How To Choose A Piano For The Living Room
There are many different vantage points for the project of choosing the right piano for your living room.The interior designer and the client have both got their own ideas, and the piano itself has its own requirements. We wanted to touch on the points that might be helpful and considered before buying.
Some clients are building a home, starting from scratch, which gives them a much wider spectrum of choices. As an example, luxury home designer Flora Di Menna, plans down to the minutest detail whether it’s a palatial estate, a summer residence or even a commercial project. Her award winning luxury residences can accommodate whatever the client wants and needs with the most sublime results. This video is an entertaining look at one of her fabulous projects and how such planning can accomplish amazing beauty wedded to function.
But other people with already finished homes simply want to add a piano to the room. What do they need to know?
How To Choose A Piano For Your Living Room
So, focusing on an existing room, whether furnished or not, here are some of the points to consider.
It is no secret that the most beautiful luxury homes in the world are usually the result of extraordinary interior design. The art of making a room sumptuous and appealing must take the comfort and livability of its occupants into consideration. Truly exclusive homes manage to provide unique but comfortable seating, fabulous art and in the most elegant of homes, a designer piano. Even without pianists in the family, today’s pianos can incorporate state of the art player piano systems that turn any room into an entertainment center with highest quality musical output.
Pianos have undergone a revolution in recent years. The old brown Steinway upright is no longer the standard for even the most modest and budget conscious home. The industry has exploded with artistic and customizable instruments to beautify any style of design from the traditional to the uber futuristic.
Size Matters In Interiors
The Iconic Grand Piano
Grand pianos as well as uprights are available now in a myriad of different shapes, colors, and sizes. Even LED lights and crystal acrylic can be added for drama.
So what piano is right for your living room?
Most obviously, the larger the piano, the larger the sound–so it wouldn’t be advisable to put a 9-foot concert grand (whose volume can reach the balcony of a concert hall) into a small living room. But apart from that, what size should be purchased and why?
The first thing to consider, of course, is space. You need enough floor space for the instrument plus two feet more for a bench or stool. Since grand pianos range anywhere from just under 5-feet all the way up to 10-feet in length (with a fairly standard 5-foot width), some serious thought must go into the floor plan of the furniture and maximizing the effect of a piano as part of the décor. With a large room, often other focal points (like a fireplace) may dictate some of the layouts.
However, if space is an issue, sometimes a baby grand piano can be accommodated in a living room just by downsizing the seating pieces or by decluttering the amount of other furniture in the space. For more information on baby grand dimensions and how to fit a small piano in your home.
The New Upright Space Saver
When the floor space is simply not available, thankfully there are extraordinary upright designer pianos that can easily fit into an alcove, or against a wall in a living room, that have as much elegance and design quality as the grands.
Even the most glamorous acrylic materials are now used in uprights, like Lucid’s acrylic upright below.
For some of the most stylish uprights on the market, consider Sauter’s Peter Maly designs.
Style Matters
The surprising new designs of piano manufacturers have transformed the look of pianos. Whereas they were often either the high-end glossy black grand pianos for the concert stage or the mass-produced brown uprights for the middle-class parlor, with an eye to lessons for the kids, with today’s piano designs, the sky’s the limit.
Euro Pianos Naples has pianos made from acrylic, fiberglass, exotic woods, with inlays of jewels and mother of pearl, and customized with colors of every hue, graphic designs, replicas or original fine art (on the inside of lids), gilded, perched on pedestals, and shaped like space ships, race cars and dolphins in flight. The quality of sound also continues to improve with innovative technology as the piano cases have come into their own – no longer just a functional musical box with three legs, but pieces of visual art and incredible decorative assets—sometimes with no legs at all!
The futuristic and urban styled home might want to feature the uber-modern pianos available. Pegasus is only one of many superlative new shapes.
This fantastic 10-ft grand might be just what’s needed in the lavish estate that features Italian modern décor or rococo antiques. Pianos with this kind of extraordinary styling can serve as the focal point of a significant living room or foyer, making an unforgettable impact on visitors.
A Traditional décor might call for a traditionally styled piano – and there are exquisite instruments available. The detailed styling creates a 21st Century version of yesteryear’s proud tradition.
Piano Quality Matters
While the size and styling of the piano are the business of the interior designer’s eye, the quality of a piano ensures the client of its lasting and true value.
It is true that you can find used pianos and keyboards for very little money. But the old adage of getting what you pay for was never truer than with pianos. When you consider the thousands of parts assembled under the lid, it is not hard to imagine how things can go wrong with cheap labor and cheap materials. The important parts of the piano are explained in this article, How A Grand Piano Works.
The materials used in bespoke pianos are of the highest quality. The woods are chosen carefully, the acrylics won’t yellow, the warranties are honored. Handcrafted pianos have time honored reputations that go back through the centuries in the hands of the European piano builders who still excel today.
Steinway has been popularly considered the best piano for decades by hearsay. While Steinway originated in Europe along with all the other major quality brands, most people don’t know that Steinway, in the USA, went to mass-produced pianos right after the war, and flooded the market with affordable instruments. Today, used piano stores overflow with those old Steinways. Often buyers cannot see damages from moving and poor maintenance problems, hidden under misleading prices. This Washington Post article reflects on brands of quality.
Euro Pianos Naples has done extensive research on piano quality and you can find blog articles comparing, rating and explaining the whys and wherefores of buying quality. The 10 Best Piano Brands in the World.
Function Matters
You would be surprised by all the different reasons people buy pianos for their homes.
Obviously, if there is a pianist in the family, a piano is paramount for practice and pleasure. But you don’t need to be a musician to enjoy a beautiful piano in the living room.
Some people have children who are just learning to play and need to practice their lessons.
Today’s pianos can be art treasures and breathtaking pieces of furniture. Pianos are placed in some living rooms just to complete the luxury interior design look of the fine art and musical aesthetic.
By adding a state-of-the-art player piano system, hidden beneath the instrument, and operated with an iPad, an iPhone, or electronic gizmo, your house can be filled with music at the click of a switch. These amazing high tech players come with libraries of music by the top performers in classical, jazz, country, and pop. Something for everyone. For guests, parties, entertaining, the piano plays itself with superlative sound quality. Check out our blogs on this optional equipment for all the particulars.
These are four main reasons that matter when selecting a piano for your living room. Euro Pianos Naples is an expert in luxury and customized pianos. A free consultation is available for all your questions and any help you might need. We would be honored to serve you. Contact us for a free consultation.