A Custom Made Piano Bench

I just finished up a custom piano bench for a client who saw the one I did a couple of years ago off the internet.  "Thank you Google!"  Not wanting to recreate the exact same thing (of course), this one became far more personalized cause I really thought she was a cool person even though I had never met her face-to-face before.

She needed a duet bench, which is roughly one that is longer so that two people can sit comfortable at the piano.  It had to have storage for all those FAB sheet music pieces she was going to collect!



I started searching and the more I looked, the less I found in the way of a duet piano bench.  This is one of the reasons you just have to have kids.  My son and I were out doing errands and he *just suggested* that we stop by one of the local thrift stores for a *look around*.

Yeah, he's got the thrifting bug just as bad as his momma!

I usually don't go to this particular thrift store though because their prices look more like Macy's department store prices than an actual thrift store price these days.  He insisted.... I caved.  Good thing I did because THIS was literally sitting at the front door when we walked in and with a price I just could NOT pass up:

A little rough, but seriously solid once I wiggled her around.

I took her  home and it was clear that she needed some serious cleaning.  So she ended up like this before I could even start customizing:

All the original metal hardware and screws on the bench had to be "cooked" and cleaned to remove the decades of goop, gunk, and paint layered on them.  Original dowels had to be cleaned as well.  There was lot's of sanding to do as well.

The wood top was so clogged with dark stain and several layers of old black paint that it took a few days of constantly stripping layers off to get to the bare wood.

After stripping and then applying a diluted French Provencal colored stain, a custom image I had created for my client could finally be hand painted on:

The bench was put back together and I did a little building up on the storage area since the original veneer had a little ripple on one side and it just drove me nuts.  I instead took wood bead board, painted it grey, and adhered it to the bottom of the bench.  Then I added some music-themed decorative paper to the bottom, then 'aged" it:

I finished up the bench top by adding a custom cushion and hand painting a bird on the top:

And this was her bench!

Antiqued white scrolled embellishments were added to the front, and the bench was painted in a Coco and Grey mix, wax and stained. 

She loved her new bench too!

Linked With:

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday