Planning the Library

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When we began to look for a house last year, we weren't looking for a home with four bedrooms, but Pineapple House had four and so we hatched a plan. We would make that extra room into our homeschool room. 

Now that we have lived here for ten months, we have a better feel for how life flows here in this house. Bekah does her written work at the dining room table, and reading/studying can be done all over the place . . . in her bedroom, in the living room, in the car (sometimes!), or on the sun porch when the weather is nice. So, while we still plan to keep our school supplies in the bonus bedroom and school work will be done there from time to time, homeschooling will not be its only function.

This is the room before we moved in.

We are excited about making over this room this spring! This is what we are planning:

1) Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on one wall.

Hooray! Although we have put some of our books on the built-ins in the living room, we have many that are still in boxes. I. cannot. wait. to start unpacking those boxes. Biographies, history books, geography, fiction, our large collection of children's books, as well as some of our homeschool books, have been hidden away for nearly a year now and it's time for them to see the light of day.

2) A desk/office area.

We have already moved the filing cabinet up from the basement to the closet for easier access. The desk will be a place for bill paying and correspondence. It will also be the designated place for dropping and sorting mail which will eliminate clutter in the kitchen and/or bedroom night stand and/or anywhere else.

3) A reading area.

The love seat that was in The Farmhouse kitchen is in this room. It is a comfortable and inviting piece of furniture. It will eventually need to be reupholstered, but it will be a great place to cozy up and read, whether alone or for school reading.

4) An overflow conversation area.

Although our large gathering area is one of my favorite features in Pineapple House, there are times when a quiet nook is needed . . . for a private conversation, for a couple of grandchildren to play away from the group, to have somewhere to go when others are watching TV, for Sarah and I to chat while Bekah is teaching piano to her nieces. The love seat will serve this function too, and I am also checking Craigslist daily for a small wing chair for the room.


What do you call a room with so many purposes? A homeschool room? A study? An office? A library?

We discussed it and we all agreed. It's a library! 

(Doesn't that sound dreamy?!)

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So for a library, I am picturing a cozy space and have planned my color palette accordingly. It will be something like this . . .

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The walls, like all of the walls we have painted in Pineapple House, will be antique white. It is an old Valspar paint which I don't think Lowe's carries any more. It is a pleasant white, not a bright, pure white, but it has no yellow undertone which is important to me. For the trim, we are going darker for that warm, cozy feel. I have chosen an Olde Century Colors shade called Quaker Green. You can see it here. (I don't think the trim in the above photo is green, but it has the feel we are going for.)

I have created a Pinterest board (Library) and I am gathering ideas.

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Even though our fourth bedroom is about to become a library, it could quickly be converted back into a bedroom again should the need arise. Of course, the wall of bookshelves will be permanent, but the love seat and desk could be taken out and a bed and dresser could be put in. Some of the bookshelves could be fitted with baskets or some other container for added storage. We want to retain that flexibility.

So that is our project for this spring. I'll keep you posted on our progress. Do you have any suggestions for us?