A Place for Books
Mrs. Hill proposed that we convert what had at one time been a window in our living room to a built-in bookshelf. As director of physical plant this task fell to me.
Long ago our house had a covered patio, with a door and a window (exactly like this house). When the patio was enclosed the window was removed, and a new door was added to the outside, while the former door became an interior one. The window opening was left essentially bare, as you can see in this photo of our house on the day we moved in. I trimmed it up and painted it white some time back, but it wasn’t ideal. And, considering how many books we have that need a place, Miriam’s shelf idea seemed like the perfect solution.
I began by taking apart all the wood pieces surrounding the original brick window frame. I cut, sanded and assembled some new boards into some I salvaged, and carefully installed the whole contraption in the opening. But arranging it so as to have four shelves for books didn’t give enough clearance for our taller tomes, so I took it all out and reassembled it to accommodate three shelves of books. Then I cut and attached a sheet of plywood on the back, caulked and painted everything, and (ta da!) it was complete.
Mrs. Hill was pleased with the results, and so am I. Built-ins rule.
Filed under: House, Literature and Books on October 9th, 2007 | No Comments »