Our Free Little Library

Kevin built me a Little Free Library! I have been saying for sometime now that I want to build a Little Free Library to put in front of our house to share books with the community. If you haven’t heard of Little Free Libraries before it is a neighborhood book exchange where anyone is encouraged to take a book or leave a book! The first Little Free Library was built in 2009 and now there are over 75,000 Little Free Libraries out there in the world! Anyone can build a Little Free Library (more on that at the end) or you can buy one already made or a kit. There is even a Facebook group for Little Free Library Stewards…that’s me now! 

I am a Little Free Library Steward.

Adding that to my profile description.

I do want to mention that Kevin didn’t want to look at plans or blog posts before building it. He said “that isn’t as fun”. He wanted to make it on his own. And he did such an amazing job. I am honestly impressed that he built this. Really. Kevin you knocked it out of the park! If you look at the photos at the end of the post, we don’t really have a set-up for building things. Or really even have any of the tools, we borrowed some from a friend. He really just winged it. And when he decided to tackle this Little Free Library it was about 90 degrees and about 90 percent humidity. That guy gets a bee in his bonnet and he can’t stop. (I’m sure he will like being compared to someone with a bee in their bonnet 😂). 

Meet our PINK Little Free Library-

Isn’t she so cute?? We are all pretty obsessed with her. Like she is a new member of the family. We decided to put our Little Free Library to the right of the house in the far corner. I almost put it by our walkway, which now I see would have been weird!! We looked at a lot of Little Free Libraries online for fun and now Lola keeps saying things like “no other free little library has plants around it” or “no other free little library is this cute….right??” She always says “right?” after she makes a statement. Wanting some validation. And Lola you are RIGHT! Well I might be biased but she is pretty special. 

We have about 4 Little Free Libraries in our area that we can ride bikes to. You can find Little Free Libraries in your area HERE! Make it a fun outing with your kids or for yourself and visit a few! We have already noticed several people stop at ours to get a book or drop one off! The first time I saw someone stop at our Free Little “Pink” Library I was like “ohhhhhhhh, someone is stopping!!!” We were actually in our car getting ready to pull out. And Ella said to me “Mom, do NOT video them!” haha! So alas I have no pictures of our first ever Little Free Library Patrons. 

You can purchase a plaque for it for around $40 then you are officially registered with a number and added to the map! (We haven’t registered ours).

Little Free Library Details-

• We put our Little Free Library in a large square pot and filled it halfway with cement. Then the rest with potting soil to plant some plants in it. (It is heavy but Kevin and I were able to move it).
• The pink paint color is the same color as our front door- Sherwin Williams Coral Perfection
• I stapled some leftover wallpaper I had to the inside walls and the bottom. I wish I would have added the panelling wallpaper to the top- I thought about it but Kevin had already screwed the Magic Light into place. So when I am feeling super bored or maybe I can just have the girls paint the inside top white when they need a project….it might get done. 
• We used cedar shake shingles on the top and just spray painted them black! 
• The little bunny knob was actually from my piano and I just felt it needed to be out here! Love how the gold pulls in the gold on our pineapple door knocker. 
• It is waterproof- the paint is all outdoor paint and it is sealed up pretty tightly! 

I really LOVE how the Little Free Libraries look in yards. But also love that it is way to share books! I have been questioned as to why I don’t have a lot of books in our bookcase- because I like to pass them on to others! And really will never read them twice- there are only a handful of books I keep because I have referenced them or have read them twice. Same with kids books- they grow out of some so we love to be able to pass them on. 

Building your own Little Free Library 

I am not going to go into too much detail on how it was built because Kevin did is too fast I couldn’t document it like I had hoped.

• There are some zoning requirements with a Little Free Library that you should check out before building your own HERE
• You can purchase your a Little Free Library already built starting about $300 HERE we built our own for about $160
• Tools–  nail gun with a compressor, drill, skill saw, sander, tape measure
• Supplies– wood glue, hardware for door and handle, brackets to secure to post, wood caulk, exterior paint, plexiglass, cement
  • Qty 2- Common Board 2′ x 4′ pine board/exterior (for the side pieces and the base)
  • Qty 3- Common Boards  1″x 2 1/2″x 6′ pine board/exterior  (for trim and door) 
  • Qty 1- Sande Plywood 2′ x 4′ x 1/4″ (for roof)
  • Qty 1- Plexiglass for Door 12″ x 12″ that we cut down to 11″x11″ so we could attach the door hardware
  • Qty 1- Fence post- Pressure treated 4″ x 4″x 6′ (to put the Little Free Library on)

• The sizing might be helpful- we kept it on the small size (didn’t want it out of scale with our little house!) I think our measurements might help someone-
  • Bottom 14″ w x 16″ deep
  • Left Side 16″ w x 14″ h
  • Back 14″ w x 13 1/4″ h
  • Right Side 17″ w x 14″ h
  • Roof- (piece #1)- 14″ h x 22″ w” (piece #2-  13 1/2″ h x 22″ w
  • Door finished 13″x 13″- (qty 2) 13″ h x  2 1/2″w  (qty 2) 8″w x 2 1/2″ h 
  • Front Trim Pieces- (qty 2) 2 1/2″ w x 14″ h (qty 1) 2 1/2″ h 10 1/2″ w  
  • Gable- to make the gable we made the roof but didn’t attach it, just held it on the library then made the gable (triangle pieces) base is 15″w
• THIS blog post was helpful for us on figuring out how to attach the roof and  (I looked at it Kevin didn’t want to)
• Purchase a sign online for your Little Free Library HERE 

You can print our Free Little Library Plans HERE

We ended up knocking out that top trim piece so books could fit easier- see below photo how it is missing and now the side pieces just connect to the gable (triangle piece) on the front.

If you are in the area stop by and visit our Little Free Library! We plan on adding to it and keeping it fresh, so far Lola is our appointed Librarian. 

**Update- I wanted to share a little weekend project my friend just did. A Free Little Library. She f0und a $10 cabinet online on her local FB Tag Sale site. Painted it, added a roof, a new handle and it was done! They really can be made all so uniquely! 

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