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A few weeks ago we decided to purchase a piano off of craigslist.

My sisters and I grew up playing the piano. And although I didn’t always appreciate those piano lessons, I am so glad my parents encouraged me to play made me do it. I am no expert player, amateur at best, but it has always been a great outlet to de-stress and has given me an appreciation for music through a different perspective.

I’ve often had the girls involved in some type of “musical” activity, Kindermusik and a variety of music related story times at the library. It’s an activity I feel they respond to best as babies and young toddlers. (I’ve had great experiences with Kindermusik by the way) Adeline just turned four, I don’t know if she’s really ready for formal piano lessons. I’ve heard mixed opinions and haven’t looked into it too seriously yet. With her personality I think she may respond really well to a short lesson. Any thoughts on this? How young is too young to start?

Exposure to music and music training in children does have an effect on their brain development. The nerdy side of me finds this all very interesting. Multiple studies have been done on this topic in the past several years with some neat findings. I came across a recent study in The Journal of Neuroscience where it was found that musical training before the age of seven had a significant boost in brain development, specifically within the motor region of the brain. You can read a synopsis of this pretty cool study here.

So here is our piano.

I learned that new pianos are extremely expensive, hence our affordable Craigslist find. It’s an Everett upright piano from the 1940s. It definitely shows its age in some areas but I actually appreciate that character….just so you know, in the piano world age is not necessarily a good thing and does not add any extra value. If anything the older pianos are usually worth less and not worth the money it would take to restore. When searching I looked for piano brands with a solid reputation that could withstand the beating of three girls (I googled and researched the ones I would come across on cragslist), same owner, where it was kept, made sure all the keys work… I’ve also read suggestions to have a technician check out the piano before a purchase, but since we weren’t spending that much on it to begin with we decided not to add another expense. There is also the issue of moving the piano, we did end up going with a piano mover we were able to negotaite a good deal with.

We still need to have a tecnician come over and give it a good tune up. In the mean time I’m thinking of ideas how to decorate around it. Here are some of favorite “piano” photos on pinterest.

great contrast against all the color

and love how these pianos just appear to flow with the rest of the home . . .

Emily from Jones Design Company made a great wall of “L’s” above her piano (although I believe she changed it now)

I’m a little obsessed with how Emily from EMILY. A CLARK. painted these stripes and made this piano work in her foyer

This is one of my favorits. Kirsten from 6th Street Design School did an amazing job working this piano into this space.

One of my issues is that besides hanging some curtains up, we have never gotten around to decorating our living/dining room area. It’s on “the list.” It’s a great space with so much potential. We purchased the furniture for our town home where it was decorated and arranged much differently within different rooms. Put together all in one area makes the whole room look so dark . . .

When you walk in through our front door and look to the left you see this

and when you look to the right you see this (quick iphone pics, pardon the box “house” and mess)

All of the darkness – dark leather couches, dark coffee table, dark floors, dark dining room table and chars, dark foyer console were already kind of driving me nuts…and now a dark piano. I did push the console table down the hall to the little wall by the kitchen to break it up just a little bit – only now I need to find the means to get a cute foyer bench for the empty spot. There is so much I can do in here with color and texture. Gallery wall above the piano? Big neutral area rug? Awesome bold art print? It will get there…eventually :)