Just up the street from my house (near downtown Everett) there was a large cedar tree.

Recently, the owners of the property had a tree service come and cut the tree down. I was sad.

Strangely though, they did not cut the tree all the way down. A bare stump about twelve feet tall was left behind, a lonely testament to the cedar’s former glory.

Then a few weeks later, something magical happened…

Over the course of a few days, the sad stump was transformed into a the most creative Little Free Library I’ve seen to date.

I’m still sad that the tree is gone, but I have to admit, this is a pretty awesome alternative, and it definitely adds some cool character to our neighborhood. Well played, neighbor. Well played.

You can visit the library in person at 35th Street & Wetmore Avenue here in Everett.

[Update]

A couple weeks after I posted this, the Everett Herald wrote up a more in-depth story about the library: Everett woman turns beloved cedars into whimsical library

It all started when Sara Sanders’ beloved cedar took a turn for the worse. It dropped a big honking limb onto Wetmore Avenue. “It came down just before that big windstorm (in late August),” Sanders said. “It was time for it to go. The city sent me a letter that said ‘You must.’ ” Still, it was hard letting go. “The tree meant a lot to me. One of the reasons I bought the house 17 years ago was because of the tree,” Sanders said. “I wanted to be able to commemorate it in some way because it was a wonderful tree.” What was once a 120-foot cedar is now a bear bearing books.

A couple days after that, KOMO News ran a video story:

[Update: Unfortunately KOMO deleted the story and the video from their website.]

[Update 2: The KOMO story reappeared on their website!]

Great stuff!