{"id":1585,"date":"2020-05-01T11:41:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beingbobblog.com\/?p=1585"},"modified":"2020-08-11T09:52:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:52:05","slug":"diy-little-free-library-adorable-and-affordable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/diy-little-free-library-adorable-and-affordable\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY Little Free Library (Adorable AND Affordable!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A\n lot of people think they don\u2019t have the skills to build their own \nLittle Free Library book exchange, and don\u2019t have the funds to buy one<\/a>; maybe you\u2019ve thought that yourself a time or two.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, so many talented people have built wildly creative Little Libraries<\/a>\n that seem like they belong in a museum or fancy gallery instead of on a\n street corner. It\u2019s easy to get intimated, or to think that you need \ndetailed Library building plans and lots of building experience before \nyou try your hand at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \nthat\u2019s not true! Every day we see cute, thoughtful Little Library \ndesigns that didn\u2019t break the bank and required little-to-no assembly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take\n Little Free Library steward Iliana Morton, for example. Her Library \n#53342 in Oakland, California (pictured above) is a transformed IKEA metal cabinet cube<\/a> that cost her $25, and the result is a bright, cute, cost-effective Library!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you\u2019re probably thinking that you\u2019re not one of those crafty people like you see all over Pinterest<\/a>,\n and that yours would never turn out this good. That\u2019s why we asked \nIliana to share exactly how she created her DIY Little Free Library. \nRead on to learn how you can do it, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u2019ve\n known that I\u2019ve wanted to have a Little Free Library for years \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 about a\n year after purchasing our first home, I was excited to set up our own \nLittle Free Library. I knew that I wanted something bright and colorful.\n I also was unsure about investing a lot of money into the project, not \nknowing how well it would hold up in our neighborhood \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I decided to \ntake a DIY approach to keep my costs down, while giving me an \nopportunity to figure out what would and wouldn\u2019t work for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Iliana \nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did she make the Library?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started by purchasing a $25 bright orange IKEA metal cabinet cube<\/a>.\n She chose it because it was sturdy, and she knew she could spray-paint \nthe metal later on if she wanted to decorate it further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\n make her fledgling Library sturdier, she used Gorilla Glue (available \nat hardware stores for around $3) to seal together the pieces as she \nassembled the box. She made sure to get the glue to seep into the seams \non all sides of the box, making those edges water-resistant. If you \nhappen to have polyurethane caulk on-hand, you may be able to use caulk to seal the edges of the box<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\n extra protection, Iliana applied liquid cement on the interior seams of\n the box. It didn\u2019t look very pretty, so she then covered the interior \nedges with some duct tape with fun, bright designs that she found at \nOffice Depot for about $2 per roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the front door I affixed a faux-chalkboard shape<\/a>\n that I got at Michaels. With a 40% off Michael\u2019s coupon, the sign was \njust $2.50. I do have a Cricut machine, which is what I used to design \nand cut the vinyl lettering that is on the chalkboard. Once the vinyl \nwas on, I sprayed a clear coat of spray sealant on it to waterproof it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to deal with vinyl lettering, consider using chalkboard markers<\/a> instead to write on your sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Now, what about installation? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My\n Library box sits on a plain wood bench that we found on Craigslist for \nfree! I found a wooden crate and used that as a riser for my Library so \nthat it sat at a nicer level for people to reach into. I actually \naffixed the crate to the bench with Gorilla Glue, and then affixed the \nLibrary to the crate in the same way. I did this to prevent the box from\n accidentally (or purposefully) falling down.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Craigslist, Freecycle.org<\/a> is a good place to look for free items in your neighborhood!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n rest was just a matter of decoration! Iliana found some small pots for \nplants and succulents which she placed near her Library. She used \nGorilla Glue again to adhere the pots to the bench, so that they didn\u2019t \n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153magically disappear\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or fall over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when all was said and done, how much did it cost? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\n probably spent around $50 on this. My biggest expense was the box at \n$25. The rest was a matter of keeping an eye out and finding a deal on \nwhat I needed. I used absolutely no tools beyond the screwdriver I \nneeded to put together the IKEA box. I took an easy approach by using \ngorilla glue, which has been wonderful so far, as it is super durable \nand waterproof. I\u2019ve gotten so many compliments from neighbors that they\n enjoy it because of the brightness it adds!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There you have it! You can DIY your own Little Free Library book box for $50 or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one more important step that we should mention here: register your Library!<\/a>\n When you register, you get access to all of the benefits of \nregistration that we offer to Library stewards, like a listing on our \nworld map and the use of the name Little Free Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more ways that you can create your own cute, affordable Little Library, check out Little Free Libraries on a Shoestring Budget<\/a>. And get the basics on how to start your own Little Library<\/a>, register, and get it on the world map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bookmark<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of people think they don\u2019t have the skills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,976,8,9],"tags":[1422,1207,1794,1795,1793,919,1792,1574,1631,1399],"class_list":["post-1585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts-comments","category-life","category-stuff","category-technology","tag-costs","tag-deal","tag-gorilla-glue","tag-ikea","tag-iliana-morton","tag-little-free-library","tag-little-library","tag-matter","tag-sign","tag-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","chromenews-featured":"","chromenews-large":"","chromenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Being BOB","author_link":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"All Posts & Comments<\/a> Life<\/a> Stuff<\/a> Technology<\/a>","tag_info":"Technology","comment_count":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p822aG-pz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}