Yatton’s Book Swap
A new lease of life for the village red telephone box.
A great deal has happened since I first thought about updating the telephone box into a book swap and all of it positive. Thanks to a warm dry summer, I have spent time sanding, priming and repainting it. This took longer than i had anticipated but my next door neighbour and friends kindly helped out.
The book swap takes shape
Two coats of Pillar Box red really made the box shine and caught the eyes of many passers by. In fact i had many encouraging comments. Passers by saw me painting it and stopped to talk about my plans. It even got added to the Yatton Community Facebook page.
After painting the telephone box I replaced all the broken windows with tough 4mm perspex (cheaper than glass, and more difficult to break). I cleaned up the inside and removed all the rubbish left inside. After a quick scrub with soapy water there wasn’t too much to do except add an Ikea Billy bookcase which i had a spare and I thought may just fit. I measured it twice and it was inch perfect.
I then secured it to the inside of telephone box so it wouldn’t tip over. Removed the old poster describing the coin-op telephone instructions and replaced it with a new one explaining the book swap idea and providing details of a Facebook page and Twitter account I set up to help promote the box.
Finally I added some books which villagers and friends had kindly donated and put up some ‘Book Swap Now Open’ signs. Two weeks later, the red pillar box opposite the book swap is also repainted complimenting the telephone box. If you’re ever driving through Yatton, take a look.
The finished box from the outside.