Door, Desk, and Dream Come True

My dream of a lifetime would be to own a library like you see in old movies, where the shelves are floor to ceiling (and the ceiling is twenty feet high) complete with one of those rolling ladder thingys to reach the upper volumes. Granted, this dream would have to include an aproned housekeeper to dust the whole setup, as well as floor to ceiling windows looking out on my manicured gardens. Really, once you begin dreaming materialistically, where do you end?

It's all about the books. I love them. I loved them from an early age when the Bookmobile came to my preschool... when Grandma took me to the library in Tucson to gather titles for summer reading... when Dad set me free in the bookstore over by the old Vegas Village... when my book orders would arrive (with free posters! the joy!) in elementary school. What glorious memories! I still smile upon entering libraries and bookstores new and used. (I could happily plan an entire jaunt around the small towns of our country just dropping in on used bookstores. I can't wait til old age when this might be workable.)

Both my father and my husband have spent time and money over many years building bookshelves for me. There were two my father crafted which followed me from apartment to apartment in my college years. And when I saw a bookshelf built near the ceiling around the perimeter of a room in the Steve Martin movie "Roxanne", I requested the same in my condo - and got it! - thanks to Dad. He duplicated it with Kevin's help in our first house as a married couple. And Kevin used his now-professional-level carpentry skills to put one in our school room in the house before this one. It's starting to sound like I am as enamored by the shelves as the books.

This past weekend, Kevin's dad and step-mom visited to help with some important projects. One, a door desk:

It still needs some finishing touches, like a left side. But it is delicious for twenty bucks. And I have room to spread out three grades' worth of lesson plans across the top.

Next they hung a door between the master bedroom and bathroom. It still needs paint, and we're waiting for matching door hardware to arrive - but it's up!

And, finally, the piece de resistance --- the bookshelf! Here is the bare wall, screaming with potential:

And in a matter of a few hours...

Friday night, Kevin and his dad started with a clipboard, drew up the bookshelf plan, headed to Lowe's an hour before it closed, and twenty-four hours later all three projects were done. (The doors were ordered and bought ahead of time.) I have a gold mine in a father-in-law who builds custom homes. I felt like an episode of something on HGTV when the compressor hummed away and the nail gun shot off a hundred times.

Once I finish painting the rough trim and pull all my treasured books out of their boxes to arrange them in their new home, I'll post a photo of the completed project. I know I sound overly romantic about my books, but this really is a dream come true.