Library Update

Gary finally installed my new french doors!! I have to stop right here and give props to a very talented husband. Barely half my hair-brained adventures could become reality if he weren't crazy enough to go along with them (or he couldn't stand listening to my pestering anymore). And he really is one of the smartest people I've ever known. He knows so much about building and fixing all sorts of stuff--and if he doesn't know, he wings it beautifully! Really, after this post you will see why I am so impressed everyday by the man I married.

I couldn't find a picture of the old french door, head-on.  This is the best I could find:

 (It's on the very left side of the picture here.)

(and here is one half of it)

It was very dark wood that had been scratched through from the outside by the last owner's dog. It kept heat and cold out like a sieve. So Gary took it out. He took the entire frame out (I didn't get a picture of that) and then the two of us lifted the entire new frame and two doors into place. Then he got the brilliant idea to take the doors off the frame and level and secure the frame before putting back on the doors, like so:

Doing that first would have saved my back. The house is not level and has no right angles, despite its looks. So it took Gary a long time to get the frame straight and get the doors to hang right. But he did it!

Ta da! He even filled around the door with gap filler/insulation. Now for the rest of the room.

I started decorating the library. I saw a really cool bookshelf on pinterest and followed the link to etsy. There are actually a lot of them on sale online. And I thought, I can do that (with Gary's help) and it would be a lot cheaper! So I started taking measurements, went to Lowe's and had a hlpful saleslady walk me around the whole store after showing her the picture on iPad, and bought everything I needed to custom make one to fit my library.

I went home and started tightening pipes and elbows together. It was harder than it looks to get all the angles right (no pun intended). I had to thread through the cord for the light as I was putting it altogether, which made it harder.

I was going to paint it black like all of those online. But once we got it up in the office I thought I really needed more color in there. So I painted it red, of course. I put it in this really weird corner in the library where the wall sticks out 2 feet to accommodate Sabre's closet.

 The ones online had a light. I could have left it without a light, but it would not have been as cool. Enter Gary! Do you know that Lowe's sells light cord by the foot? They do. And they sell lamp sockets and various plug ins. So I bought all the pieces and Gary wired me a lamp from SCRATCH! And I don't electrocute myself on it. I added the cool Edison bulb as the final touch.

 The bookshelf is mounted to studs on the top and bottom of the wall.

 You can barely see the cord coming out at the bottom and plugging into the wall at the bottom of this picture. And there was light! so now all my favorite books have a special spot in the library.

So then Gary hung a very cool light (with 10 Edison bulbs!) I ordered online (with minimal cursing under his breath) and then hung curtains. I added the yellow lamp, my yellow end table, a red rug and a gold frame I found., along with my pretty red drawers. And this is what the library looks like now (the french doors are to the right in the picture):

I still have to add pictures and maybe some shelves, but it's coming along. Thanks, Gary!