As the inhabitant of a very tiny apartment, one of my favorite blogs is Apartment Therapy.  Many props for its massive help on making my space fit all my stuff neatly while remaining functional and maybe even cute.

But today it went a step too far with the suggestion that if your piano is “dominat[ing] a room’s aesthetics,” you should totally, like, just paint it!  It’s a quick DIY!

I grew up with family members who (meaning very well and trying to make our house look nice) liked decorating the piano with tchotchkes and houseplants, and I got annoyed every time I tried to do a tremolo in the left hand and flowerpots would rattle vigorously.  Treating a piano as furniture annoys me a lot.

Yes, pianos are big.  Yes, they might not necessarily fit your aesthetic vision.  But you know what?  They’re instruments, not furniture, even if they are large and wooden.  They are functional. They are primarily supposed to sound good and if they look good, it’s a bonus.  I’m not advocating that you go out and get an ugly piano.  But seriously, I wouldn’t dress my viola in doll clothes, why on earth would I paint a piano?

Hasn’t anyone around here seen The Red Violin? Instrument varnish is very important, folks.