Decorating with an upright piano

[klmama]

If you would be willing to post photos of your piano area, I'd love to see them!  I'm mostly finding photos of grands online, as well as a few uprights with lots of space.  I need to see how to decorate with an upright in limited space.  Thanks for anything you have to share!  

ETA: If you don't want to share photos, but could explain what you did, I'd be grateful for that, as well.

ETA again:  I'm wondering more about furniture arrangement and wall decor, rather than how to decorate the piano itself.  Thanks!

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by klmama

[Arcadia]

My upright piano is “decorated” with lots of IKEA metal magazine holders on top of a table runner due to lack of space in our current home. 

In my childhood home, my upright was on one wall of the small living room, the TV on a stand at the corner of the wall with the windows, a three seater sofa facing the window and TV. My mom had a nice piano cover for it.

My first marital home, my upright was in the small third bedroom and the only furniture that fit was a L shape study desk, a chair and the built in closet.

[klmama]

Thanks.  I guess what I'm asking isn't how to decorate the piano itself, but rather how to arrange the room around it, decorate the wall above it, etc.  I don't really want to put anything directly on top of it.  I do need to figure out where to put the music!

Edited April 12, 2019 by klmama

[DesertBlossom]

This is definitely not what you were asking for, but your post title made me think of this. 😅 This is definitely one way to decorate with an upright piano!

 

[Arcadia]

What I have in my childhood home is something like 3. Apartment Therapy” in link (subtract plants and add a TV stand) https://www.lindebladpiano.com/blog/how-to-decorate-around-your-piano

What I would love to do would be  “1 – Rita Chan Interiors” in same link if I buy a home again with bay windows. 

[klmama]

 

11 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

What I would love to do would be  “1 – Rita Chan Interiors” in same link if I buy a home again with bay windows. 

Thanks.  I'd love to do #1, too, but unfortunately, that arrangement won't work here.  We are stuck with the piano on an interior wall across from the windows because of having an older home in a four-season climate.  Our exterior walls get cold.   Putting a large framed photo above the piano might work for us, though.  Thank you!

 

[klmama]

26 minutes ago, DesertBlossom said:

This is definitely not what you were asking for, but your post title made me think of this. 😅 This is definitely one way to decorate with an upright piano!

 

Oh, my.  Yeah, not happening here.  I'd love to have that kind of ceiling space in my kitchen, though!

[klmama]

25 minutes ago, WendyAndMilo said:

I love the kitties!  That's how I want to decorate - with lots of fuzzy friends!  

[Familia]

I call this composition, “Living with an Upright Piano,” rather than, “Decorating with...”

[SKL]

IMO a piano looks great anywhere!

Ours is near the corner of the living room, between the fireplace and the street-facing wall, and when you sit and play, there is a window to your left.  Above the piano is a painting.  To the left of the piano - snugly in the corner, mostly out of sight - is a slim, short cabinet in which I store music books.  Our TV is between the 2 windows of the street-facing wall, so behind and to the left of the person sitting at the piano.

Our house has a challenging design because there isn't much wall space.  I felt like the piano was in an awkward spot, but there wasn't a better one.  However, I got used to it pretty quick.  🙂

[historically accurate]

We have a wide arch from the living room to the dining room/kitchen. The piano is tucked to one side of it - it sticks out into the arch, but there is more than enough room to pass it. Our living area stuff is on the other side of the arch. 

I don't have anything on the wall above it - there is a cutout in the wall since the other side is the foyer and they cutout the wall to make it more open. 

[lavender's green]

My house has lots of windows and very little wall space. The piano is in a corner of the living room, opposite the couch and a little to the side, the place where you might put an accent chair. The back of it slightly overlaps a window, and there's a window on its side just in front of it. There's also a floor vent just in front of it, under the window. I know, I know, horrible placement because of temperature fluctuations, but the piano was old and free. The only place with more wall space is by an outer door with greater temperature fluctuations, and tends to get ants.

[Bambam]

Our upright is in the middle of our dining area (aka The Schoolroom). Facing it is child's desk - so back of piano butts up against non-business side of desk. They are about the same length (roughly) so it works.  It has magazine holders (for music), various music books (artistically spread out for full effect!), and a pink elephant Christmas decoration that my piano-player dd likes. 

I don't know that this is 'decorating' as much as trying to arrange things so they are functional. 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Bambam

[klmama]

Thanks for all of the photos and descriptions of what you've done with your piano!  

 

 

[Condessa]

We call that wall the music wall in our home.  We have one large painting centered over the piano and the rest of the wall is given over to instruments.  I found that hanging them on the wall serves both as decoration and helps with storage difficulties.  (Also, the kids pick up their instruments to practice more when they are always out within arm's reach and ready to go).  Unfortunately, we've run out of space as the instruments continue to accumulate.  (The kids and I each only have one out, but dh's hobby is acquiring and self-teaching different kinds of flutes, and now dulcimers, too).

[KungFuPanda]

I think my piano is a spinet, so I have more room above it than a taller upright.  Nobody plays.  This was my grandmother's piano.  She managed to teach every cousin but me how to play, and half the neighborhood.  It's a cruel joke really that she left ME the piano.  Anyway, my husband plays stringed instruments and liked putting them on stands on the floor.  They were always in the way, so this is our functional, decorative solution.

 

[Beth S]

We have a stack of 3 hymnals, the brass piano light, and a small vase on top of our piano.

That photo of the Piano/Exhaust Fan made me LOL.

 

[caedmyn]

Ours is a spinet, but the same thing could be done with an upright.  I’d have put the shorter/longer picture over the piano if it was an upright.  A basket on the floor next to the piano might be a good place for music.  You can just see the edge of our armchair on the left side of the piano picture.  We do have a good sized living room, so there’s walking space in between piano and sitting area..  (Ignore the curtains that are hung at the wrong height!)

[historically accurate]

Finally able to get a couple of pictures - our piano is a low one. As I said earlier, the wall is opposite the foyer (you can see the foyer is the cat's area). The red couch is seen in the corner of the other picture. Please excuse the messy kitchen in the background! Edit: now that I look closely at the pics, I am appalled at how messy it is! Guess I'm cleaning today.

Edited April 19, 2019 by beckyjo

[Moonhawk]

My parents house they have the upright piano on a long exterior wall, it has two side tables on either side (actually, at least one is a sewing machine cabinet), each of the side tables has lamps and stuff. There is a huge crochet artwork above the piano. The picture is probably the focal point if you've never seen the house before. I'll take pictures on Sunday when I'm there if it'd be helpful. 

[sassenach]

Our piano lives tucked on the other side of the dining table, flanked by dog crates/beds. 

[Garga]

My house is messy and I don’t even care!  I’ll clean it in the summer.

To take the picture, I’m standing two steps down in a dining room that was added on to the house.  This picture is of my entire tiny living room.  The piano lives on that wall and is very useful for plopping things down on it when we come in the front door.  It’s also great for holding a little lamp for when we don’t want the overhead light on.  The bench is also useful for stashing books, but it drives me a little nuts when everyone does that, though I’ve given up battling over it.  

 

As far as decorating the piano, I put some large-ish decorations on it (horse and church), and the lamp.  We put my dh’s Doctor Who poster above the piano.

 

[klmama]

Thanks for all the new photos and descriptions!