CASE STUDY · LEBANON PUBLIC LIBRARY · LEBANON, OHIO

A Beanstalk for My Hometown Library

The Lebanon Public Library was renovating its historic Carnegie building and wanted a children's area that felt like stepping into a storybook. I grew up in Lebanon, so painting a Jack and the Beanstalk mural there meant adding a piece to my own hometown's history.

Project Snapshot

500+ sqft

of hand-painted mural, wrapping the entire children's area

Client: Lebanon Public Library
Location: Lebanon, Ohio
Years: 2026
Role: Illustrator & Muralist
Services: Creative Direction · Mural Design · Installation

FROM BARE WALL

TO BEANSTALK

Blank walls of the Lebanon Public Library children's area before the mural

Side view of the beanstalk vine climbing the wall toward the Jack and the Beanstalk mural at Lebanon Public Library in Ohio

PLANTING THE SEEDS
OF IMAGINATION

Stacy Books, the library's director, asked for a Jack and the Beanstalk mural for the children's area. The renovation was giving the old Carnegie building new life, and the kids' room needed something that would make it the best room in the library.

So the beanstalk doesn't stay put. It sprouts from behind a small reading nook in the front corner, then winds up and around until it wraps the entire children's area. Instead of telling the story start to finish, I worked every main moment of the tale into the vine. If you know the story, you can find each piece of it wherever you look.

Wide view of the hand-painted Jack and the Beanstalk mural in the children's area of Lebanon Public Library in Lebanon, Ohio

Beanstalk vine wrapping around the walls of the children's area at Lebanon Public Library

PAINTING IN A LIBRARY

THAT PEOPLE LOVE

The mural took about 12 days to paint, plus two days of setup. Shelving and overhead lights ruled out a scissor lift or scaffolding, so I built my own: a 4 by 12 foot platform on a support frame to reach the "Let Your Imagination Grow Wild" wall, and a 4 by 4 foot platform that sat on top of the bookshelves and slid along under the main scene.

The library stayed open downstairs the whole time, so the community kept checking out books while the children's area came together. It was unveiled with the rest of the renovated building at the library's Grand Reopening in February.