Saugatuck-Douglas District Library
Douglas, MI
Saugatuck-Douglas District Library’s director, Ingrid Boyer, wanted to create a children’s room that was timeless, sophisticated and embraced the town’s artist community and the surrounding natural beauty of Lake Michigan shoreline and woodlands. We included our Sailboat with a working rudder into the space as well as our Fishing Tackle Box, Rod and Fish as sailing and fishing are popular activities in this quaint town.
The classic Lottie Chairs and Plover Table makes for a perfect place to read a book or enjoy a meal made from our nearby Kitchen.
We were commissioned to design, illustrate and fabricate a large wall mural of the Lake Michigan shoreline and woodland areas to include indigenous plants and animals. We collaborated with a team at the library to select the specimens and landscape. Listening to their thoughts is key to how we work.
Under the expansive wall mural is a custom bookcase with integrated wood dividers for keeping the book storage tidy. We built this unit to fit this unique space.
Nature Wall Appliques were interspersed tastefully throughout the space, adding warmth, color and wayfinding accents in the children’s room.
For the younger patrons, the library selected our popular House Kitchen. This model uses the iconic house perimeter to create a friendly and familiar backdrop. Cooking is a favorite for children and offers a wonderful place for conversation, PLAY and ultimately learning.
Additional tactile details include wooden spoons that hang from our wooden Spoon Rack and a little blue bird perched on the House window sill. Our LearnPLAY product line strives to add thoughtful content to enhance discovery, conversation, motor skill practice and much more. How many spoons do you see? Can you say something to this little bird? Do you think he is hungry for some food?
Shelving end caps are often underutilized. Pictured above are interchangeable Learning Panels designed to be engaging and encourage exploration, curiosity, and discovery. The open-ended questions on the Learning Panels provide an opportunity for a young child and parent to enjoy and converse helping with a child’s vocabulary and and conceptual understanding. The selected Nautical and Nature themes tie in nicely with this Michigan lakeshore library.
Also on the end cap sits our Learning Desk with magnifying glass encouraging observation and offering interesting facts about Nature on the Learning Tablets. Pictured here is the Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly tablet. Others include searching for owls in trees, bugs on logs, vultures in horaltic poses and all kinds of fun nature adventures!
