To take on an untunable piano

[Shazafied]

Hello all,

In a bit of a quandary and need to be told if I'm being batshit or not.

My beloved grandmother whom I was incredibly close to has passed away. For about the last 20 years she has been telling me every time I see her "I want you to have the piano". And she has actually written into her will that I am to have the piano plus money to have it moved to my house.

My gran had dementia for the last 5 years or so and the piano has been sat out of tune for years. She did have it tuned twice in the last 10 years prior to getting ill, and it went out of tune within a month or so. I've had a piano tuner look at it and his view is that the pegs / mechanics inside are too worn out and it cannot be tuned. I'm gutted.

It's a fairly bog standard upright piano but my grandmother and I used to play together on it. It was my great grandfathers piano, he was a piano tuner and concert hall pianist.

My aunt and mother have said I'm silly to take it and it should be scrapped but I just cannot bear it.

I have a big enough house to find a space for it, but it is very badly out of tune.

I've had an idea to repurpose it into something else that usable ... see attached images. The harp inside is beautiful once revealed and I have some carpenter contacts - it could perhaps be partially stripped down and made into a dresser / bar for the dining room.

But that might cost a bomb (even if DH and i stripped it down ourselves). ... I'll need to get some ideas of cost to repurpose it .... but is it a crazy idea? Is it a project that might just never get completed? Is it wrong to dismantle my grandmothers precious piano?

What would you do?

Ps - we have a dd14 months and another baby due in 2 months so we don't have shedloads of money / time... which also concerns me. But it could be a long term idea......

Any other suggestions welcomed !!

I have my mum's piano sitting there gathering dust in the playroom. Same state as yours - been tuned three times and each time only lasts a couple on months. I can't afford to have it done that often and my daughter who "had to have it from granny" has never played it even when it is in tune!
I think I have decided to leave it where it is until I move house - which will be a downsize when the kids leave home (if they ever do I suppose).
Think my memories are less than yours as I never played it and never really saw my mum play it either.
It's just a white elephant

I have my childhood piano, it has come with me on 3 moves and I still haven't had it tuned! It has the tv on top of it now. I love it to bits, just because of my memories.

Get it home and see how you feel in time. You can always get rid of it later, but you can’t get it back again later on if you regret letting it go.

All I can say is that I scrapped a family piano 30 years ago and regretted it ever since ☹️

I think the desks are rather lovely. Quite want one myself now!

Oh no @littlemeitslyn !! What would you have done with it if untune-able though ?

I like the bed idea too, thanks for that.

So many options ! If it didn't have such sentimental value I'd not be considering any of this btw x

The desks are beautiful and it even looks like you might be able to have a digital piano put inside at a later stage.
Keep it for a while and give yourself time to decide, research but give yourself a deadline to make the decision.
Also repurpose every little bit.
I'm guessing that crafters might like to purchase keys and wires and innards to upcycle?

I really feel for you OP. I have my mother's piano which I learnt on and it has done a lot of travelling. I'm very lucky it still holds its tune (just) even though it's probably 60 years old. The thought of pulling it apart to make it something else makes me feel ill. If I were in you shoes I would take it and let the kids beat it up while they're little and then in a few years you may feel able to convert it (have the spare cash to get a good job done). My father is still always surprised I've got it but it's my very personal link to my mum as she died when I was 14 and it was something we shared. 30 years on and I'm planning a new extension that has to have a space for the piano!!

I've seen key holders made with the keys, ear rings, lamps, a beautiful bracelet made out of the wire.

If you've got the space for it, I think it comes down to how much joy it gives you to look at it, to know it's there and to bring back memories.

Some people have huge old ornate jukeboxes which effectively do pretty much the same job as a tiny iPod that fits in your hand could do. Ditto pub-sized gaming machines or even pinball tables when the experience itself could be more or less replicated on a tablet or laptop.

As PP have said, you don't have to keep it forever if you come to a point where its value to you outweighs the space it takes. You don't even have to necessarily alter it at all for it to be of some use - you have a great sized shelf on the back and another smaller, lower one to put drinks, books, stationery etc on, as well as a handy tuck-away seat.

If you have it and at any time decide that you no longer want it, you can get rid of it. If you get rid of it and at any time sincerely wish that you still had it, it's too late.

Entirely your choice, but I think those bars are utterly hideous. The desk is nice, though. Maybe I'm biased as I find home bars tacky anyway, even purpose-designed ones, but each to their own.

How much are you prepared to spend on it? Do you or any immediate family members play?

Almost certainly not a goer of an idea, but would you consider giving it house room as a large ornament until you can afford to have it fully restored?

Get a second opinion.
If it's not salvageable then I like the idea of a bar, or a photo. Get a photography student to do an arty poster type picture.

I see there's been a few suggestions to take it home while you decide what to do with it. My husband bought a piano from someone as he'd had one as a child and wanted to play again. It's very out of tune and some keys don't work at all. He's never played it in the 4 years it's been in our home. We have advertised it for free but no takers, it's so heavy we can't even move it and it'll be costly to have taken away. Think about this if you do decide to take it.

I don't like the conversions at all.

Why not just keep it as it is for now if you have space, put a display of photo frames and a case of flowers on it, then it has a purpose. It won't take up any more floor space than a console table would.

Most people I know with pianos never play them from one year to the next anyway!

And who knows, you might be able to get it fixed properly one day.

*vase of flowers

At the very least I would take it for now. I can't play piano at all but I think they look lovely in a room anyway without the repurposing.

If after a few years you have some more ideas or would prefer to scrap it then you could do some of photo/ stool ideas but I think I'd feel awfully guilty sending it straight to scrap.

I am hugely sentimental though so maybe my opinion is skewed.