Our Library MakeOver – Ta Da!!!

I have lived in my house since 2003. It was built in 1989 and the first thing I did when I moved in was to paint every wall…and I do mean EVERY wall. The entire house was pink, or some shade there of…not kidding! I painted the library red and my Dad built shelves for us to house all the family books. Here is what the library looked like for more then twenty years:

Our family enjoyed the library for many years. We loved the quiet, cozy feel. The challenge was that it was dark. Looking at it over the past year, I realized that I had been avoiding it as it felt gloomy. So I decided to paint it. To do that meant we had to take out all the books, furniture and remove the false fireplace mantle hidden behind the roll top desk. Let the construction begin! My handy husband took out the mantle, which was a real bear as it had been built in place with three to four layers of wood added in order to get it the right size for the previous owner. He then dismantled the chair moulding and repurposed it to replace the removed mantle.

Then it was my turn. I painted two coats of white primer to cover the red walls. I decided to paint to bookshelf black to add a modern touch to the space, and I repainted all the crown moulding a glass finish white. Should I tell you here that I love to paint walls? I do, I know, it’s strange. I love the instant gratification of seeing a room transformed simply by changing the wall colors. My husband is glad I like to paint because he abhors it…truly! Here is a photo of the finished space:

As we took out all the books, which we have collected or inherited from both sides of the family, I could not believe the books we had that I had forgotten. I was shamed that we had great classics right under my nose and I never knew. Shame on me! So, I decided to label each section. Hooray that I am a Calligrapher!. I organized each topic, author, or genre together for easy access and made a label for each section. I bought wedding table tent card stands and wrote each section name on black paper…which is highlighted at the top of this post. Here is what the selves look like with the label stands. They are small yet effective:

Overall it took us about two weeks, off and on, to renovate the space. We are much happier with the light and feel of the room. I am thrilled that people now can walk in and see each section with its label, pick out a book to browse, read or simply leaf through. It is amazing what happens when we make a decisions, do the work and then are able to reap the benefits of our labors.

Let me encourage you to stop putting off that project you want to get done. Yes it will be a mess for a while; however, the end result is worth the wait!