The Library Pt. 1
Also known as the toy room when my grandparents lived here. I have to say out of all of the places in this house, this room was always my favorite, and still is today. Not because there were many toys in it though, but because it felt the least eerie, in my opinion.
As a child, I would creep past the painting that hung on the wall at the top of the steps, looking over my shoulder to see the stern man with a ruffled brow starting back at me. Indeed, that serious glare followed anyone that dare step into his line of vision. That was an unknown mystery to me & the rest of the grandchildren – how could he do that every single time, no matter which direction you turned?
Once I entered the room, the sight of towering bookshelves reached high above me. Light poured in through the windows. It didn’t feel as shadowy & formidable as the rest of the house. This was the room where my grandpa sat in his red leather winged-back chair to watch football. This was the room filled floor to ceiling with books & books, too many to count. Thousands of pages waiting patiently to be read. The earthy scent of stale paper and worn leather filled the air.
The only thing you had to watch out for was the cast iron penny eater that sat on the bookshelf with his eyes rolled back in his head. Terrifying. His yellow irises were brought to life only when you moved the lever at his side. His arm clicked up to his wide gaping mouth. Things like that have a way of slinking into your nightmares as a kid. No wonder the house felt so creepy.
Aside from that, this is a good room. It feels like happy memories where made amidst these walls. I’ve often wondered what it was used for back when the house was built. Now I’ve come up with a hypothesis. After uncovering a faint outline on the living room wall, we realized the two rooms used to be opened between one another, with a fireplace in the center, offering warmth to both rooms. My guess is the living room was once the parlor and the library was the family’s dining room.
I’d love to know for sure. But I can imagine a long wooden table in the center of this space, family members enjoying each other’s company in the warm glow of oil lamps. That’s one of my favorite things about working on this house, the history is so rich. It naturally leads me to wonder about these things.
Gavin & I weren’t planning on doing much to this room. Years down the road maybe repaint it, if we finally got around to it. It served its purpose as an office when I worked from home. Now, it’s rarely used. However, I recently got the inkling to purchase a day bed to replace the hard, leather sofa that’s currently in there. I thought it’d be nice for my nieces & nephews to have a place to sleep if they stayed over.
Two large boxes got delivered last Friday. I was excited about my purchase and hefted them inside the back door. I walked into the library & looked around, picturing my new day bed in there. I stared at the old wallpaper & chipped window sills now glaringly obvious to me.
I slid the heavy leather couch away from the wall a few inches to inspect. The edges of the thick wallpaper had begun to peel up. Let me just see for a second here, I pondered, grabbing the corner. I pulled & it came off in one large sheet. Should I really be doing this? I grabbed another corner & pulled. It felt satisfying, shedding off those layers. I looked down at the bare strip of wall below me. I could always slide the couch back, nobody would even know. I looked around some more, those walls were now screaming to be painted. I think I’ve just begun a new project . . .
