The old kitchen has been transformed into a library. All our books, collected and boxed and transported for years, now finally come to rest. I have spent the afternoon unpacking old friends and talismans! Threads of self weave in and out of them. All the books the children have read, and perpetually re -read are back within reach. While dictionaries and reference tools may migrate to the digital connectivity of the virtual present, books through their patterns, textures and tactile presence can transport and evoke an altogether richer belonging.
They await further refinement of classification but for now they are at last in permanent shelving. Perhaps I will at long last feel some permanence too? For me there is no better reason to do whatever we can to remain living here, than this room.
It took a painters pallette of testing to settle on the colour but eventually, at the behest of Jose and Terri, Sorrento from Resene on the walls is teamed with Dark Oak Stain ( also Resene) on MDF. Using a mix of cheaply sourced materials we mananged to create a fabulous floor to ceiling set of bookcases. Hours of levelling and crafting a base with heritage skirtings has cunningly assembled something that gives the impression of furniture much grander than their composite parts. We are grateful to Omallco who manufactured the base requirements and delivered them on time before he flew out for his Chritmas break. Special details in pine and oak came from Hardie and Thomson , there is nowhere else to go in Christchurch for brilliant service and a link with the crafted past.
Friend Ian, who commented that MDF is “no better than cardboard if it gets wet”, may not approve. We will have to wait and see. However, credit for giving us the daring to attempt such a transformation must go to him. We hope he will visit when he comes to speak in November at the New Zealand Furniture history symposium in Octob er.
The concept came from a set of bookcases I have long coveted in Martha Stewart’s Christmas. Despite what you may feel about people getting their come upance, this book (published long before she transgressed in the realm of business ethics) remains an excellent Christmas style reference. For years I have used the gingerbread recipe, last year I made the Christams cake ( nearly exactly) and one day I am going to attempt the cassoulet for 100. One year I made the home made wrapping paper using mixed gilt paint … once dry and having travelled across the oceans, it covered our friend’s UK living room in a fine dusting of gold and bronze.
Meanwhile , it is summer at last and just in the nick of time in the last days of February. Today I finally made it into town to hunt for fabric for the bedroom curtains. I failed in this endeavour but did source fabric for curtains from Fabric House which will absolutely compliment the ambience of the library – and hence the impetus to unpack the books which have been piled there for a week or two. William Morris Thistle linen, floor to ceiling will hang on the large double hung windows and keep the warmth in when the winter arrives. It evokes a rug that I would dearly loved to have bought for the new living room , crafted by Timourous Beastie, Glasgow. A deep sense of satisfaction comes from being be able to use linen in this south facing room ( hence ideal for books). It is so often inapproprate in the harsh New Zealand light which reduces it to shreds in no time. Spreading it out on the cutting table semi transported me back tothe medieval roots of both curtains and the Morris design.
I have enlisted the services of a friend to help sew them. It just remains for me to settle on the furniture for the room, largely contingent on settling the furniture for all the other rooms! and it is ready for contemplative reading.
