I am alive!My friends are so nice to send emails and care that I have fallen off of blog land. I have no great excuse for not blogging other than getting totally overwhelmed. Story of me life!
Halloween is running rapid in our house and I love it. My cabinet is holding lots of goblins and ghouls!
I took Nora's advice and put in leaves in my holiday table.
(Nora your email was so great!)
My artichoke project turned out great. I dried them all and painted some white.
I love how they turned out.
(Nora your email was so great!)
My artichoke project turned out great. I dried them all and painted some white.I love how they turned out.
My glass jar (from TJMaxx - someone had asked me) is full of candy corn so all are happy in the house.
And while I admit I am in no position to be asking for advice from blog readers, since I have contributed nothing for the past month, I am asking anyway. I am looking at buying this used piano, so my girls can get some kind musical teaching in our home. Here are the details.
Cost $250
1916 made in Ohio.
needs new tops of keys $100
cost to move $100
needs to be tuned and has not been tuned in 5 years
wooden legs have pineapples - ahh! i am getting swooned in by the looks!
do I need to hear don't judge a book by it's cover?
18 comments:
Good to have you back! I read often but comment little. Sorry. :) The love your hutch! I have one and I love to decorate it for holidays. It's a lot of fun to collect things for it each year.
The piano seems like a good deal. I've seen ones like that around here(SLC) at estate sales that go for $500 in like the first 5 minutes. The tuning will cost you about $100 too. And you will probably need a piano bench. ;)
My sister just bought one like that from craiglist and it was painted red. The cutest thing I have ever seen! Doesn't it sound like a shame to paint a piano? Still, it's cute.
Do you have a fun spot for it? I don't think you can go wrong at this price.
Good luck!
amy:)
Yay!!! You're back! I was thinking about your table just the other day and wondering what was inside it.
Mmmmm, my professional opinion on the piano? I love it. Have you tried to play it? Play it, then decide. Then again, I have Grandma Cutler's old piano in our living room. Love you!
Do it! You can always have it tuned/broken keys replaced. It's lovely.
I'm moving back to DC next week and am sad that you're not there anymore. I miss spending time with you.
I'm so happy to see a new post from you! Why have you been torturing us so?
That's a darling picture of you and the girls!
I love your home decor and all your seasonal decorations. I was thinking about your cute table just the other day and wondering what you had in it.
I can't advise on the piano because I'm clueless about such things, but I love the look of it too.
We just got rid of a piano just like that. We actually did get professional opinions, because I loved it and wanted to keep it. First they say they really can't tune them anymore when they are that old, because the strings break. Look inside and see if some of them aren't breaking already. When we looked inside ours we found some of the drum pads off, a couple springs broken and some other stuff that just disintegrated as soon as you touched it. I thought because it was so beautiful and old (think antique)and made of solid wood it would be worth something. Nope they said. They are just thrown away. I would ask a tuner to come with you to see it. We did make ours work for several years before we had it looked at by a professional. It worked Ok. Certainly didn't help tune an ear to proper pitch, but it worked if you can't or like us refused to pay for anything else. We just broke down and got a beautiful brand new one. We love it, but it was expensive!
I just bought a used piano that is old and ornate and I love it soooo much. I paid $800 and everyone told me it was a good deal. Make sure when you go see it that all the keys work (black and white) nothing is missing (like pads inside) and there isn't rust on the harp. If everything works, orange oil and a good cleaning and tuning can work wonders. ps.....ivory's can be bought on e-bay and glued on with superglue.
I don't know anything about pianos, but you had me at carved pineapples!
ooooh welcome back- I missed you!! Was hoping you didnt fall off the slopes!!
We bought an old piano when our kids were little for $750 & we got a lot of use out of it.
Old pianos are usually off on pitch even if they are in tune... but it's true they can't keep a tune very well & a lot of them have broken parts etc.
Still it was in okay shape & my kids started playing. When megan's piano teacher said- get a new piano or i won't teach her anymore... we knew we had to get a new one or quit with music. We searched for a WHOLE YEAR & ended up buying a brand new baby grand yamaha for a KILLER deal!!! Iknew it was a killer deal because I had been looking for so long. The sound quality was so good & so much better than our old one our kids INSTANTLY started playing more & better. INSTANTLY - IT WAS one of the best purchases we ever made- and get this-
we traded in that old piano on the new one for $500
Now my kids who were younger & they don't even remember that old piano are taking lessons & playing on the new one- they are much better & years ahead. Partially (they have a better teacher) and partially there is just something magical about playing on that beautiful piano.
So- I guess it matters how good of shape the piano is in- and what you really want out of it.
I love that my girls can play (my boys are on video testifying that I provided piano lessons & they refused to take them or practice) But frankly- piano lessons are a lot like potting training- so hard, but so worth it in the long run ;)
I WAS SO HAPPY TO COME HOME FROM A BUDGETING CLASS (NOT FUN BUT SO IMPORTANT) TO SEE YOU HAD POSTED!!! IT MADE MY WHOLE NIGHT
You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish!
Great photo of Pink and the Pinkettes. The girls' beautiful faces are a nice mix of Pink and Dr. Pink. Beautiful little faces, much like the faces of cats! :-)
Hooray, welcome back!!
I always love seeing photos of your beautiful home.
The piano is beautiful. But I wouldn't buy it without having it checked out first. Can you find a good piano restoration/tuner in the area to look at it for you? We have a friend here who does that and he can work wonders with old pianos. Since it hasn't been tuned for so long, it will probably need several tunings before it will hold a tune. If you had someone who knows what they're doing look at it, they can tell you what the tone is like and what kind of condition it's really in.
Kristi, so glad you are back.
My advice for the piano, is it may have really awesome looks, but if it hasn't been tuned in 5 years!! yikes, don't do it. It may not ever get tuned to the right pitch and you don't want your kids growing up hearing the wrong pitches and thinking that is the right sound when it isn't. I'd definitely talk to a piano tuner before taking the plunge. You would be better off just getting a newer piano, or one that you know has been tuned regularly.
LOVE your fall decorations!
HELLO!!! Honestly - so glad you are back!
I love old pianos! I found one when we lived in Florida - for $100! It was from an old honkey-tonk bar and dated WAY back. It was great for a 'starter' piano and I LOVED the look of it!
I was sick when my husband 'surprised me' with a new shiney black piano! I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't want new - I loved the old. However, the difference in sound was amazing!
I grew up with an old piano that went through 7 kids...so I suppose I am of NO help.
...cute photo of you with your littles
A friend of mine (whose husband teaches piano full time) once told me that if a piano hasn't been tuned in 5 years, it will take MAJOR work. She said that it would need to be tuned many times (one time wouldn't be enough to get it back to "normal") so it would end up being more expensive then buying a new piano. I don't know. I just thought that might be helpful to know. :) It sure is pretty though!!!!
Got a hand me down piano. It had NEVER been tuned. In 30 years. Sounded awful. But my tuner was wonderful. Got it stable, and recommended coming back in 6 months. Totally worth it! It's been a year, and I have not yet tuned it again, but it's in decent shape/sound. I just painted it white. That said, if you don't LOVE it, there are always free pianos on Criags list. Something tells me you already know that.
I'm not going to lie... halfway into the primer step I panicked and thought I'd made a huge mistake. But I'm glad I kept at it.
http://shoeobsessedone.blogspot.com/2010/09/dressing.html
that piano is a FIND. grab it grab it right now! and then paint it black or white and sand it a little to show all the gorgeous detail! you'll never regret it.
your home is beautiful!
As someone who knows a little something about piano lessons and playing the piano, I would advise you to buy a new one. You are going to spend more in repeatedly tuning that beautiful piano than you think. It's wonderful, but if you are getting a piano for lessons then you need to spend the money. If you're getting the piano for looks first and then just some exposure to music, not really caring about how it sounds or whether they stick with it, then that piano is great!
I will die when I don't have access to my mother's grand piano anymore. Madison gets to learn on it now.
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