Library Build (1)

After we moved in and got settled, building out the library was high on the priority list. Living around piles of disorganized books is bad enough; not being able to find the resource title you need in the moment is even worse!

The “library” was essentially a white box. We replaced the floors with Brazilian cherry prior to moving in. The Baccarat chandelier we brought with us. We had it professionally stored and installed by the great folks at Classic Chandelier & Mirror.

The double doors are original. The door hardware design is Largo first introduced by Yale & Town c. 1910. More on them to come.

Opposite the door, the wall had a soffit presumably for ductwork. We decided to run built-in shelving across the wall filling the niche created by the soffit. A couple of years ago, we’d found a TV cabinet center unit orphaned at Restore on Elysian Fields. Nate and José decided to repurpose it for this project. Honestly the piece had been a dilemma as we had no clue where to place it in the new digs. Moving from open-concept to discreet rooms certainly has its advantages (from my vantage), but the reconfiguration of furniture does also bring some challenges.

And the painting begins. This time Nate invested in a paint sprayer for the project and it really made all the difference. We landed on the FLEXiO 4300 from Wagner. Primer, a couple of coats of high gloss white enamel, and finished off with satin finish water-based poly.

While working on this project, we found a roll of Fine Decor wallpaper at Lowe’s. It’s not a regularly stocked item, so I presume it was a special order the ended up returned. We decided it would make a great accent for this project. The paper is from Great Britain and this particular pattern is Sandringham and features a metallic floral design on a blue background. The official description says that they are zinnias and there has been quite a lot of discussion around the house as to whether they are chrysanthemums instead.

The paint sprayer certainly sped things up to get to this point! Between that and the sanding there was a lot of cleanup. A roll of plastic drop cloth was certainly a great help.

The end of stage one: