Our Little Free Library

A couple of weeks ago there was a story in the L.A. Times about a “nationwide movement” called Little Free Library. Basically, people put up a small structure in their yard somewhere, fill it with books, and welcome neighbors to take a book, bring a book, or both. We were hooked right away and got started planning our own little free library. We mostly used materials we already had, and it came together incredibly fast — less than three weeks. We put it up yesterday evening. Already, people have come by to use it; several books are gone and new ones have appeared.

Of course, I documented the process.

Day one, making the box.

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We used some of the boys’ old wooden blocks as cladding for the sides.

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Next were some embellishments and a roof.

Left side view

For the front, Bruce used some pieces of mahogany that he got from Janice’s dad’s workshop.

Putting on the front cladding

The metal roof was left over from the playhouse Bruce built for the boys way back when we lived over by the Rose Bowl.

A roof

Next it got a couple of coats of finish.

Putting on a coat of finish

And a red door.

The door

It also got a light inside.

The light

Then we needed a door knob. We didn’t have any laying around and didn’t really want to buy one, so I asked Ezra if he wouldn’t mind making one out of his Lego. I explained he’d be sacrificing the pieces because they’d have to be permanently glued together. He was very excited and came up with this.

Ezra's contribution - R2D2 door handle

So they glued R2D2 together with this platform.

Gluing R2

It looks great!

R2 the door handle

Bruce built a stand for the box, dug a trench to wire in the light with the timed lights in the garden, and dug a big hole.

The base

Once he’d attached the box to the stand, we were almost ready to go.

Securing

My contribution was the sign.

The sign

The boys were pretty excited about our little project.

Yay!

Done!

And here it is on the first night, all lit up.

All lit up!

There are more pictures here. We’re waiting to hear back from the Little Free Library people to get our official sign and number and get added to their map of libraries.

This has been a super fun experience!