I had seen a repurposed Piano on Pinterest and knew it was something that I wanted to try, but mine would be a bar.

Looking on Facebook marketplace, I saw a piano at my local for sale site for $120.  Which in hindsight was a lot of money just to strip it down.  I have since found that there are lots of people out there that are giving them away if you will collect. And like with all my projects I do try and make the project my own. 

I had planned out what I wanted to do and went from there. I know from past projects anything relating to alcohol always sells.  And after completing this project I will say, this is not a quick project, there was so much work involved that I did not expect.  But after a few months, the results were worth all the hard work.

How to repurpose a piano into a bar

Remove all the large panels

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I was not too sure where to start so I thought I would remove all the removable panels and go from there.  The 2 big panels one on the top and the bottom were just clipped in place so I just had to unclip them and they came off.  The keyboard lid was just attached with one large hinge and many small screws so that was also easy to remove.

Once the keyboard lid was removed the front panel that supports the lid just lifted off. I did not want to leave the keys inside because they were a really horrible yellow colour. 

I had already planned to make that section a drinks counter.  The key just lifted off and the wood with the spikes on for the keys I also removed.  They were glued in place.  I used a paint scraper to get under them and loosen the wood so I could pull them out.

Cutting the Piano strings

Pianos are around 400kgs.  It is the weight that will put most people off buying them because they are so hard to move.  To lighten the weight in this piano I wanted to remove the harp and strings from the back. To start with I used an angle grinder and cutting discs and just cut through the wires.  This proved to be very dangerous. 

They are pulled so tight around the harp and when cut they came flying off with some force I was lucky not to get hit with the piano wire.  It shoots back like a rubber band, so be very careful.  My husband then stepped in to lend a hand and released the tension on all the string first before we cut them off.  This took a very long time.  He used a drill and driver attachment to loosen them all. And the cut them using pliers.

Removing the harp in the piano

Once the strings were removed I was able to get to the bolts that held the harp onto the back of the piano.  I was unable to screw them out because of the weight of the harp.  So we lay the piano on its back which helped with removing the very heavy harp. It took two of us to slide the harp out the top of the piano. 

 All the pieces you see on the back of the piano in the image below were glued in place. I did try and remove them with paint scrapers and a hammer but the wood did get damaged.

I had already planned that I wanted a mirror on the inside top of the piano where the glasses would be. So that meant I had to remove all the pins.  This was another very time-consuming step.  I used a drill with a driver bit to unscrew all the pins.  I did keep the pins I am not too sure what I will use them for but I always find something.

Covering the base inside

Once all the pins were removed I used an orbital sander and 120grit sanding discs to clean up the back.  The back of the piano is not the prettiest to look at so you can cover it like mine faux Snakeskin leather fabric .

To glue the fabric in place I used spray adhesive and around the edges, I used a staple gun and secured the fabric to the base. To hide the staples, I cut small strips of wood which I screwed into the base to make sure the fabric did not peel away.

Restore the wood

Next, I wanted to restore the outside of the piano.  It might look good in the pictures but there was a lot of damage to the veneer. I personally did not like the light brown colour I thought it looked boring. I sanded down the big sections using an orbital sander and 120grit sanding discs and finished using 240grit discs. 

The legs and the round sections at the top I used paint stripper to remove all the old varnish and stain.  I added the stripper using a paintbrush and let it sit for a few hours until the varnish started to lift.  I then used a hard scrubbing brush with warm soapy water to scrub off all the old stain and varnish.

Repair the veneer

The veneer on the piano lid was lifting in a few places. I did not want to pull it off any further so I used a syringe with a thick needle to push glue under the veneer and clamped it in place while the glue dried.  To prevent the glue from sticking to the clamps I added some cling film which worked great.

I stained the piano using cedar stain and gave it 2 coats of satin polyurethane using a paintbrush.  In hindsight, I would use spray polyurethane because in some areas I did have paintbrush marks lucky it was in hidden areas. Or a wipe on poly would work great.

Next, I wanted to make a counter to pour drinks on. To make the counter you can use plywood cut to size, mine was covered in a marble laminate.  You can now replace the legs.

Add some wine rack to the piano

I made some wine rack to store wine bottles down the bottom of the piano. I cut 2 planks of wood 1200cm by 20cm and cut holes using a hole saw. One plank had 1 1/2 inch hole and the other using a 3 1/2 inch hole. And then used a table saw to cut the planks in half. The wood with the smaller hole goes in the front and the neck of the bottle sits in the groove. 

Add some shelves

So I had to screw the front racks on the outside and I used screw caps to hide the screws. I forgot to take pictures of the next step.  I cut 2 pieces of wood to be my shelf supports. They were cut to the height between the lid and the plywood below.  They looked really ugly So I cut a design in the middle and on the outside using a jigsaw. 

You will need to add a groove into the shelf for the glass to slide into to keep it secure. Using a scrap piece of wood cut it to size and screw it into the wall of the piano.  The shelf will sit on top of the wood. I had the glass cut to size once I had built the shelves. For a more glamourous look, you can add a mirror to the back of the shelves.  If your piano is like this one you will notice that the back is not even.  You can add a piece of plywood first before you add the mirror.

Adding a mirror

The mirror was attached to the back using liquid nails and you can add a simple frame around the mirror edges. I made some glass holders using 10mm plywood and I cut slots into the wood at intervals for the wine glasses to slide into.  I attached these to the roof of the piano using spacer blocks so there was room for the base of the glasses to fit into.

The new modern glasses are a lot fatter so you will need to leave a bigger gap. Once the shelves were fitted I screwed the 2 sides back in place using L brackets.

Add LED lighting to the piano

Before I glued down the mirror I drilled a hole large enough for the wire of some LED lights to fit thought. You can fit the lights out of sight down the back.  I would recommend adding the lights because they create a pretty effect at night. The light and the reflection of the glasses in the mirror are really pretty.

Finally, I used some Brasso to clean up the foot peddles on the piano.

After a few months of work, this piano looks stunning, just waiting for a buyer to come and buy it. 

Final product

These pictures are not the best because they were taking in my workshop.  The piano was too heavy for me to move around to get better pictures. So I put up a sheet and put down a carpet to hide the mess in the background.

If you are looking for ideas for your next project why not try making a patio cooler made from recycled materials

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