Want to see our kitchen island? I THINK YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT. *video*
This is part 1… here is: two, three, four, five, six, seven
Last summer, I saw a posting on Craigslist.
I went to show Paul, and he said– we are definitely not getting a piano.
This is exactly what I was hoping he would say, because who does not love being the one to reveal an exciting plot twist?
I shouted– SURPRISE!
We are DEFINITELY getting a piano!
I thrust my fist into the air— to indicate action and piano-getting.
I said— AT DAWN WE RIDE.
Then I marched up and down the street with my gong, announcing— Here’ye! Here’ye! I SHALL HAVE ALL OF THE GIANT FANCY THINGS.
Also, for the record, only someone who does not read my blog would mistake this for a piano. CLEARLY, this is our kitchen island.
I explained my idea to Paul… at length… which took about five seconds.
Here it is, for your consideration.
IDEA:
Acquire item of giant fanciness.
Put the giant fanciness in the kitchen.
The End.
I guess I did not explain it right, because Paul said – don’t you think a piano in the kitchen might be a little bit… much?
This confused me– a little bit much?
No. I think it will be a LOT much… much like myself.
Paul thought about this. Then he went back and rifled through his rolodex of anticlimactic responses.
He said – well, it’s an interesting idea.
Let’s think about it for a little while.
Stalemate. After impasse. After deadlock.
Fortunately, I am trained for this: this entire house project has been an extended drill session where I’ve eschewed all reasonable housewares and set fire to anything from Homegoods.
And ultimately, I guess Paul forgot to ask himself the one really, really, really important question: If this piano exists, DO I THINK VICTORIA WILL CHOOSE ANYTHING ELSE?
April 14, 2015 @ 12:05 pm
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !!!! (however you speel it!) LOVE the piano/island, it is so YOU Victoria xxx
April 14, 2015 @ 12:06 pm
Wait….last summer? Free. FREE! Since last summer. S U M M E R….how did that happen? A most beautiful piece of furniture also…how? I refuse to shorten you…Victoria Elizabeth Barnes. Surely you have been communicating with those people…?
April 15, 2015 @ 9:53 am
I was thinking this exact thing throughout the article and comments. If I saw it on Craigslist, for FREE, and didn’t go Immediately to get it, (if it was still there even then) it would have been long gone. It MUST be destiny! What else COULD it be???? It is definitely your biggest coupe de grace so far, even trumps the Magic Kingdom Mirror, only because this re-use is GENIUS!
April 16, 2015 @ 6:52 pm
Ok, I had a crazy dream in which Mickey and Goofy and the gang stepped through your mirror into a wild adventure. Which alerted me to the fact that I wrote “Magic Kingdom” instead of just “Kingdom” mirror. I humbly beg your forgiveness!
April 17, 2015 @ 5:03 am
I’m with Sharon…I would love to hear more details of how the revolution that “took months” happened in detail. Did the piano wait for you? Who were the guys with the flatbed trailer in the video that actually hauled the piano? Piano movers? The taking apart of the piano was genius…who knew that could be done? Certainly not me. How did such a fancy piano come to be in not so fancy a place?
April 14, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
y’all have this moving “giant fanciness” down to a science!! What an awesome find, I’d get rid of the innards…sell them to crafters, they will find a way to upcycle everything (I’m thinking Christmas ornaments out of the piano keys)..put a piece of glass or stone on top…wouldn’t the legs make fabulous corbels?? Oh, I forgot, they go with the island!! But they can be replicated! Brilliant, awesome, fantastic, mega-super-over the moon idea…don’t forget to Pin, Hometalk, you’ll be the star of Blogland with this idea, you can charge for housetours ($2 a head) and have more money to go into the “bank” for more Awesomeness, dance lessons on the patio after the tour…and all I have for an island is a 60’s bar cart that I’m getting ready to upcycle….couldn’t find a small, small piano!! Love, love reading your blog…talk about following your dreams/ideas…you are one determined gal!!
April 14, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
Absolutely brilliant! !!!!
April 14, 2015 @ 12:23 pm
I’m plotzing!!! It is genius!!!!!
April 14, 2015 @ 12:29 pm
I forgot this: if this doesn’t “validate your existence”, nothing will!!!!!!!! LOL
April 14, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R!! You are so talented and inspiring! When you want a new friend, I live in Malvern. FANCY, FANCY, FANCY!
April 14, 2015 @ 12:42 pm
that piano/island is so gorgeous and you guys are too cute!! the most unbelievable part of the whole thing? that someone was giving that GORGEOUS antique piano away for FREE! It’s like the ultimate craigslist score! I think you might have some sort of Craigslist sorceress enchantments at work. Things of this greatness do no appear on my craigslist. 😉
April 14, 2015 @ 12:43 pm
I saw it IMMEDIATELY. How could he not see it IMMEDIATELY. Maybe put a piece of marble on it? But you’ll want to open it do. A hinged piece of marble. Now you need piano lessons. Your dinner guests will be SO impressed. Can I expect an invite soon? Soon being relative to the amount of time you need to finish this most excellent project.
April 14, 2015 @ 12:52 pm
I LOVE the repurposed piano idea! I was really excited about it and showed my mom. She was horrified that it was no longer going to live its life as a functioning piano. She’s probably afraid now that I will try to do something like that with my great-grandmother’s piano. LOL. For the record, I would never do anything but have my beautiful piano repaired (it’s a player, but that part hasn’t worked in decades) and have the damaged spots in the wood refinished. So rest easy, Mom.
April 14, 2015 @ 1:03 pm
H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P !!!!!!! Marry me and live like a Queen!
(I am, by the way, a heterosexual female, with two crazy gorgeous antique upright pianos currently waiting to become fabulously reborn – into what, I am not sure as of yet – who worships the ground you walk on! Oh, and with a husband much like Paul)
I am not worthy!
Please let me know the next time and place the support group meets!
Fondly, Amy
April 14, 2015 @ 1:07 pm
I just realized (just?) I may have a problem.
I, too, have a roll of shrink-wrap in my home. For, ya know, those occasions when you need to wrap something. In shrink wrap. Totally normal.
On a side note, I am shaking my fist. I *could* use something like this for a dining room table. How awesome that would be! Except…how many square grand pianos could there possibly be in the Philly area? Not many. And, was this free? Ugh! Besides, I don’t know if the first floor of my house could support that much weight. LOL.
April 14, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
I can’t imagine why anyone would think that it was something OTHER than a kitchen island….clearly, grand pianos are not rectangular at perfect island height with amazingly carved legs. It’s spectacular!…and VERY fancy. xx
April 14, 2015 @ 1:15 pm
Even though you had posted a craigslist teaser- I was convinced you had bought the bank table or one of the other $$$island possibilities you showed in an earlier post. I hang my head in shame that I doubted your mystical acquisition abilities! This is a gorgeous find and is doubly versatile. Piano recitals, dance contests and gathering headquarters for wine and cheese spreads. This idea only works in a home like yours, with high ceilings and the charm of yesteryear. It would stick out like a sore thumb in a present day kitchen. That’s what I love about old houses, especially Victorian. And the video-again-priceless. Writing skills and channeling Cecil B. DE Mille, you, Paul and Miss Elvis are a triple threat and I still don’t understand how you have not become world famous?
April 14, 2015 @ 1:15 pm
I love the way you think so far outside the box that a piano becomes your new Versailles kitchen island. What an awesome idea. Do you know the story of the piano? If not, I would invent something romantic and riveting that you can tell to guests that will be clambering for brunch and dinner party invitations once your one-of-a-kind kitchen is finished.
April 14, 2015 @ 1:17 pm
I might be too practical, but…I’d leave the piano innerds intact, take the top off, store it, slap a slab of marble on top (with a beautiful ogee edge, of course) and call it wonderful! (My practicality is whispering…I hope it’s the right height for an island.)
April 14, 2015 @ 1:17 pm
Perfect use of a piano style that was great looking furniture but a failure as a musical instrument. Kitchen island — quel genius! When we finally get the grand piano we’ll be using it in place of a dining room table. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
April 14, 2015 @ 1:19 pm
Yea!!! Spectacular, can’t wait to see it in the kitchen!
April 14, 2015 @ 1:19 pm
Everything! Professional piano movers? Maybe! Not jamming it in the back of your van like a crazy person with no sense of dimension? Brilliant! Dancing! Music! Super-fast-so-we-don’t-get -bored video!!! Kitchen island?? Best idea ever. I can’t wait to see how you fancy this up some more, because God knows you will.
April 14, 2015 @ 1:21 pm
You probably know this, but just in case, if you decide to take the guts out of the piano — be very, very careful because the strings (wires) are extremely taught and if you cut them or they come lose, you could be seriously hurt!