Piano kitchen island that had a nation singing different tunes

'Home of the Year' finalist David O'Brien designed his kitchen around the 1850s rosewood piano he bought at auction for €500

Sat, 20 Feb, 2021 - 10:05

Eve Kelliher

This is the piano that got the nation trilling out from different hymn sheets.

But if David O’Brien’s antique grand piano-turned-kitchen island struck a few notes of discord on social media in recent days, the man of the moment himself is anticipating only harmonious times to come once pandemic restrictions are over.

The Cork homeowner has revealed, “Some of the keys get a little stuck sometimes but I look forward to friends being able to call again and to the future singsongs that will happen around this piano in the early hours of the morning.”

And, the instrument-slash-workspace was the recipe for success for RTÉ’s Home of the Year judges Hugh Wallace, Suzie McAdam and Amanda Bone and that is all that counts, really.

Some of the keys get a little stuck sometimes but I look forward to friends being able to call again and to the future singsongs that will happen around this piano

As viewers took the Twitter when the first of the seventh series started on Tuesday night, a Cassandra-esque intonation sounded out: “The piano island will divide the nation, I can feel it.”

Yes, while one show fan pronounced the antique piano as “genius as a kitchen island”, another tweeted: “The piano in the kitchen — hell, no!”

But overall this Ballygarvan house ticked all the boxes for location, views, light and layout, meaning a Cork property was the unanimous choice as the first Home of the Year 2021 finalist, gaining an impressive score of 28.

Now for the coda — the story behind the piano?

David took to Instagram on Thursday and in a post he titled “The Piano Kitchen Island”, he responded delightedly to the tinkle of chatter online about the rosewood beauty.

“About 10 years ago I was at an antique auction with my brother Aiden, @theworkshopcork, where I spotted this amazing rosewood grand piano from the 1850s. It was love at first sight.

“I said to Aiden at the time, ‘Wouldn't that be an amazing piece to own?’ and we chatted about its size and impracticality. I decided there and then that I was going to buy it and make it into a kitchen island for my then non-existent home.

“I bought the piano for €500. No one else bid on it at the auction. It originally belonged to a school principal who lived on the Old Blackrock Road in Cork.

“My sister, Triona, very kindly stored the piano for several years. It took five of us to lift it into the house.”

When it came to designing the house, the kitchen area was completely designed around the width of the piano, added David.

“I had toughened glass cut for the top by @northside_glass so that it can be used as a practical kitchen island.

"It also has LED lights underneath so it functions as a lamp in the evenings,” he said in his post.

The piano itself is fully functioning, still plays and remains completely unaltered from its original state.

“Like anything, after 170 years it’s not perfect and will never be concert quality, but the guys from @moloneypianosmidleton in Midleton who came to tune it said that it was in fantastic condition for its age,” he said.

David put a lot of hard work into the two-year creation of his modern bespoke home in the countryside, completing the selfbuild with the help of his brother.

“I wanted to build something that was really unique to me,” he said.

He turned the sod on his sleek dormer bungalow in Ballygarvan in 2017, moving in two years later.

“Black is my favourite colour so I decided to build a black house,” said David. An interior designer and project manager with his family business RJ O’Brien Building Contractors, he designed the decor himself.

It’s proved so popular the house’s very own Instagram site @newbuildireland had 16,000 followers early this week — and days after the show aired, this figure had jumped to well over 22,000.

David built his home on a site he inherited 10km outside of Cork city.

The construction project was by RJ O'Brien Building Contractors, established by David’s late father, Ray, over 50 years ago. It’s now run by David’s brother John.

The house was designed by CEA Architects in Midleton and as another architect, longtime Home of the Year judge Hugh Wallace, noted approaching the statement residence, it looks like a modern take on a traditional barn.