painted piano tutorial HERE). After that makeover was completed, I realized our yellow-painted piano with all of its distressing didn’t really work in the new space.

It was previously painted with milk paint and chalk paint (you can see that makeover HERE).  Style preferences change over time, and I just wasn’t loving the more shabby chic look of the matte paint anymore. Here’s a photo of the original image of the piano – before it was painted yellow.

We loved (and the kids played) the yellow piano for the past four years.  However, I was ready to give her a more sophisticated paint job. I began by sanding the piano with fine grit sandpaper.  I had previously used wax on the piano, and I have found that wax resists paint.

After the sanding was done, I used a cleaner to wipe down the piano.

I don’t recommend using spray paint inside, but I definitely didn’t want to move the piano out to the garage to paint.  It was just too much work.  Instead, I opened windows and doors for ventilation and covered everything in my home.

Using painter’s tape, I taped off everything I didn’t want to be painted on the piano.

After everything was taped down (including the piano keys and foot pedals) and the prep work was done, I added Amy Howard’s at Home Furniture Lacquer Primer.  I used three cans of paint primer for the piano.

After the coat of primer was completely dry, I began with the first coat of Amy Howard at Home’s Furniture Lacquer in La Grange.

The nice thing about spray paint (or using a paint sprayer) is that you can easily paint all the nooks and crannies.

I painted several light coats of paint and allowed them to dry in between.  Once dry, I sanded lightly and use a lint-free dry rag in-between coats.

Lacquer is tricky, but it does provide a gorgeous glossy finish without paint strokes.  You have to move slowly and carefully (but not too slowly that you have excess and it drips).

It took patience and time (and around 4 cans), but I had a gorgeous new piano in one day.

I had gold spray paint on hand, so I used it for the final step to add gold-dipped legs and brighten the pedals.

The piano (and piano bench) has a sophisticated new gloss paint look that fits perfectly in my newly designed family room!

Are you new to my blog? Go HERE to see my home tour and HERE to shop for items I use in our home.

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14 thoughts on “How to Paint a Piano

  1. It’s beautiful. I have an old metal and glass horizontal cabinet I have been wanting to update. This may be the perfect paint application. Can you tell me the name of the wall color behind the piano? Love that too!! Thanks for your great posts.

  2. Beautiful! Are the flowers real? If not do you mind sharing where you got them? Such a pretty space!!

  3. Wow, I have always wanted to paint our old piano. Your tutorial looks easy, so I may give it a try. Our piano is old, yellowish but has a great shape. I hope I can make it look great like yours.