This spring I finally found time to work on my Little Free Libraries. Ever since I saw one of these in another town, and then a couple popped up in Upland, Angie and I have wanted to add these to our yard so we could give back to the community. I looked at purchasing a kit for making one but then saw this idea for using vintage newspaper boxes. So, I reached out to our county paper, The Chronicle Tribune, and they would gladly sell me a couple on the cheap. So last summer I picked these up but couldn’t find the time work on them then because life stuff. So they sat in our garage all winter. Soon as my spring chores were done with the garden and house, I jumped onto this as my first big project of the summer.
Here is how the project started.
I had to sand down some rust, fill in various holes to keep out rain and critters, and remove the old spring shelves used for the newspapers. I also had to remove the damaged windows and get them replaced with better plexiglass.
Next up was to calk over holes and damaged areas then sand it down again. These are the ones in the top section but there were plenty in other areas. I also used rubber washers any time I had to mount anything to keep this weather tight.
I gave them a good coat of primer to stop any rusting and to prepare them for their new paint jobs.
We decided to paint them using silver and copper hammered paint. That paint is very forgiving and hides blemishes well. We had custom signs made for the fronts and registered them with Little Free Library so they are official and registered for the online map.
We also found some fun signs for the sides to help advertise what they are.
Angie and I are so excited to share our love of books and reading with our community! They have now been up for a few weeks and people are starting to find them, exchange books, and some neighbors have thanked us for adding these to our neighborhood.
