Fresh Air

Art of the Home: The Library - Part 2

I will start with the punchline and work my way backwards: Alan is a hero, could hire himself out as a finish carpenter and has made his way to the Husbands Hall of Fame AGAIN. 

The library is complete.  It is beautiful.  It's got a wonderfully positive vibe, and is a-swirl with great ideas, old and new.  I have light, music, fire and the written word in abundance, all in the same place.  I could not have asked for more.

But back to the process.  We took a reverse approach to design, and instead sought appropriate materials as our first step in crafting the end solution.  We also had a firm budget of $4K or less to work with.  That, and over 80 boxes of books drove us towards evaluating pre-made kitchen cabinetry as an option, as it's designed to house lots of heavy dishes and comes in a variety of finishes and sizes.

We looked around, and as it turns out, Ikea has great kitchen stuff in all the standard sizes.  It's both cost effective and soundly constructed.  We opted to mix kitchen cabinetry and back-mounted (bracket-less) shelving to achieve the architectural look and feel we wanted.  Specifically, we selected the Tidaholm Oak kitchen fixtures, complemented by the Lack shelving system in oak to match.

I think we both deserve the Consumer's Medal of Honor for having braved Ikea's annual "no sales tax" sale, at which every contractor in town has their kitchen orders stack-ranked by dollar value.  It was complete and utter mayhem, but we were able to leave with 3/4 of our original order from that first visit and received the remainder within 2 weeks.

Construction always involves a lot of trading in and out of parts, bits and tools.  Since November, I have spent at least one day each weekend at Ikea, the hardware store, the paint store or some combination thereof.  Here are a couple of helpful hints for the novice remodeler:

• Learn your supplier's processes so you can maximize your time on site.
• Come prepared so you know what you're getting and where it's located.
• Keep ALL of your receipts in a clipped bundle by date by vendor. You will be asked to prove you actually bought the stuff FROM THEM and even possibly when it was purchased.  Best to be prepared.
• Be nice.  Getting snarky gets you NOWHERE FAST.
• Know your vendor's return policies.  If you're not careful, you may run out of time and get store credit rather than cash for your returns.
• Tell people when they're doing a good job.  Lots of folks can't take a tip for good service, but their raises are based on customer comment cards.  If you're happy, share the love.

Timing (and a building sense of anticipation) is everything.  I got these trips down to a science.  So while I was schlepping the goods, Alan was spending a lot of time measuring thrice and cutting once.  He found that our dining room table made an excellent cutting surface, with nailed-down guides and old-fashioned C-clamps.  He displayed amazing cleverness in developing all kinds of ways to make tight-tolerance cuts on 8-foot boards with his assemblage of tools and clamps. And, I am happy to report, still has all his digits and appendages. 

It's also a good idea to find someone who knows what they're doing and can offer assistance and advice.  For us, that someone was Mark Perkins.  Young, studly and talented, Mark was over almost every weekend to "help" (e.g. manage, advise, lift and position, mock, chortle and call 911 in my absence if need be.)  This library is very much due to his efforts as well, and I appreciate it.  We'll raise a toast with Mark as soon as the couch arrives.

We had mini-celebrations all along the way - the first time a cabinet was placed, the first time a full cabinet-shelving-cabinet sub-section was complete, and so on.  When all the cabinetry and shelving was in place, we popped open the champagne.  But the true test of doneness came this weekend, when we sat down with our coffee and the Sunday paper in the finished space, complete with Persian carpet, leather recliners and full, (mostly) alphabetized bookshelves.  And NO BOXES in sight.

So ends the saga of the library.  On deck: the Master Bedroom and Bath.  Stay tuned for more helpful remodeling tips as this next process begins to unfold!

Art of the Home: The Library - Part 1

Our home is a 1959 Northwest contemporary, very solidly constructed with an open, airy floor plan.  It's got "good bones"; an invaluable characteristic when considering remodeling for pleasure as well as resale value.

Topping the "wish list" was the desire for a library; a warm, cozy space in which to read, listen to music, play games and enjoy a warm fire.  My parents have exactly such a room in their home, in which I have spent many happy hours playing piano and reading in the hounds-tooth wool couch.  I can still feel the gentle scratch of those pillows as I became too tired to read and instead fell asleep in my favorite space.  To me, having a library is akin to what consuming "comfort food" is for others.

After a couple of years in our house, we noticed that no one ever went in the living room.  It had good potential - a full stone wall with fireplace, and another wall of glass with french doors leading to the back patio and pool.  But it lacked warmth and comfort.  It lacked heart.

This centrally located room is right off the main entry - and is hard to miss.  It's also a big space to waste: 21' by 15'.  I smelled opportunity, and began drafting plans based on recreating the environment I had so enjoyed as a child.  We wanted something bold and architectural, with a strong Scandinavian look and feel.  No fuss, no muss, and capable of holding, with grace and dignity, the 80+ boxes of books we still had in storage.

Bids ranged all over the place, from less than $10K to more than $35K - but in addition to the expense, the contractors we'd contacted seemed confused about our design goals.  People wanted to gild the lily - whereas we just wanted to grow one unadorned.  In the end, big money + confused contractors = tabled project.

After this summer's Horrid Housing Debacle (detailed in a separate essay entitled "How Not to Sell Your House"), Alan and I settled on some rudimentary rules of engagement.  I dug in my heels and refused to leave our home, and got a 10-year "on the premises" commitment from him.  He dug in his heels and encouraged the pitter-patter of additional feet, and got a bonus round of fertility treatments from me.  I dug in my heels further and insisted the oft-dreamed-of library come to life.  He dug in his heels all the way and insisted he craft it himself.

Hold on, Irene.  That last statement through me for a loop.  I mentally reviewed our previous experiences on this topic.  Thought about why we hadn't engaged anyone else's services - and at its core - I think we really didn't trust anyone else's ability to create our vision.

I had solid evidence to indicate that Alan has at least some carpentry skills.  He built an enclosed sun porch on his previous home, and refinished the bathroom as well.  To this day we're using the stone-topped dining room table that he designed and created.  But a full built-in library???  Egad.  I struggled with the appropriate response, and found that my only option was to say, "Okay."

Thus began our journey to craft the intellectual and musical heart of our home.  Design took two months, commensurate with cabinet and shelving shopping.  Crosscut Hardwoods has some spectacular offerings - including one of my  favorite African woods; Bubinga.  But one needs to balance cost, complexity and the crafter's capability.  And as it turns out, 21' by 15' isn't all that big after all, especially when you remove a full 12" on two sides of the room for the shelving, plus the additional 2' of clearance needed to actually use the shelves and open the cabinets.  Nonetheless, we settled on a plan and construction commenced.