Oct 21

Building a Little Free Library

I was visiting my sister last year and taking her dog for a walk in the Berkeley Hills when I ran across a little free library. And then another one. And then another one. I was so taken with them, being a huge bookworm, but also just loving the concept of a community-centered library of books for anyone in the neighborhood to read. We don't have many of them in Tennessee where I live, and I never really saw any where I grew up. I did some research and discovered that there is a nonprofit organization called Little Free Library that has a huge network of community libraries. (This post is not sponsored by them!). In fact, you can actually look up your area and find registered Little Free Libraries.

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I got the idea of making a Tiny Library in my head and when I get an idea in my head, there's only one way out (building something!). I will admit that I am not much of a woodworker, and to be honest, angles and exact measurements are not my thing (which is why my husband is really the perfect DIY partner for me). Since Kyle didn't have time to help me because of the van build, I decided to buy a kit. You can get a variety of kits, both on Amazon, and on Little Free Library's website, and I will link a few cute ones I found here.

Assembling the Little Free Library Kit

The kit that I bought was already semi put together: the door was already attached, the holes were predrilled, etc. It took around 30 minutes to assemble, and that includes setting up the videos and taking photos along the way. If I remember correctly, the kit came with a screwdriver so you actually need zero tools for this, but an impact driver would definitely speed this process up.

Next you will want run a bead of silicone in the corners of the inside just to ensure it doesn't leak. I would also double check there are no cracks or holes water could enter through and seal any of those as well.

I primed it with a mildew-killing primer before painting. My tiny library is going to be going inside at a school, so I was not worried about weather-proofing it, but be sure to use outdoor paint and seal it well.

You could definitely stop here and just install the library to a post (it comes with the mounting boards and screws) and it would look great. BUT if you, like me, desire to be a little extra, then we need a theme, and the theme for this is going to be Hogwarts Castle.

Hogwarts-ifying the Little Free Library

Ladies, and gentlemen, this is the fun part. Lets give this little wooden box some magic. I saw an inspo picture that included turrets, so I ran to the store and grabbed some PVC pipes (and then ran to the store again to get more because Kyle needed one of my pipes for the van's toilet. Rude.). I used 1.5 inch PVC pipes that were in the precut section. I also grabbed a stray roof shingle that was not in a box and used that for the turret's spires. (between you and me, I'm not really sure if I accidentally shoplifted the roof shingle because the cashier at the store didn't charge me for it. Unclear.)

ANYWHO, I cut notches out of the sides of the roof with my vibrating knife (you could also use a jigsaw). I attached the turrets with conduit straps at the top and screw straight into it on the bottom. There is probably a less obvious way of attaching this, but I was in a time crunch.

For the spire, I traced a circle using a large bowl and cut it out, then cut it in half and wrapped each side into a cone. I attached them to the PVC spire using hot glue. Hot glue does not do well outside in the heat, so i would recommend using an outdoor grade glue, or attach it with screws/ nails.

3D Printed Dragons

I wanted to add a couple of dragons, so i enlisted the help of my dad to 3D print them for me. I specifically wanted dragons that were not printed with any type of ground or hill beneath them, which was a little tricky to find. Here is the 3D printer he uses and here are the big and little dragons we printed. I attached these with hot glue as well.

Dragon #1 Model

Dragon #2 Model

Stained Glass Crest

Once all of that was done, the whole library felt very grey and a little dreary, so I decided to use acrylic paint mixed with Elmer's glue to create the Hogwarts Crest on the door of the library.

I first drew the crest on the inside of the door with a Sharpie, which was really easy to do because you can use a little bit of alcohol on a paper towel to erase and redraw. Then I picked out the colors for the four houses and mixed each with glue. The ratio I used was about 1 Tbsp glue with one brush worth of paint. You can always add more of either if the consistency isn't right. I chose not to paint the entire door because I wanted people to be able to see the books without the door open.

Here is how it turned out! I am so excited to give this away to a school in my area for all the kids to enjoy!