Not sure how can piano look bad? For me it looks good in any place, but I guess I like how they look :)

For me, it's my husband's speakers. Oh, and the dog bed! :-)

I get past the ick factor by putting function ahead of form....and I have an ability to ignore things until, of course, I take a pic to post here for some reason or another. I can ignore the crummy light fixture in the dining room until someone turns it on and that nasty CFL does its magic. I can ignore the piles of paper on my bookcases. The speakers are on an art wall and I just try to look at the art.

I am really sorry you miss your piano. That must feel terrible...

I have a gargantuous (sp?) parrot cage in my breakfast nook because that's the only place it will fit. Hate it. It's ugly. It makes my nook ugly. But I love my bird. :)

I have nothing in my home that offends my decorating senses. haha - did you fall for that?!!?

In reality, I have lots of 'stuff' that designers would turn their noses up at, but I keep them for functional reasons, sentimental reasons, or just because 'I' like it!

Get another piano. Paint it, put something beautiful on top of it, or buy one that more closely matches your decor. A piano can be a beautiful focal point. And if you didn't know, they can be painted. My aunt had one in her house that she didn't like - painted it white and it made the whole room shine. :)

For about 5 years we had a Keebler elf tree sitting in the corner of the dining room for the kitties. Definitely not the best place, but it wouldn't fit through any interior doorways, so that's where it stayed. When the novelty wore off we donated it to someone in cat rescue.

I would definitely get the piano and make it beautiful. It is a piece of furniture after all and you are not limited to ugly wood if that's the problem. Paint it! Distress it!

Natal, how cute! I have the equivalent of your lovely tree in my bedroom...only it's two dog beds next to each other, each covered in multiple blankets. My dogs know nothing else and can't imagine sleeping in something they can't burrow in. But that 6' x 6' space is an eyesore. And not the only dog beds in the house!
The main room has two relatively attractive Orvis beds.

a piano is NOT a piece of furniture...you don't paint it to make it "fit in" GOOD GRIEF !!!

It may not be kosher to paint a piano (I've seen only a very few ugly enough that I could do that to them) but certainly they come in a huge variety of finishes. I know this partly because I keep seeing them come up for free on craigslist :-)
If you're actually going to pay for one, I'm sure you can find something that goes.

KarinL

Yes! Our piano! LOL

We've had it for 32 years. It has moved from place to place with us. It's the white elephant I never know what to do with and with every move I think I could sorely use that space.

But when my husband sits down to play, I pinch myself and say "that's why we still have the piano".

*sigh* so it stays....
But it just takes up so much space and I could put the TV there, and move the sofa back over there...

Did you dislike the piano itself or just the way it looked on that wall? You can buy a prettier piano, or you could explore pianos that can be floated out in the middle of the room. If you had space for a baby grand, that would look better away from the wall.

I put up with my computer, which doesn't match the rest of the study decor. Or my clock radio in the bedroom. Or the TV in the study. When you are channeling the 1920s and 30s, it's hard to make newer technology fit in. Although some people are trying.

Here is a link that might be useful: Taking decor a bit too far . . .

Campan, the problem was not the piano but the awkward way it looked there. No other space for it unless blocking a window, no room for floating, nor for a baby grand. :)

Those "Victorian" computers are awesome!

Is there an intrinsic reason why a piano cannot be painted?
I can easily envision a folkloric piano.
Some older pianos have really ugly wood.

I don't have extremely high expectations of having my home look like something out of a magazine at all times altho it often (to me at least) looks better than many pics I see. My home is home to not only me but to my DH and our 3 cats and one dog therefor it must work for all of us. I won't list the things in my home that don't fit with the current fashion of city homes because our home is a country home and therefor has only to suit us. I will say that we have a wood stove which is an item that is rarely seen in pics in home decor magazines but most people would be astounded to hear how low our heating costs are. And right now the outside temps have been -4F and we are very toasty warm as well as enjoying the look of the flames behind the glass door. I wouldn't trade a wood stove for any fashionable item in a home decor magazine and it doesn't offend *my* decorating sense altho I know it offends others who don't have them.

BTW many years ago we bought an old piano from a firm that reconditioned them. The finish was not in good condition altho I loved the style so they painted it black and it was gorgeous. We had it for many years but it was very heavy to move and we moved every 2 years so finally let it go to another home.

I'm not sure it's possible for some people to get past the "ick" factor. I think if you really dislike something you need to get rid of it. Or be realistic about the reason you have it. There are things in our home I wouldn't choose again but either my DH likes them or it isn't such a big deal for me and I can't be bothered. I often change things and some things are slated to go when I find something to replace them or they bug me enough.

I have so many things in my home that I like that I mostly focus on them and ignore the rest.

My parents house, which was always nicely decorated has become a repository of accomodations now that they are both in their 80s: two ugly chairs that recline and raise you to a standing position, a daylight reading lamp, a recumbent exercise bike in the dining room, chair lifts on both staircases, a night breathing apparatus and grab bars all over screwed into woodwork that was pristine until a couple of years ago.

I bought a quart of paint to color match a couple of screws in switchplates and electrical cords in my house, so one would think that all this junk would drive me crazy, but since its all there for a reason,its surprising how easy it is to ignore it.

My mother sold Baldwins for many years and would comment on how many people bought pianos as a decorative piece of furniture so it does happen.
These people did not play and did not plan on taking lessons.
They liked the look.

>Is there an intrinsic reason why a piano cannot be painted?

You can do all sorts of things when the piano is first made or if it is stripped and refinished by someone who knows what he/she is doing, but just slapping a coat of paint on a piano can adversely affect the sound.

When we were planning to buy this house, one of our options was a fireplace. We live in New England, after all...we need a fireplace, right? Well, working on the floor plan, we knew it was either a fireplace or the piano. The piano won. I know there are people out there who are horrified by our choice, but whaddyagonnado?

We actually looked at trading our baby grand in for an upright, same maker, but it just didn't cut it. The dealer actually wanted us to pay him for the swap. (yeah right) Every now and then, I wish I had a fireplace and I know I will make sure I do in the next house, if there is one. But, I am glad to still have the piano around.

The IKEA wood-and-plastic shelf/sliding bin system full of legos in what we affectionately call the kids living room. I will not miss that look, but I would miss ready access to legos for my kids. The thing I learned is, when houses get shot for magazine spreads, they are "staged" first. So, I figure, who knows what kind of **** they dragged out of the room before they took the magazine-perfect picture? And, if my house is just picked up and tidy, it's almost as relaxing to me as one of those perfect spreads in a magazine. Trouble is, it's a big IF.

Sure I do.

Kitty condo is in our great room (sorry, family room ). It resides with DH's huge recliner, which looks a bit preposterous in the same room with a petite Lillian August English armed, down chair (since taken a beating by the occupant of the condo).

Thank goodness for LRs.

Oh, and Amy, I'm one of the people aghast at a home being built in New England sans fireplace. Consider the source. :)

At this time of year, a small humidifier in the living room and a tall air cleaner in the bedroom. Now these types of things have improved in style and looks over the years .... but still offend me ...

We donated our cat tree after our cats stopped using it ....

And of course DH keeps bringing them gifts .... which they don't use ..... sheesh! And they only play with the boxes ..... ((and folks say we don't have kids! LOL!))

There is the extra litter box in the kitchen -- no choice at all -- we have a Middle Cat with issues .....sigh.

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Parma, I missed the memo - is it not kosher to have a "great room?"

My Canon All-in-One is in my beautiful sunroom. But I need it for printing, faxing, scanning, etc. It's too big (by less an inch!) to fit in cabinet, where previous HP was (dang thing was nothing but trouble). I spend a lot of time in here, so there are also two soft dog/cat beds in the sunshine...and a carpeted cat tube thing I just brought back from DD2s house. If the cats didn't like to lay/play in the "tube" I would probably chunk. What can I say, I love my pets.

Medical equipment our family has needed before (and doesn't now) has definitely been the biggest design downer (even though it was helpful), and made me start thinking about something like what palimpsest was talking about -- I wonder what the coming market will be for better-designed chairs that help you up/different kinds of machinery/grab bars and seats etc. I could easily see a market for that in the next 30 years. Geez, the prices we have to pay for the ugly stuff (thanks to the insurance/illness-exploitation industry) would more than cover better design for a creative person who was not part of that horrible medical/industrial complex.

And we do have a not-bad cat tree--there are actually modern-looking ones sold on various websites now, for folks who don't want the Petsmart Special--but my favorite cat-tree is the two massive boxes stacked on top of each other with holes our daughter cut out and lined with fabric. They're definitely not 'design', but they're much loved and bring the cats and our DD great happiness every day, so they're perfect :)

Well, there are lots of things that offend my exquisite decorating sensibilities, but most of them are in other people's houses, not mine, and they have to live there, I don't, so I guess it doesn't matter what I think. And, of course, vice versa.

If people don't like the looks of my piano, they don't have to play it. In fact, they don't even have to look at it. To tell the truth, they can just stay home in their own lovely pianoless houses and enjoy looking at the big old honking blank spots on their walls. That's how much I value other people's opinions about my house & what I have in it. Nada.

What, though, if something that I have offends me? Well, I could do as Jesus recommended we do when dealing with, say, body parts that offend us--pluck them out or cut them off--but then, this is one of those times where he's speaking metaphorically, not literally. Ya gotta be careful about that. He didn't really mean we should cut off our hands or yank out our eyeballs. How, then, would we read the Bible? Or even turn the pages? No, it's just an expression. But his point is clear: don't ALLOW the thing--hand, eye, piano, whatever--to offend you. Just deal with it.

Same here. Sure, some pianos are more attractive than others, but a piano (for the fortunate) is just a fact of life, and therefore something to work with (or maybe around), not against. I, myself, don't have a piano, but I do have a CD player, and I can tell you this: it's not particularly handsome. That is, it isn't a sleek techno-marvel, it's not an expensive designer icon of Cutting Edge Modernism that I get points for even owning. It's a $79 no-brand cheapie that I picked up at Circuit City a week before they went down the tubes. But the thing works, and I'm not ashamed of it or the fact that I don't have something fancier, so it's not hidden away in a special cabinet to conceal its offensive cheapness, it's right out there in the open for everybody to see. In fact, several hundred thousand people have seen my cheapo CD player because it was in my O at Home shoot, and what I loved was that Roland Bello, the photographer, nixed the suggestion of another person to remove it--it & a messy stack of CDs--from the shot. "No, let's leave it right where it is. It's real."

In a day when overzealous stylists typically remove any shameful vestige of normal, everyday reality--the dog's slimy chew toy, the slightly past-their-prime flowers in the vase, the trashy paperback novel on the bedside table, the copy of TV Guide on the coffee table--from the photos in Glossy Home magazine, or the 'After' shots on TV decorating shows, it's refreshing to see a talented professional embracing the simply, ordinary facts of life. Why are such things so shame-ridden? They shouldn't be. In fact, in one of the most famous photos of any 2Oth Century interior, Nancy Lancaster's famous yellow drawing room in London, you can practically smell the 2-day old water in the vase of flowers on the desk.

But, then, such matter-of-factness is really no surprise coming from her. One of my favorite NL lines is "If every piece is perfect a room becomes a museum & lifeless."

Short, easy answer to the problem of what to do about offensive eyesores? Stop looking at 'em. Slimy vase water, cheap CD players, big screen TVs, pianos--even 'ugly' pianos: they're all evidence of real life going on in a room, and therefore, they're good. Really good. So don't sweat it.

Magnaverde Rule No. 4O: Sometimes, the easiest thing to change is our attitude.

I think it's totally ridiculous that I can't remember what color my dear friend has on the walls of her living room, (and I've been to at least 20 parties in her house) but I can be simply skimming through half a dozen threads here on Decorating, and while scrolling (Fast) through this one, have to back up and scroll to the text because I recognize a view from Magnaverde's apartment and need to read the commentary. Pathetic it is. I mean me. Not Mag's apartment. At least, not his old apartment. Haven't yet seen any of the the new apartment. Probably won't for a while yet either...
Note to MV: Can you entice that photographer over to just snap a couple from the new place now that I'm thinking about the fact that I haven't seen it yet?

Red

And while I nod in agreement to most of your 'Rules', have to disagree with #40. Most of the time, with most people, the toughest thing to change is our attitude.

Gad I love you Magnaverde :oP You're so attractive when you wax poetic about flaws heh heh

I have a 4 year old...I have many things that offend me in my home. He was sick...try decorating around a feeding tube mount thingie (one of those swivel wheeled things you see IV's on in hospitals). I hung a monkey on it and called it a sad fact of life in his fabulous monkey room.

I'm glad we're past feeding tubes (it became a costume accessory at the duct tape ball a year ago and is now in pink duct tape waiting for another excuse to redecorate it). But we're not past the plastic crap. Sure I'd love the kid to play with gorgeous hand made wooden toys...but he wants thomas the train in all forms, which include plastic :( Such is life and you plan around it.

I hide the plastic in the basement....he has a room full of offensive items and it's his heaven. On the main floor we do attempt to stay victorian, which includes a piano and an organ :) I honestly don't see how any paino could be offensive....pull it out from the wall a bit and put a plant between it and the window (on a bit of a diagnal) and stack the top full of fabulous pictures...drape it in wonderful memories and make new memories at the piano! Post pics and see if we can help there...but I just dont' see a way it can't work.

My organ does not work, so I'm going to lose that huge piece of work, but I might even miss it :) It's pretty, even if it's useless. Do I need a working organ, well not a chance LOL We only love the paino because it's a player paino heh heh BUt if it wasn't...I'd still keep it, taking up a huge chunk of space, just so I can see DS plunk on the keys on occasion.

Mag...beneeth a wonderful victorian table I have a similar cheap CD player LOL DH wanted to hide it and I said no...hidden CD's are harder to get to to play...and I want a home with music that's easily accessible!

Mag-get yourself an ipod and move on to the new century :-D j/k. to be honest, that CD player isn't ugly--I've seen worse.

My decor sin: I allowed my DS2 to put Spongebob decals all over his room. Giant spongebob & his pal patrick -- the horror. But it helps getting him out of our bed and into his. He loves his room w/ its crazy SB decals, his Thomas stickers and his funky Pokemon blankets. *sigh* My vision of a chic nautical Ralph Lauren inspired room was severely compromised. :-) I told him he has 'til the summer to bid goodbye to his pal SB and boy, he tears he shed. :-)

For years, I would put the toaster oven away after using it because it makes my kitchen ugly. since my niece & nephew moved in, they use it so much that I just gave up and keep it out.

I strive to achieve design perfection in our house, but sometimes, life interferes.

Dear Magnaverde,
I love you!
Sue

bella, when your wee one is grown and gone, you will actually miss that spngebob room! Don't rush to move him on-especially if he isn't ready-he'll want something different soon enough!

LOL Bella...I was unpacking a few boxes yesterday and came across some room stickers that I once bought for DS for the rental home (which was going to be demo'd from the drywall out so I didn't care what his wall looked like). I hid them immediately heh heh

I always put my toaster oven away after each use, but it's an ugly one with no redeeming features other than price.

I really do think magazines and decorating shows have given us a completely unrealistic picture of what real life decorating should look like. I always joke that magazine kitchens never have a dish strainer in them. I realize some people stow them out of sight after use, but not me--it's on the counter all the time. There have been some great examples listed here: medical equipment, wood stoves, kids plastic toys, electronics. I don't understand why people feel the need to conceal some of this stuff. If you love it, or if it's necessary, or if it makes life easier, find a way to live with it!