Funny how a melody sounds like a memory...

I have a piano in my house that has belonged in my family for a loooong time. It originally belonged to my grandmother's Aunt Lilli Jo Partin Witt. Her and her husband, Jack, lived in Omaha, Texas... which is a small town in East Texas. They had no children. After Aunt Lilli Jo died, my grandmother's cousin, Mona, went to Omaha and brought the piano back to Gadsden, Alabama. (Where my mom is from.)


Mona kept the piano for several years, but eventually decided she wanted it out of her way. She thought of my sister and I and thought that we might want to take piano lessons.


My grandmother and grandfather went to look at it. They had Gadsden Music Company pick it up, take it to their store to tune it, and then deliver it to my mom's house in Trussville, Alabama.


I was a pretty little girl then... maybe fourth or fifth grade. My mom made us start taking piano lessons. I wasn't very good at it, but Holly definitely was. I ended up quitting before Holly did. It's been years since I played the piano!


My mom passed away when I was 18, and when we were having the estate sale I decided I did not want to get rid of the piano. My dad volunteered to store it in his garage, and it's been there, under a blanket, for six years.


When I bought my house in Dallas, I convinced my dad to drive it back to Dallas for me. I remember my grandmother saying she was "glad the piano is going back home to Texas", so that's where it started all of those years ago.


When it finally arrived in Dallas, it was banged up. Missing chunks. My dad spent an afternoon repairing the holes, but it still looked awful. I couldn't stand the sight of it. I thought my beautiful piano looked awful in my house! Here are some before pictures:

 (See all the dings on the side?? YIKES!)

(Please ignore the purple envelopes. Those are my sister's wedding invitations and they are currently all over my house!)


I painted my other grandmother's china cabinet last week. I knew I wanted the piano to be the focal point in the room, which would be hard with a white and blue china cabinet! I sat on the floor yesterday afternoon for five minutes trying to convince myself to just paint the piano. I started with the piano bench... here it was after one coat.

 Then I moved on to the piano, and here it is after one coat....

Ah! I was so nervous! But I kept going! I painted another coat. Then I waxed it and distressed it, and waxed it again! And I'm in love with it. Are you ready??? Here it is!....

AH! I'm in love. You can't really see the distressed parts, but I didn't distress it tooooo much. I may go back and add more. Here is a shot of the piano and the cabinet together...
                           
I love love love it! Next up is finding chairs to match. Originally I was going to recover my mom's chair, but now my sister is going to be taking it to Oklahoma. So I'm on the search for chairs to match! If any of you have any ideas, let me know! Also, I want to find a white mirror to hang above the piano. I think it will look perfect!


Here's a side by side comparison:





What do you think? Do you love it as much as I do???