Me, Henry Ford, and our Chalkboard Piano.

     Hey y'all!  Thank you so much for coming to visit my blog. My name is Faith, and my plan is to make Coastal Southern a place where I can express my love for the life I have be blessed with, for the projects I undertake, and for the people who make my full and wonderful.   Having said that- my life's not perfect.  Projects fail, I fail, and life's not always "beachy"- but finding joy in everything is essential. As Henry Ford said, "failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." Being grateful for the opportunity to wake up and breathe air, love my family and friends, and continue to explore this life God's given me is how I strive to live. I encourage you to comment and make suggestions as I explore Pinterest, the Word of God, nature, and my own abilities in the kitchen!
     For the purpose of this inaugural post, I want to share one of my all time favorite projects (and a fairly simple one at that)- our chalkboard piano!
Last year, our church was renovating and our pastor promised my daughter her choice of the pianos that belonged to the church.  She chose the best option for quality of sound, but it had been sitting in the children's church area for quite some time, and was covered in glitter glue and crayon markings.  I couldn't wait to make it something extra special, and a highlight of our home.  When she chose chalkboard paint,  I knew just what I wanted to do with it!
      The process of turning this ugly and abused little upright into a treasure was simple and only took about a week or so.  My husband and I removed the hardware, then sanded the entire surface of the piano and used painter's tape to completely cover the keys (also-I did not remember to cover the pedals until later, but this is when it should have been done).  We then went about priming the piano to take the paint. I chose to use Rust-oleum Professional Spray Primer (silver can, grey lid) because it covers completely and does a really even job that holds paint well and requires NO experience to do a beautiful job.  (I'm not being paid to say so at all- I just love this primer.) It took 3 coats, and we were ready to move forward with the project!

      After finishing priming the piano, we used Valspar Chalkboard Paint in Black to begin turning this forlorn little piano into a beauty. (Again, I'm not being paid to promote any products- just telling you what I love.)

     3 solid coats of paint later (waiting 2 days between each to allow for dry time), and some simple glass drawer pulls from the local hardware store, and we were done!  (One side note about this Valspar paint- this paint does NOT require any prepping at all.  Once it's dry, chalk takes right to it.  Just make sure to always wait the suggested time before doing so.)

It really is a simple project- my first of this magnitude, and it turned out beautifully.  I hope you've enjoyed the post, and I look forward to hearing from my readers!