Thinking inside the box! The Little Free Library in the neighborhood…

Ok, I’ve been inspired… I only just learned about this concept of the Little Free Libraries that is spreading all over the country, and the first thing I said when I did was, “I want one of those!” When I did some digging into this amazing movement sweeping the country, I learned that it is not too difficult to create one. And so this past Friday, when the Little Son had the day off from school, we began a project: The Carlson Court Little Free Library Project.

In case you’re not familiar with what a Little Free Library is, here’s a quick intro (as excerpted from shareable.net).

Little Free Libraries are small structures that serve as an informal book exchange. Usually positioned atop a post in someone’s front yard, by a bike path or in a park, they seem to have an almost magical effect on people. Once people realize that they can “take” any book they want, they also become aware of a desire to share their favorite reads.

NPR interviewed the founders of the movement this past March, “Give a book, return a book. That’s the motto of what are known as Little Free Libraries.”

USA Today published about them in February – read the article here.

NBC Nightly News caught wind of the Little Free Library in March – watch the video here.

And the article that I read,on BoingBoing.com was all the inspiration I needed to make it happen for my community.

The concept is simple: put a charming box full of books in a public place, encourage people to share them and to contribute their own.

From the Little Free Library FAQ:

If this were just about providing free books on a shelf, the whole idea might disappear after a few months. There is something about the Little Library itself that people seem to know carries a lot more meaning. Maybe they know that this isn’t just a matter of advertising or distributing products. The unique, personal touch seems to matter, as does the understanding that real people are sharing their favorite books. Leaving notes or bookmarks, having one-of-a-kind artwork on the Library or constantly re-stocking it with different and interesting books can make all the difference.

What I love about the idea is not just that I can give away some of the books that I’ve been holding onto for years – I can do that any day of the week, in fact I dropped a box full off at the Goodwill on Monday. No, what I love about the idea of the Little Free Library is that it is a way of connecting people through sharing books. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that our family is definitely living in the digital world, but there is something about the idea of sharing a good book with a neighbor or friend, that just makes me feel good.

The founders of The Little Free Library movement have designed several standard versions of LFLs, and for a mere $250, you can have one shipped to you ready to be put into use. For some reason, it didn’t seem like the way I wanted to start our LFL. And $250 seems pretty steep for something that could be put together using recycled or reused items. So, this past Friday, on his day off from school, Little Son and I hopped in the car and headed into town to round up some recycled materials from our favorite reuse stores.

We started at The Rebuilding Center, which is a favorite of mine when I need some inspiration for upcycling projects. Little Son loved it because it is on one of the coolest streets in Portland, Mississippi Avenue, which is home to our very favorite ice cream shop, Ruby Jewel, the coolest organic gardening shop we know, Pistil’s, where we got our first batch of redworms for composting several years ago (RIP, little buddies!), and one of several locations of our favorite breakfast (at any time of the day) restaurants, Cup and Saucer Cafe. On this day, we didn’t have time to stop at any of these favorite places, because we were on a mission. At the Rebuilding Center, we managed to find a good-looking cabinet that had been pulled out of a kitchen remodel, and a matching door with glass window panes, so that you can see inside the cabinet. We paid for the items ($20 total) and loaded up, headed for our next stop, Rejuvenation.

Now, Rejuvenation is quite different than The Rebuilding Center, though with kind of the same idea. Depending on where you enter, you’ll think you’re either in a high-end home furnishing store or an antique salvage yard. We entered on the high-end side and bee-lined it to the salvage section for just the right fixture for the handle for the door – a wrought iron sprinkler head from a bucket that had been dropped off recently. Little son immediately chose one with letters along the outside. “What does ELLPOW mean?”, “I think it’s POWELL…”, “Oooohhh, that makes sense, like the street? Cool!” He decided he’d paint the knob electric blue; we paid ($5) and were on our way to find some recycled paint – SCRAP was our next stop.

SCRAP stands for School Community Recycling Action Project and is all about keeping craft and office supplies out of landfills. The first time you walk into the place you will just be amazed, it is literally a warehouse of random junk that you would find in your junk drawer, but sorted to make it easy to find something that you’re looking for. We were looking for paint but on the way to the paint, Little Son found a cool piece of bare wood in a hexagon shape ($.25) that he thought would be perfect for a sign. We grabbed it, found the paint section and were on our way ($3.25 total)

We were home before noon and couldn’t wait to get started on the project – we had some spray paint left over from heaven knows when – we primed and painted the cabinet, removed the old door and put on the new one, painted the knob and the hexagon sign. Little son actually painted the sign with chalkboard paint; he thought it would be cool to change the message on the Library, every once in a while.

It was all looking good until we realized we didn’t have anything that could shelter the LFL from the wonderful Portland weather. So, yesterday morning after the baby girl’s gymnastics class, the 3 of us headed out again with another mission, this time to find and build a roof. We were very lucky to find all we needed at the Habitat for Humanity Restore warehouse in Beaverton . They had roof shingles 6 for $1, plywood and beams 2 for $1, and we left with everything we needed for the grand total of $3.28. Home again to put it all together – cutting, hammering, and painting some more – and now the Carlson Court Little Free Library is ready for it’s debut. Please come for a visit, if you are ever in the neighborhood!

Single Post Navigation

← Older Entry

Newer Entry →