Build furniture out of old pianos? Why not?

I first had that idea twenty-some years ago, but couldn’t put the notion into motion. Good idea, right? Save beautiful instruments from the landfill and create nice pieces for the house…and maybe sell a few.

A desk with the shape of a baby grand piano struck my fancy, so we picked up an old John Wanamaker baby grand, free of charge, from a Catholic school in Fitchburg, MA. Believe it or not, we picked up three pianos that day, two baby grands and a...