BLB’s Latest Little Build in Town
Adding to the already existent charm of Downtown Amesbury, the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce selected BLB Design \ Build to construct the city’s newest Free Little Library. Situated in Market Square and adjacent to the fun happenings in the city center, the Little Library was unveiled to the public on Friday, October 22nd, before the seasonal Friday Night Frights in the Lower Millyard.
Free Little Libraries are a popular service for local communities that want to add a personal touch to book exchanges. The model for Little Libraries is to simply take a book and return a book to share with other community members.
The Little Library’s original design included a miniature version of a modern farmhouse with white siding, black-framed windows, and a black metal roof. However, to stay consistent with the look of Downtown Amesbury, we opted towards a more traditional farmhouse with a brick-red exterior and cedar shake roof.
Designed by the owner, Ben Becker, and constructed by our lead carpenter Josh, the Little Library started like most of our builds – an exterior frame with two interior floors. Once the frame was constructed and secure, Josh built two gable ends to support our roof.
The “littles” of BLB place the first books into the Little Library.
Josh got creative and recycled leftover wooden ceiling panels from the Man Cave Makeover project as siding. Before he painted the Little Library its signature red, Josh’s mini helper prepped the siding, corner boards, trim, and roof. Following the standard procedures for roof construction, Josh made the roof weather tight, added proper flashing, and installed the cedar shakes.
Once prepped and roofed, Josh placed the Little Library in an authentic Jack Daniels whiskey barrel. To remain stationary, Josh poured a concrete base and installed a few inches of crushed stone for water drainage. The plexiglass door was installed just before the final paint was applied to the exterior structure.
Click through the photo gallery above to follow Josh’s step-by-step construction process. We are humbled to have been given the opportunity to construct the Little Library and are thrilled to see the community participating in book exchanges! We would also like to extend our thanks and appreciation to Josh and his mini helper(s) for their time and dedication, along with delivering another quality BLB build.
The BLB Team plus our mini helpers unveiled the Free Little Library in Market Square.
