Our very own Outdoor Library

I'm actually suppose to finish up on our Big Bear post, but I'm so excited that we finally finished building our very own Outdoor Library!  If you're not so familiar with an outdoor library, it's a little box basically that sits on a post, and people are able to drop off books and/or pick on up.  And these "libraries" are sort of just randomly placed in neighborhoods or at schools. It's pretty interesting what you find in these outdoor libraries.  Well, after browsing through some DIY wood project online, I decided to build one ourselves for our backyard :-)

We had picked up some pieces of scrap wood not too long ago as I was trying to finish up the installing the air-conditioning unit.  And weirdly enough, we had just enough of everything to put this entire project together!  So glad we had that little electric saw too.  I'm able to cut (almost perfect) shape:

It's starting to look like something.  Ha ha!

The instructions said to get some plexi-glass for the little door.  However I noticed this plastic covering on the packaging of Graham and Charlie's new toy.  I think they call this up-cycling?

Okay, time to cut up this little door.  I don't have a lot of wood pieces so I can't mess up!

Or at least, I can't mess up too badly.  The circular saw is a bit tricky when it comes to the edges.  I think I need a jigsaw??!  Graham is already asking for a soldering kit.  Ha ha!

The boys are having fun with the hammer.  I'm glad no one hammered their fingers!

So far so good... thumbs up from Charlie:

Since there are gaps between the slats, I'm putting some caulking to seal it:

Now, for the door.  This was a bit tricky but I managed to put a frame over that plastic covering.  I'm glad I still had my clamps from when we lived in Tulsa.  Yay :-)

But since I only had two clamps, I needed to be a little bit creative in adding some more weight to make sure the wood glue sticks:

And while the glue is drying, it's time to paint everything with mold-resistant paint:

I think by now, a week has gone by? We have returned from our Big Bear trip and it's now time to set up the post.  It's a good thing we grabbed this big block of wood from the scrap pile!

Coincidentally, I had enough ready-mix concrete so that saved me a trip to the store.  I found an old plastic planter that was big enough. I used a black garbage bag as a liner for the inside of the plastic planter so the cement does not seep out.  

While the cement is drying, I decide to wrap up the interior of the box and also put the same screen we used on our bathroom window on this little door:

Kinda cute??? I actually didn't have an entire piece that was large enough so I had to join up 2 different pieces.  You can almost see a seam.  Just almost.  It's right by where the middle twig is:

Not too shabby looking!  The benefits of hoarding.  LOL!!!

And I've been wanting to stencil for the longest time.  I am actually wanting to use this same stencil on some pavers by the side of the house.  Figured I'd give it a test drive here:

Not bad???

I'd say the library is coming along pretty nicely :-)

I asked Charlie if he wanted to paint...

And that would be a yes! I asked him why he didn't just color the entire door orange and he said no, he liked it this way.  Go figure :-)

More anti-mold paint:

Charlie is definitely putting his personal touch on the back of the post :-)

The flowers are a joint effort between me and Graham :-)  I only filled up the pot with half full with cement as I wanted to put some foliage on the top half:

However, I did not think about the drainage which I came to realize after watching another DIY video last night.  So... it was time to do a Take 2 on this:

No staple gun - so, good old fashion hammer and nails will have to do!

And more caulk:

Ta da!!! We're definitely getting somewhere now! This is so exciting:

By the way, here are the flowers that Charlie painted on this other side of the post - a flower on the top and a butterfly on the bottom.  Too cute:

Today, we were finally able to install the hinges.  I had bought the wrong size so I had to go back to the store to get smaller ones:

The pieces of wood were a bit thin, so the screws were sticking out the inside:

I didn't think the boys would be sticking their fingers near the screws but just in case, I had to cover them up. Nothing a little glue and foam from the boys' nerf bullets can't fix.  Ha ha!

I messed up the hook and eye latch the first time.  Upside down??!  Oops!

 Breathe.... in and out... pheeeew....:

I was wondering what Graham and Charlie were doing with the camera.  I knew they were playing with the timer.  Ha ha, they were taking photos from inside the library box.  How funny!

And here is one of the ceiling/top of the library box from the inside.  We are using our old car license plates and we have plenty to go around.  Ha ha!  We've lived in Maryland - although this plate was a bit bent so I couldn't use it.  So the boys and I picked a couple of New Jersey plates, Texas (lived in Houston), Oklahoma (lived in Tulsa), and Arizona.  Too bad we didn't get to keep the plates from Abu Dhabi:

Okay, now to move the post into the garden.  I dug a shallow hole and put the pot base into the hole.  Trying my very best to make sure it's level:

I had to pull the "floor stickers" up in order to put 3 screws in to secure the box.  That way we are not looking at 3 ugly screws when we open the door.  Looking good!

Now to put the roof together.  I didn't want to put any holes into the number plates and actually, I don't have any suitable metal screws anyhow.  So, I decided to use some foam to hopefully seal and hold everything together at the same time.  Fingers crossed it won't get blown away in our first rain storm??!  The foam almost reminds me of snow somehow:

I actually had to pull the post back out again from its hole to seal both front and back of the box/roof.  I definitely did not think that one through very well.  The cement and soil combo is starting to get quite heavy.  Talk about a work out!

TA DA!!!!  Not too shabby??!

The only thing slanting now is actually the frame of the pergola.  Charlie has been kicking at this post while rocking on the hanging chair.  He actually knocked off one of the slats on the top of the pergola, which is why the chair is so low to the ground now. As if I don't have enough things to fix around this house, there's one more to-do on my list.

This backyard is slowly but surely coming together.  Hopefully the boys will read a bit more:

I also put the purple rattan/rocking chair by the hanging chair so there's a spot for each boy.  Charlie has been quite protective of that hanging chair!  Little stinker.  It's always a competition for him when it comes to his brother.  

I think the next yard project will be to finish staining the pergola and re-hang the hanging chair.  And maybe that's it? Oh, well there are more spots to finish mulching and laying more gravel.  And maybe that will be it.  Our grass is not looking the best though.  Hmm... maybe Bob needs to contribute in that category.  Ha ha!

Okay, one last look at our Outdoor Library.  I love it!  I actually built something - and it took about 10 days from start to finish (and not years - LOL!!!).  I was going to actually draw out the plan just to show the boys how things need to be planned out.  Well, the plan was just in my head :-D

I hope Graham and Charlie will enjoy it as they also contributed to it.  I might have to put a couple of my own books in there too :-)