Once a Piano; Now Console Table & Mirror

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$50
1 Month
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Let me start off by apologizing. This project took a long time…like, close to a year… and it wasn’t because it was difficult. I mean, it would have been except I had my partner-in-crime (a.k.a., my husband, Jamie) helping me. The reason it took so long was because I kept changing my mind about how I wanted it. (I think I’ve confessed to being wishy-washy in every post I’ve made.) With that being said, since there were so many twists and turns, I didn’t get all of the photos I should have. So, this isn’t a tutorial, by any means. This post is merely for inspiration.


I’m unsure of where this idea came from but I’m pretty sure I know when it came to me. Probably around 11:00p when I was trying to get to sleep. I have found that it’s at this time that my brain is most active. I was replaying the day’s events in my head when I remembered that I had a friend that was trying to give me his piano. Well, not just GIVE me his piano but he was going to PAY me to take it. I’m not kidding. So, I was laying there trying to think of what I could make from it. Then it came to me. An idea. Unfortunately, this idea I concocted would call for a upright; his piano was a spinet. So the next day, I made a post on Facebook asking if anyone had a piano for sale. It didn’t take very long until a man messaged me about his uncle’s old piano. It was so old and coming apart that Kevin was going to let me have it for free. I asked for a photo and this is what he sent to me:

I told Kevin what I was planning on doing with it so he gutted it for me. By doing so, he sheared a couple hundred pounds off of it. That made my husband very happy icon since he was in charge of getting it from Kevin’s house to ours. Side note: If you’re ever looking for a piano to repurpose, my advice to you is to find someone that’s musically inclined that has one. Kevin knew what he was doing when he took it apart.

Okay, this is when the shortage of photos become apparent. So I will just have to tell you what I did and you’ll just have to believe me. Speaking of…if I told you I cut that piano in half, would you believe me?

For what I was planning to do, the whole piano would have stuck out too far from the wall. Since I have yet to be properly introduced to the circular saw, I beckoned for my handsome assistant.

After he cut it, the piano would stick out only 12 inches and six of those little line-thingies. (If you don’t understand my measurements, please see my earlier post.) Now it shouldn’t interfere with traffic in the foyer. 


By cutting it in half, we wanted to make sure we hadn’t compromised its integrity so we screwed a 2×4 into both sides of the piano. Later on, this is also where we would attach it to the wall. (Yes, you heard that correctly-we’re going to “hang” the piano on the wall.)

We couldn’t put the piano together until it was attached to the wall, so my next step was to paint it. First, I chalk painted it white. Eh. Then I painted it in a baby-poop-brown semi-gloss. Uh, no. (For the record, it was not my intention to paint it that color. I didn’t realize how much yellow tint the brown had.) Finally, I painted it a chestnut brown semi-gloss. Much better.

I painted these the chestnut brown color.

For my idea to actually work, I was going to have to put some legs on the piano. I thought it would look rather elegant with Queen Anne’s table legs so I found some 29″ ones at Lowe’s. Now, the next step was to bring it over to the house so we would be able to put my creation together.

Close-up of how it’s attached to the wall.

Now onto the upper front board, or I think that’s what it’s called. I decided that if I already had a “console table”, I’d need a mirror to hang above it. Since the tract for the two sliding panels was broken (earlier photo), I could remove both of the panels from the board and attach a mirror in its place.

He's attaching mirror clips to the back.

The front of the mirror was a little blah so I decided to add a wood applique to it. Since I added one to the mirror, I thought I should add a smaller one to the console table, as well.


Had I continued with my original plan, this was going to be a makeup mirror and vanity. The space where the keys had been was going to hold my cosmetics. On either side of the mirror I was going to attach some sort of vanity light. As you can see, I went a little off course. Although I did think something needed to be on either side of the mirror. I didn’t want it to be electrical because I didn’t want cords to be seen, so I decided on some type of candelabra. Then I remembered already having two glass hurricane shades. Now, if I could only come up with an idea of how to use them.

Then it came to me! I could make some sort of shelf for the shades to sit on. Since they’re all the rage right now, I decided to make floating shelves.


Hmmm…but how?


I had to let this idea saute in my brain for a few days. Then after running my idea by my builder (a.k.a., my hubby), we were moving forward with it!

We drilled two holes in a routered piece of wood that was deemed the shelf. Then, we inserted two 3/8″ dowel rods into those holes and secured them with wood glue. Next, we drilled two holes into the upper front board (the piece that holds the mirror) and inserted the dowel rods into those two holes and attached it with glue.


My plan was to set the hurricane shades with LED candles on the shelves but decided it would be just a matter of time before they got knocked off. I thought of the perfect solution. I would use E-6100 glue to attach a glass vase to the shelf, set a LED candle inside there, and set it off with a hurricane shade.

Here's the finished product.

Or so I thought.


There was something that was off but I couldn’t put my finger on it. After I got to really looking at it, it came to me. “Those legs are too fancy and curvy for the boxy style of the piano.”


So, back to Lowe’s I went.


I totally lucked out…I found the perfect table legs for my piano…er…I mean, console table AND they were on sale! So I bought a couple and, you guessed it, painted them the chestnut brown color. Then I switched out Queen Anne’s legs for the traditional legs. (Uh…that sounded kind of odd.) Anyhoo, I like it much better now.

I uploaded as many pics as Hometalk would allow but there's still more. In fact, there's also a -very short- video that shows what's inside the fallboard now. Hint: it's not keys


I also go into a little more detail about certain things I did to the piano. Like, exactly how I made the shelves on either side of the mirror.


Let me know what you think!

Suggested materials:
  • Free piano   (Kevin)
  • 2-Traditional table legs   (Lowe's)
  • Paint   (Lowe's)
See all materials
Heather McKinney
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  3 questions
  • Age12302466 Age12302466 on Jun 11, 2017

    Great idea. I miss my 1900 Gulbrandson piano. What color is the paint on your walls?

  • Pat Berger Pat Berger on Jun 11, 2017

    I think you need back legs and it would look complete.

  • Nadine Hartman Bourne Nadine Hartman Bourne on Jun 11, 2017

    I love it, my dad gave me a piano that I want to turn into a bookshelf with the main body. I could cut of the front and do something like this. awesome job!!!

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  • Bcfatbroad Bcfatbroad on Feb 28, 2018

    Love the piano..trying to figure out how to make it to my décor..Hummmm Gotta work on that one

  • Lovesunique Lovesunique on Jul 27, 2018

    This really is a very unique use of a piano. I like your idea of using it as a vanity as well. The Queen Ann legs made it look like a spider without the rest of its legs (to me) so the traditional legs are perfect. Re the idea of adding legs to the back (brought up in the questions section): That was my thought when I first looked at the finished console...looked like something was missing. But then because it is narrow back legs would not look right. Sometimes you see hanging wall tables with no legs! Love using the mirror the way you did. I play the piano and it hurts to see a beat up old piano end up in the dump. This is a great way to repurpose a new life! Enjoyed reading through your post and your creative imagination.

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