My friends John and Lee live in the historic 1937 Ortiz Taylor House and commissioned me to build a little library to go out front. They wanted one that looked like the architect’s drawing for a never built garage, so I did the best I could do to make the little library look like a southwestern adobe.
A neighbor gifted me a nice new piece of 3/4 plywood and most of the rest of the components came from scrap wood I had laying around. The universe kinda came together to make this project happen. I used simple rabbet joints done on the tablesaw to create the plywood box. For the doors I used mortise and tenon joints. I picked up some piece of metal flashing material to cobble together a roof.
I sketched out the plans at a cafe while Kelly was at an appointment and did the final plan in Sketchup to make sure that I didn’t make a stupid mistake cutting the plywood. As a woodshop teacher once said to a class I was taking, “Always have a plan.”
If you’re going to put up one of these things I’d suggest a solid base set in concrete as books can get heavy.
Little libraries are one of the best things to come out of the city repair movement. I really enjoy the ones in our neighborhood and I do a kind of circuit of them on my dog walks. Even if I don’t leave or take something it’s always fun to see what shows up.