Library room box, final

The library room box is going to the people is has been made for next week, the wonderful librarians in my department library. It is the least I can do to thank them for eleven years of fantastic support. Of course it is a surprise, and I hope they will be surprised and like it. You never know.

So this is the last chance for me to take a picture and reflect on what I have done and what I should have done differently.




I started this project three months ago, confident that I had plenty of time. This week I suddenly realised that vacation season is approaching, and I may never find a moment when all librarians are in. I was right. I asked yesterday, and already next week some of them will be away, and more the week after. So now is the time! And of course nobody will know what I had intended to do and didn't.

To begin with, I am pleased with the idea of making a library inside an old book and quite proud of the way the overall design worked. You can see it step by step here and here . I am glad that I took the time to make interesting floors, wallpaper and ceiling.

I compromised on bookshelves. Mostly because I didn't have all my supplies and tools. I considered several options for DYI, but finally decided that I would buy unfinished shelves and make them unique. At the very least, I made this fake open drawer!

I compromised on library steps. I tried various options, but again, without supplies and proper tools it didn't look right. One day I will make library steps from scratch. 

I am really glad that I didn't compromise on books. If you compare my first post in which I used printed book spines with the final result featuring 150 individual books, I hope you agree it was worth the trouble. Many hours of work, but highly satisfactory.

Of course I did compromise on books in the sense that most of them are still fake, that is, do not open. My ambition was to replace them with real books, but I ran out of time. A few can be opened and have real stories and pictures, and they will do the trick.

I have also put in a book by me. I wonder whether the recipients will spot it.

I added more items, framed maps on walls, stacks of manuscripts, pencils, index cards. I stuffed the desk drawers with all kinds of things, including miniature diaries.

I considered and dismissed a grandfather clock. It dominated the room too much and obscured other items. 

I was planning to add display lights, and I bought a LED strip, but I couldn't make it work (maybe the battery was wrong) so again, I ran out of time. Nobody will ever know that there was supposed to be light. I have fake ceiling lamps. I also wanted to make a typical library lamp with a green lampshade and a chain pull. Maybe it would have been too much. There is enough clutter already.

On the whole, I am happy with this project, and I am looking forward to giving it away to people who will hopefully appreciate it.