The Library Plan

Privet libraries in the USA were made popular by wealthy revolutionaries.  For example George Washington had a large privet library.  However, Thomas Jefferson had him beat in library size.  He Jefferson was a man who cared about intellect, and believed having a large collection of books would increase his knowledge.  Jefferson has a well know collection of books and was known to be a heavy reader.  

During the 1800s acquisition of knowledge was incredibly important.  Obviously only wealthy individuals had the time, resources, and sometimes ability too read; this only wide the sense of importance high class citizen had.  I can assume, because of the Beckett’s wealthy status, they would have had the means to have a library.  Dr. Beckett was also part of many medical associations, so knowledge would have been of value to him. 

Usually a privet library was it is a relatively large room accessible to everyone in the house.  It was a quite area used for study not for socialization.  This lead the the space only being used by one or a few people at a time.  

Here are some pictures of libraries from the the 1800s, and early 1900s

Charles Dickens'

Mark Twain's

Here are some modern privet libraries I will use as inspiration

Into the plan-

What needs to be done, floors, fix wall, cover windows, fix ceiling, paint walls and molding

What the house looks like now-

Walls-
If I was to really restore the house I would get professional help to repair the missing wall because that needs to be done extremely well.  Many home restoration books have doing plaster wall repair yourself as one of the worst mistakes a historic home owner could make.  But here is the basic layering of plaster wall (picture below).  You would just have to target the main problem areas and go from their.

Plaster layering

Strange interior windows-
The two windows that look into the living room and dining room need to go.  I don't really understand why they are there.  I have found no record of any trend on interior windows, so they must have been put in as an alternative to taking down walls for more visibility through out the house.  Like I said before you can't easily fill in walls without damaging the original wall.  I will instead just put book cases in the hole, and plaster over it on the other side.  Attach the book cases by their sides, like the way the cabinets in the kitchen were installed.

Floors-
Remove the plastic tiled portion of the library, to revival the original wood underneath.  I'm sure this is under the fitted tiles because half of the room in the original wood, which turns into tile. This plastic tile was used as a cheap alternative to going through the process of installing real tile.  The wood should just be fixed up like in the dining room to go back to normal.

Ceiling-
The ceiling would be made out of plaster, and is sagging a little.  To fix this we will use an anchor, which helps the plaster get pressed back into position.  Start by drilling a hole through the ceiling, then use an anchor, and screw it into place.  Last it is canceled with spackle, the anchor will give the ceiling extra support.  You can then use a thin coat of paint over the ceiling to make it look newer.

Book shelves-
We will be putting while ceiling to floor book shelves on all the walls in the first room, not the hall way leading out.  Draw where you want your book case to meet the wall.  Locate studs on the wall, and line the book case up to in.  Place L brakes on the spots that meet the studs, drill a hole and secure the L brakes.  Then drill holes to secure the L into the shelf.


Sources-

Jackson, Albert, and David Day. The Complete Home Restoration Manual: An Authoritative, Do-it-yourself Guide to Restoring and Maintaining the Older House. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Print.
Labine, Clem, and Carolyn Flaherty. The Old-house Journal Compendium. Woodstock, NY: Overlook, 1980. Print.


http://motherhood.modernmom.com/attach-bookshelves-walls-7078.html

http://www.bobvila.com/nation/post/5-worst-mistakes-of-historic-homeowners-part-4-plaster