Office makeover

I've always wanted a library. I'm talking floor to ceiling bookcases with a rich, walnut finish, molding, trim and all the fixins. Since I'm by no means wealthy, there's never been an opportunity to get a house with a dedicated library room, so my office has been the focus of library planning. In Temple, my office (a converted garage) had a bare, 14-foot wall that just begged for a bookcase. I measured it out, drew up plans, and even bought a number of small cabinets to go along the floor, "anchoring" the bookcase, as it were. Then job and city changes intervened, and that plan went out the window.

The past few days, with other projects finally put to bed, I've turned my attention to my current office. I've been clearing the boxed books out for the better part of a week. Sunday I bought a bunch of wood--quarter inch and three-quarter inch sheets of birch to go up and form the back of the case. The thicker lumber is closing up the "window" into the living room, and to facilitate this I spent yesterday ripping out molding around the window as well as base boards, then used a power saw to trim things up. To my astonishment, there have been very few complications. I'm going to convert the living room side of the window into shelving for CDs and other small items, and hard to believe as it is, this looks like it might actually turn out to be simpler than I expected. Of course, once the paneling is up and those shelves are in place, the hard part starts. Instead of one long bookcase, I'm building an L-shaped one on two walls. And the cabinets I bought for Temple do not fit neatly in the new space provided. And there are other looming challenges I'll have to deal with before long.

But the important thing is that I can finally see the project taking shape, tangible progress. For someone who's had most of his book collection packed up in moving boxes for the better part of six years--to the point where I don't really remember all of what I have or not--that's a very exciting development.

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