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I’ve recently received a number of requests asking for plans and details on how our TARDIS Little Free Library was built. We don’t have formal plans. The awesome Husband was awesome and figured it out on his own with trial and error.
However, I’ve managed to pin him down and make him tell me what he can about the TARDIS Little Free Library, its dimensions, and what he did to make it happen. This is what he told me.
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Building the TARDIS
External:
-16″ deep, 15.5″ wide
-Height with roof support was 26.5″ ( note, this is without the roof )
-The roof itself is 20″ x 20″ and has about a 4″ rise from outside to center.
-The door height, so without supports, is 24″
-The width of the door is 13″ ( which is also the width of the inside part of the sides and back, ie, width without the posts )
The walls, floor, shelf, and roof are all made with 1/2″ plywood.
-I first cut the 2″ x 2″ squares, trimming corners of them out.
-The floor was cut of the plywood, straight sided square ( mostly ), and nailed / glued to the corner posts. Then the walls were cut to fit, fitting inside the pits of the posts that had been cut out, and glued / nailed together.
I used a table saw, wood glue, and a couple different nail guns to assemble it.
The roof was mostly trial and error, had a heck of a time getting it to fit right around the glass top that I had purchased at a garage sale.
The shelf was cut to fit the inside, and screwed in. You can’t see the screws from the outside because the trim pieces used conceal them.
The door had weather stripping and silicon putty put on it to seal it against weather, and the door is made of plexiglass, with the trim pieces glues to themselves and the plexiglass. The plexiglass is just one big sheet on the inside of the trim pieces.
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There you have it. Everything I know about the magic my husband did to build the TARDIS Little Free Library.
The TARDIS Little Free Library is a big hit in the neighborhood. We’ve been interviewed by the neighborhood newsletter editor. We’ve received a number of donated books (pictured) and a whole lot of compliments.
The most surprising thing about our little free library is the fact that so many in the neighborhood immediately assumed that if they took a book, they needed to add a book. I had to explain to a few that, no, all they had to do was take a book and return it when they were done. It was like a normal library… just without a librarian.
The next surprise was the number of neighborhood people who came by to add books to the library. I don’t even know how many books were added because other people in the neighborhood snapped them up. It’s pretty cool to see how the community is working together over a love of reading.
Which was exactly what the Husband and I wanted to promote.
Currently, we have a request for more middle grade books and, in specific, a request for “Magic Tree House” books and “Jason and the Argonauts” books. If you’d like to donate any books, please send the books to the address below. All donors are listed on the TARDIS Little Free Library website.
TARDIS Little Free Library
C/O Jennifer Brozek
6830 NE Bothell Way, STE C #404
Kenmore, WA 98028
Finally, because some people have asked, if you would like to donate money instead of books, please send your donation via Paypal to gaaneden at gmaildotcom. Otherwise, we can accept check and cash to the above address.
A little blue box has appeared on my front lawn. It is a Little Free Library in the shape of a TARDIS. Think of it as a mini-me TARDIS filled with books that can take you through time and space to whole new worlds. That’s almost as good as having a visiting Time Lord like the Doctor.
It has been in the works for months. I’ve wanted one ever since I learned about the Little Free Library network. The Husband, Jeff, decided he would build me one and it work look like a TARDIS. He knows my love of the TARDIS and what it represents. He also knows how important books are. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a voracious reader who is good at building things.
Without formal plans, it took Jeff about six weeks to complete the TARDIS from start to finish. There were some hiccups along the way—cutting acrylic can be difficult—and some moments of brilliance—layered spray paint to get the TARDIS blue color—but in the end, it turned out better than I could have hoped for.
I didn’t do much more than supervise and give Jeff the idea of the sign in the door. I approved everything as it went along but the praise really belongs with my husband. He’s pretty darned awesome. I mean… he built me a TARDIS!
We didn’t do this just because we love Doctor Who and the TARDIS. We did this because there are a lot of kids and parents in the neighborhood who walk by. The kids are both middle grade and teenagers. We’re on the path between a bus stop and the rest of the neighborhood on one side and a middle grade school on the other. Plus, the neighborhood has a great half mile walking circle. There isn’t a day when I don’t see people walking by. We want to promote reading and to give those who might be struggling the chance to read books for free.
Also, I know that if I had not had a library growing up, I might not—probably would not—be the author I am today. There is a magic to reading. This is one way I thought we could give back to our community.
Now, instead of just being “that author lady” or “that weird house with all the gargoyles” we get to be “that house with the TARDIS library.” I like it. I guess we’re already known for books. We’ve participated in All Hallows Read for the last couple of years to great success. One could do worse than be known for books.
Looks like insomnia and I are close friends these days. Instead of lying in bed and wishing I was asleep, I thought I’d give you a “State of the Jenn” post.
Had surgery. Started to recover. Got sick. Not surprising after two surgeries and a convention within three months. Recovered from being sick just in time to go to Westercon. It was a quiet convention but a convention nonetheless. Thus, it killed my productivity in my already running late schedule.
Now that the convention has been over for ten days, I feel like I’m starting to catch up. This catching up on has been on “actually late” stuff and not “Jenn’s idea of a schedule running late” stuff. I’m still behind but things are getting better.
I know it is a lot of “shoulds” but that’s where I’m at right now. I know what I’m doing with my schedule and I’m working hard to keep my future plate ‘empty’ as things drop off. I do have things that I’ve agreed to do that haven’t dropped yet. So, they don’t count. Hopefully by November I’ll be working on the second book of the YA series.
Though, right now, I really could use a massage. My whole upper back is one giant mass of pain. My neck and shoulders hurt all the time. I can’t tell if it is stress or if I did something stupid to myself and just didn’t realize it at the time. I’m seriously looking at getting a massage. I wince at the projected cost of such an endeavor but I really do hurt.
On the home front, we finally have a company who not only has looked at the siding, they’ve given us a nice, low estimate, and have scheduled to start early next week! I’m so excited. This means the exterior painting can go on as planned for early August. I’m very excited. The things that make homeowners happy.
June 14th I had surgery. It was expected and everything is going according to plan.
I am recovering at a good rate for my age and health. Which is to say, like the last surgery, not fast enough for my wants. This time, I really have to take a full week off of working. Actually, 9 days off.
Several reasons for this. For the first 4 days, I was on medicine that gave me blurry vision. It also mucked with my coordination. So computer work (which is 98% of my work) was out. Also, the meds make me sleepy. Sleeping is good for healing. I’ve found myself back in bed several times a day for a rest. Also, my focus and attention span is shot. It has taken me about four times as long as normal to write this.
So, really, editing is right out. Writing, not very coherent either. I can manage twitter and FB but everything else is touch and go.
Ya’ll have no idea how hard this is on me. I have contracts waiting. I have an anthology to finish edits on, an anthology to start edits on, Battletech edits. Battletech writing. Gruntz writing. It is all hanging over me like a messed up freelancer’s Pen of Damocles.
And yet, I know it is better for me to “just rest” and “just heal” so when I do get back to work, it will be up to my normal good work. Thus, I am idle.
And the effort it has taken to write this post has proven to me that forced idleness is the best thing I can do for my career right now.
Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of Never Let Me Sleep and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her YA tie-in novels, BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident and Shadowrun: Auditions, have both won Scribe Awards. Her editing work has earned her nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and multiple Hugo Awards. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology, co-edited with Amanda Pillar. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, Well World, and Predator.
Jennifer has been a full-time freelance author and editor for over seventeen years, and she has never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to teach writing classes and volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com or her social media accounts on LinkTree.
