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FWIW at the Summerkeys adult music camp that I go to in Maine, one of the pianos I get time to practice on is a 7 foot Yamaha grand that sits in a room approximately the size you are asking about. Maybe smaller. No special window, floor or wall treatments to lesson the sound. The piano's tone does not overwhelm the room (unless banged!) and is one of the most sought after pianos to play on.

Rich

It would be used strictly for playing the piano. A chair or two would be the only additional furniture that I plan to put in it.

Good suggestions. I'm toying with those ideas, but I will have to consult my homeowner's association and consider the cost before such an undertaking.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine was suffering from gout. He asked me to drive him to the pharmacy so he could get a cane. While he was rummaging through the selection, he held up two and asked me: "which one makes me look sportier?"

Naturally, he was joking, but this thread's overarching question strikes me the same way. Kinda like how many clowns can climb out of a VW, or how many frat boys can get into a phone booth? A grand piano is to a square peg as an 11x11 room is to a round hole. Not literally, of course, but...

The question's premise seems flawed somehow: how large a piano can I reasonably get into a room that's too small to comfortably house a grand piano? (I'm defining "still sound decent" as "reasonable").

Anyway, I'll post a more serious/practical response below.

Ok, here's my practical answer...


First, I want to say that this is exactly what I was thinking last night when I first read this thread. The description of the floor plan wasn't detailed enough to know for sure, but I was sort of hoping that the bedroom in question and the living area were perhaps separated by a wall that could be removed to open it all up. Even if the wall is load-bearing, perhaps a couple of columns could take its place. Another suggestion could be to perhaps house the piano in the larger space, and make the 11x11 room an intimate sort of sitting area (small sofa and a couple of stuffed chairs, maybe a TV if you want).

Anyway, here's why:

Like I said above, I read this last night and the dimensions intrigued me. We deliberately sought out a smaller piano with the intention of downsizing at some point in time. My 5'2" piano sits in a corner, not quite at a 45 degree angle, but close. More importantly, it's about as close to the two walls as is reasonable, leaving a small space to get around it, clean/vacuum, run a power cord, etc.

I measured 11' from each of the walls out to where an opposite corner would be. Gotta be honest: even at 5'2" it looked uncomfortably full, especially considering a couple chairs and an imaginary in-swinging door.

Next, I went and measured my little "parlor," which sits off the foyer opposite the living room. As I suspected, it was pretty darn close to your dimensions: 10.5 x 11.5! So I went back and measured how far diagonally from the corner the keys reached: 6.5 feet. My bench adds about 2 feet (perhaps your 3 feet includes some room to move, or you have really long arms), so it'd reach 8.5 feet out.

I'm gonna be honest: there's no way I'd even put my 5'2" piano into that space. Especially not with a couple of chairs and the doors (which swing in). The room is set up like I describe above: antique sofa, traditional wingback chair, and another chair (no TV, of course). Ironically, the people we bought the house from had a spinet in there. When we first viewed the house, I played it a bit--it was pretty harsh in that small space (but the floors are hardwood and there was little else to soften it.

Before I did the measuring, I was thinking like some of the others above, that perhaps a seven footer would be ok to squeeze in.

I get it though: you're trying to make the most of the limited space you're gonna have. I was sort of planning for that myself for the future. Anyway, sometimes pianos are bigger than you think they are. As a matter of fact, initially I was planning to put the piano in our living room, which is easily three times the size of the parlor. We decided it would take up too much space, and put it into the family room (which has worked out well).

Anyway, I hope you can work out some sort of satisfactory solution.

This being on the ground floor of a condo, it's very likely that you'll have a bearing wall and an expensive job that way. Do let us know what you find out from the association. Ask if anyone else has made structural changes, they may be able to provide useful info and recommend a structural engineer.

Such alterations are not simple, but need not be overly expensive; friends of ours did something like this in their livingroom/diningroom, and the construction itself was done inside of a day, with one visit from a construction engineer for 45 minutes to determine the steel beam needed etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ku_DxFfh-g so alright, it is a salesman speaking, but he's not saying anything I have not heard before in regards to grand size and room size ^^
Some nice options out there!

I should add - they cut the cost significantly doing the preparations and finishing themselves

I used this as a guide for determing room dimension to piano size.

http://www.pianobuyer.com/PDFarchive/PB_PianoRoom.pdf

Goodness--I don't remember seeing this. Thanks so much for posting!

I am not positive, but I believe that this article is no longer included in the PB and is now considered suspect.

My 7' grand is in a room not much bigger than yours, and it sounds pretty good. The key thing is, there is an archway that opens in the living room that probably 15x20-something. Without that large opening into the other room, it might be too much piano.

I've put several bookcases and a wall hanging in the room, along with a large area rug under the piano. All these things have tamed the room quite a bit. If all else fails, you can close the lid halfway, or all the way, but I've found that doing this throws off the overall balance of sound (treble gets quiet while the bass gets boomy and muddy).

In general, I would buy the largest piano that you can afford (although a full concert grand would be overkill for that room, haha). The longer ones just sound better.

I saw a reference to a rug under an upright in that article. How much difference would that make? I didn't think an upright transmitted much sound in that direction.

The soundboard is part of the piano - the entire piano resonates, so if some resonances or any in case of neighbours is an issue, a rug helps ^^

Delighted to say I have no neighbours.

Nice Philip - sometimes I wish I could say the same ^^

It isn't just for troublesome neighbours though - also for troublesome resonances.. If you've ever gotten a new piano and anything in its sound was too harsh or boomy or resonant or whatnot, I would say try another spot for the piano, and check the room treatment like rugs and such before going for something like voicing it for the space.

I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but why do you want to fit so much piano into one room? I'm not asking from a place of condescension, so much as curiosity (and possibly ignorance). It might be wise, though, to ask yourself what purpose having a 9 or even 7-footer would truly serve in the context of your home.

Everything else being equal, longer pianos are generally superior to shorter ones.

it is exactly that bit - everything else being equal - that is at issue
https://youtu.be/I3Xw7soZwLM?t=45

"...I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but why do you want to fit so much piano into one room? I'm not asking from a place of condescension, so much as curiosity (and possibly ignorance). It might be wise, though, to ask yourself what purpose having a 9 or even 7-footer would truly serve in the context of your home...?

Out of the mouths of two-post newcomers. But, the question is an excellent one. I would personally think that, in this size room, a better-quality upright would be better. If for nothing else, with any size grand, you would be constantly holding back on the touch, trying to come out of your practice session without blood dripping from your ears--- and even then, it might not work.

The registers of the piano depend on the softness, or firmness, of the touch the player uses. Within a room so drastically undersized, your touch would be educated with a great big hole in your sense of range and timbre.

Of course, you could wear earplugs...