Piano Room Renovation: Mixing Old & New
Ah, the piano room. One of my favourite spots in the house to sit down with a cup of tea and just breathe.
But let me tell you, this room did not start out this way! When we purchased the home, this room was a simple large square with wallpaper top to bottom. The previous owner had he TV and couch in here and used it as a family room. Since Dylan and I are not big TV people, we envisioned this as the perfect spot for my grand piano! (which was being stored at the my parents house)
So here is what the room looked like before:
Now the plan and execution:
- remove wallpaper and old curtains
- Build out ‘accent wall’ to add a new fireplace, mantle, and bookshelves
- Paint, paint, paint
- Furnish
- Bring in the piano!
- Style the bookshelves
An important aspect to me for this renovation was to get the right mixture of old and new – meaning mixing pieces with history with something newly created.
The Old:
- The main light fixture
- The wood mantle
- The piano
Here’s the stories. The main light fixture in this room was an old Hamilton gas street lamp, that’s been converted to electric and now will forever hang in our home! The wood fireplace mantle was a Facebook marketplace find! Someone was removing it from their home as they no longer wanted it, so we snagged it and added it to our built-ins.
And lastly, the piano. I’ve had this piano since I was…hmm…6? lol I honestly can’t remember the exact age, but it was a gift from my uncle and parents to me for a birthday a long time ago. And beyond that, the piano itself is over 100 years old! So naturally this had to be the statement in this room.
The New:
- The art
- The fireplace and tile
- The built-ins
Ok, we HAVE to talk about this piece of art. My friend, Kristan, an amazing artist and illustrator made this piece of art. Now, when she made it, she didn’t make it for me or this house or this room. But when I saw the piece of are it was PERFECT and like it WAS made for this room. So she was nice enough to let me have it and now I will forever cherish it as a beautiful statement in this piano room. PS. Check out her art here.
I don’t know about you, but I am always cold. Always. And so I just really enjoy the idea of having a fireplace in as many rooms as I possibly can. So naturally when I was designing the built-ins, I put a nice fireplace right in the centre. And I went with a black tile surround to tie into the black light fixture hanging above. No it isn’t real marble – but doesn’t it still look great! 😉
Lastly, the big ‘new’ addition was the built-ins. Yes they are new, but we had custom doors made to match the more traditional profile of the fireplace mantle. And we went with a heavy duty, hammered brass hardware on the doors. And then, we added moulding in the centre surrounding the art which is again the same profile as the mantle and doors to tie it all together!
That’s it! That is a wrap for this room. We are moving on to other projects in the home and just enjoying the time we spend in this completed room.
Let me know what you think of how this room turned out! Would you have done anything differently? Do you think we mixed the old and the new in a good way?
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