So in decorating and designing the house, Matt and I both knew we wanted a piano. I took lessons as a child and, despite playing the violin pretty well, the piano was always my first love, and the instrument I miss the most.
Like I told Matt, I have these visions of family gathered around a piano during the holidays, singing Christmas songs, waiting to open presents, and just enjoying a wonderful time together. We had a piano growing up and, while I practiced, my dad would come into the living room and read the paper or read a book or grade papers or just listen. So I have some really good memories from that time.
Our house has a family room, a formal living room, and a media room upstairs. We really didn't know what to do with the formal living room space. Originally we had my old desk and some bookcases in it -- maybe an office? But neither Matt nor I have a job where we have to bring work home with us, and we both have laptops, so an office seemed a bit unnecessary. So...why not a music room? We could display my guitar that Matt got me for Christmas two years ago and my violin.
The question Matt and I had to answer was what kind of piano did we want? An upright piano seemed the most logical choice. It's space saving and we could put chairs or a sofa in the same room. So we went to the Atlanta Home Show back in March to talk with some piano and pool dealers to see what we were looking at in terms of the cost of a piano. I know they're expensive.
We ended up at a booth from Cooper Music. Apparently it's one of Atlanta's longest, top piano retailers. They had a rent-to-own program, and so we were seriously considering pursing that option. Six months to see how much we really played it. If we don't really play it that much, we've rented a piano for 6 months. No loss. If we do play it alot, then we can apply the rental payments to the cost of the piano.
Long story, short...last weekend we go over to Cooper Music to see their selection. Turns out -- they're having a big sale because it is recital weekend. Who knew?
We found 3 pianos we really liked, including one that was built in the 1930s that was on consignment, and one that was just a few years old, but in better condition -- it's been played a lot and the original owner wanted a bigger grand piano.
So here I am thinking...a grand piano? What pianist doesn't want one of those? Now granted, this is "technically" a baby grand piano. (But it still has "grand" in the name!!)
We'd measured the room before we went so we knew we had over 10 feet to work with. A room is supposed to be twice as big as the piano you're putting in it. Turns out -- this piano is 5 feet long. Perfect size.
So, we did it! We bought a beautiful piano for an AWESOME price.
Obviously you can see we still have a lot of decorating to do in this room. Curtains, pictures on the wall, and furniture (which I am hoping we can find in New York in two weeks!!).
I dug out my old piano lesson books that my mom brought to me and now Matt is teaching himself how to play as well! You can see the key cheat sheet that pretty much every new piano student has. (Hey, I figure if he can work a switcher, he can play the piano. Those switchers look incredibly confusing, and I'd never want to be a director because of that.)
I predict years of beautiful music coming from this instrument. So happy we found a use for this room that I know will bring our family together.
Until next time...
