My Own Private Library

One of the reasons I bought this particular home in Portland, Maine, was that I could at last fulfill my life-long dream of having a dedicated room for a real library. Last Friday, the carpenter put the final touches on the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It was six months to the day since the formal closing when the house became mine.

Here is what part of the room looked like before the shelves were designed and built. The wall is 8.5 feet high and 12.5 feet long.

After several months of interviewing designer/carpenters, I found Ned Merrick, a talented young man, a native Mainer who, at age 27, understood my twin concerns of esthetics and, in such an old house, weight distribution. He made some drawings, I approved and he went to work. About three weeks ago, he showed up to begin installation.

Some of that writing on the wall is from Claude of Blogging in Paris who added her two cents when she visited in October: “As time goes by, one makes wonderful new friends and I look forward to your coming and Blogging in Paris.” Another is from ML at Full Fathom Five: “Writing is discovering what you didn’t know you already thought.”

My own contribution was "Everything is interesting if you pay attention." Someday, another owner will tear out the bookshelves to put this room to another use and will dicover these bon mots. I wonder what they will think.

It took two or three days for Ned to carefully fit together the pieces of the bookshelves he had built and painted. He takes great pride in his work in which every detail matters.

And here is the shiny, new, pristine wall of shelves - finished except for some electrical work and paint still needed, when this photo was made, on the bottom molding to match that in the rest of the room.

Ned left his ladder for me over a weekend so I could reach the top shelves as I tore into book cartons and began sorting the library. It feels like Christmas every day to have my old friends at my fingertips again.

And here is the room almost done. The section labels are still stuck on the shelves and a lot of the books need sorting and organizing still, but it is a usable library now just a couple of steps from my desk. I have waited 60 years to have this room and my happiness cup runneth over.

There are still 13 cartons of books that won’t fit on these shelves. Ned and I have designed additional sets of shelves for the sitting room and a bedroom, and after the holidays, he’ll be back.

Ned gave his business a wonderful Maine-ish name - Harraseeket Woodwrights - and you can see a lot of his original, furniture design work on his website. Soon, photos of my shelves will join his exhibit.

Comments

[notdotdot]

Love it! Looks a bit like a patch work quilt! We too have a love of books and too many to display. We're working on it. . . you are faster!

[Rhea]

A personal library is a dream of mine, too. This was cool to watch the progress of yours. Congratulations!

[Dee]

What a wonderful addition. You did good, Ronni. And of course Ned is a treasure! Enjoy. Dee

[tamarika]

Gee, you must be ecstatic! It looks absolutely splendid, Ronni. Congratulations on your own personal library.

[kenju]

Congratulations on achieving a life-long dream! When we moved to this house, we had shelves built floor to ceiling in one end of the living room, and they quickly filled, so we spilled over into make-shift shelves in other rooms. One day I hope to have a whole room full of nothing but shelves on 4 walls, floor to ceiling!

[ronniprior]

I want one! I hope I can make it happen!

Hi. I'm another "ronni" with a little blog.

As the kids say, "you rock, Ronni!"

[jenclair]

Marvelous! I love the idea of the writing behind the bookcases...a future surprise for someone. And you know the writing is there, a kind of secret behind the books.

[Karen]

How beautiful. I am jealous. I have often thought of putting in book shelves in my house. You may have motivated me. I just wish I could have your carpenter.

[Rain]

Wow that is fantastic looking, gorgeous work that he did, and must be wonderful to have them all in one room-- or almost.

[Ronni Bennett]

Jenclair: Besides the hidden writing, there is also a built-in secret compartment where I will, of course, keep my many jewels and millions of dollars...

[Susan]

Looks fantastic! I did the same thing - lined three walls of my already tiny living room with floor to ceiling oak shelves with lower cabinets - the cabinets under the windows make great kitty spots for chirping at birds and hissing at the neighbor's dogs. I love the cozy and comforting look of my space and yours looks absolutely elegant!

Congratulations!

[la peregrina]

Wonderful. I am so jealous. Funny how putting the books on the shelves makes such a big difference. Before, Gap shelves. After, bookcase.

[Deejay]

I'm too cheap to have anything custom made, but bookshelves were the first things I bought when setting up my new home's office/den. Yours are beautiful, Ronnie, congratulations.

[Claude]

Ronni, those look absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for the photos. How does Oliver like this new addition. I bet he didn't like the disturbance when you had them installed! Now I'll have to come back to inspect them, but not until you've visited with me here.

[Jennifer Warwick]

What a fantastic thing! I have always wanted a library my own self, and you DID it. Yours is exquisite. Congrats on your six-month anniversary!

[jen]

Having a library like this has always been a dream of mine too. Looks like Ned did a great job.

[Annie in Austin]

Green, green, green with envy!! Congratulations on your library, Ronni.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Maya's Granny]

My current apartment is built against a mountain on two sides and the third is common wall with another apartment. For the first time in my life, I have enough room for all of my books and artwork. I have bookshelves everywhere, and I love it. Some of them were already built in when I got here, some I bought, some I put together from brick and board. I would love a library -- I'd put a large globe and a huge dictionary on a stand in the middle of the room, a good comfy chair to read in and a desk.

[Roberta S]

Love, love, love it. Ronni, I would be a poor guest at your house if you thought you could entertain me in this lovely room. I am so completely distracted by books, especially when I see them all out there inviting me to scan the titles. I can't keep my hands to myself when I see so many books in lovely shelves like that. It's a weakness I have. Can't help but be curious. How do you feel about guests browsing through your books?

[joared]

Looks great! You wouldn't want to put me in there if you wanted conversation, because the books would get all my attention. Congratulations on fulfilling a dream!

[Ronni Bennett]

Maya: Across the room from the new bookshelves is the perfect reading chair I found after months of looking. On the sideboard, there is a large globe of the world. And although there is no stand, I have the small text version of the OED. Our tastes run similarly.

Roberta S. and joared: You're welcome to browse any time. Just put them back in the place you found them when you're done.

[bogie]

I am sooooo jealous! I too have dreamed of a library with shelves enough to hold all my books (and the books that I continue to buy).

Ronni, I think you must have an unacknowledged but unerring instinct for real estate.

Not only did you sell your New York place at the perfect moment (before the real estate slowdown, and at the height of the bubble), you just did a smart thing in your new place, too.

I am currently condo-shopping, and every realtor I encounter who can possibly find any "built-in" storage anywhere on the premises makes *sure* that buyers see it. Clearly, built-ins add value because nobody ever thinks they have enough storage--whether for books, CDs, collectibles, etc.

So, what's next? A person could do a lot worse than take notes on your real estate decisions.

[Darlene]

When I sold my house and bought a Town House I knew storage would be at a premium so I gave the books in my library (over 150) to the Friends Of the Library for their annual sale. I did keep my favorites, but I now realize that I miss my old friends and would like to peruse some of them again.

I found that I had to replace many things that I thought I could do without (books being among them) and I am now buying new books and running out of space. Guess I will have to find a good cabinet maker.

[Roz Cawley]

Oh, those book shelves - I want, I want, i WANT!!! Looks just about like Paradise to me, Ronnie.
As an ex antiquarian book and print dealer, I have something upwards of five thousand books at home - but no shelved walls that look half as nice as yours - much more a case of "tottering piles" in most places :-)
Warm good wishes - Roz C

[Anna]

Green with envy. They look wonderful. How about doing this?">http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=books%20by%20colour&w=all">this?

[Ronni Bennett]

Anna: Laughing out loud at sorting by color. What a funny idea. And when that's done, on a day one is bored to tears, books could be rearranged by height and then by width...

[colleen]

But what does the pillow say?

Nice!

[Ronni Bennett]

Colleen: The pillow is a quote from Mark Twain. "Never try to teach a pig to sing - it wastes your time and annoys the pig."

[Georgette]

Oh, the absolute joy of having enough shelves to put books away. I now confess to having every room filled with shelves. In the December 14th entry, you can see the shelves in the living room. Oh, findable SciFi, oh architecture and cookbooks in order at last. How beautiful your shelves.

[Chancy]

Great looking library Ronni.
Congratulations.

(I have been AWOL for about a week because my computer crashed.) Hubby bought me a new one and number one son installed it today.)

[amba]

Ronni -- the funny thing is, I was over here this morning and I saw them and thought the same thing!! I didn't comment 'cause my fingers hurt when I type -- but yes, we are in some synch!

Home is where the books are, so only now will we feel fully moved in.

[Ronni Bennett]

amba is referring to the just-finished bookshelves in her new home - an amazing moment of serendipitous timing (both real-world and blog) between two New Yorkers who left their city this year for faraway places.