10 Cool Book Decor Ideas For Your Home
These book decor ideas for your home will put old tomes to good use!
By Chere Di Boscio
When I was a kid, I just loved them. I couldn’t get enough of them! Whether it was Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince or Machiavelli’s The Prince, I would just devour books. But with the rise of on-line reading, there seem to be more unwanted printed material lying around than ever before. And that’s true even for book lovers like myself.
While I still love having a vast library in my home, others find unwanted or unread books burdensome. They might give them away, or donate them to a library. But they still may find themselves with extra tomes they have no idea what to do with.
Fortunately, some very creative minds have found solutions to this problem.
Here, we’ve found 10 ways to recycle books into home decor, ranging from large desks to small objects d’art.
Book Decor Ideas For Your Home
1. Bench of Thought
Spanish designer and artist lvaro Tamarit has turned his vast collection of books into a kind of throne for readers. And its name is quite elegant: the Banco del Pensamiento (the Bench of Thought).
Tamarit has repurposed books to form a curved-back chair. It offers the perfect space to curl up with a book (or a computer!) And best of all, in my opinion? It smells a bit like a charming old library.
This piece of furniture is more solid than you may think: the chair is reinforced with wood, and comes with optional wooden armrests. Highly durable, the bench also has built-in wheels so it can move around easily.
While this is far from a DIY project, it certainly can serve as inspiration for anyone who can find an artisan to try to copy this incredible piece of furniture.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Those with a LOT of books to use!
2. A Sweet Sign
I love this idea so much! There can be little doubt that a stack of books adds a sophisticated touch to any home. Especially if those books are older, with a gorgeous patina and interesting spines. But…what about the paged part of the book?
You can easily paint a sweet sign, positive affirmation or inspirational message on the paged side of the book with a magic marker and an interesting font.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Daily inspiration/affirmation.
3. A Standout Desk
We’ve all used books as a makeshift ‘table’ of some kind or other at some point, right? But Tu Delft Architecture has gone much, much further.
They have created an entire desk from stacks of tomes to create their unique ‘Bibliotheek’. Yes, you probably can replicate this yourself at home – albeit on a smaller scale. And why not? We reckon desks don’t get any sturdier than this! All you need to do is stack the multitude of books in the form you desire, then get a piece of glass cut for the surface.
The only possible threat to this great work of eco-innovation? Silverfish.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Upcycling stacks of old magazines, as well as books.
4. Upcycled Book Ends
Australian artist Daryl Fitzgerald of Light Reading Melbourne takes the phrase ‘this book is a brick’ quite literally. He refashions actual bricks into faux works of literature, so they may serve to actually stop books on your shelves from tumbling down.
Hand painted with meticulous detail, Fitzgerald’s designs beautifully mimic real novels, worn ‘leather’, vintage fonts and all.
While these are available for sale in Australia, for obvious reasons, they don’t ship abroad.
Love the look? Head to a construction site, find a few stray bricks, and break out the paintbrushes yourself.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Creating truly unique bookends.
5. Settings For Art
Writing has always been something of an art. And now books can be art – quite literally.
Joseph Decamillis upcyles old, discarded books into whimsical pieces of art. He does so by adding tiny illuminated paintings to the covers of old tomes, framing his petit masterpieces in carved niches that emphasise the storytelling elements of his work.
Images: MessyNessyChic.com
One of the best book decor ideas for: Those who are fond of offbeat art pieces.
6. Books As Shelves
Oh, the irony…when the book becomes the shelf! This project is an easy one to do yourself at home. Just grab some brackets, screws and old books! Keep in mind: bigger tomes make better shelves. Personally, we’d make the brackets a bit smaller, and prettier, though…!
Image: www.realsimple.com
One of the best book decor ideas for: Kid’s rooms.
7. DIY Wall Art From Old Books
Ready to make a huge decor statement? Got some old books? Paint? You’re good to go!
Vintage book pages are the backdrop for this unique piece of eco friendly art. And yes, it’s DIY project that just about anyone can do!
You can get the tutorial on how to do this here.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Decorating a feature wall.
8. Book Wreaths
There are so many different styles of wreaths you can make with books. For example? There are those which are made with rosettes or magnolia leaves made from book pages. There are also those that use pages rolled into a cone shape, or just a scroll, like this one, below. Whatever form they take, page wreaths are a great statement piece for any book lover’s home.
Want to get started on this kind of project yourself? Go for it! Here is one of many tutorials I found.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Creating for the holidays, particularly Thanksgiving or Christmas.
9. Elegant Party Banners
I’ll never understand why people insist on buying ugly plastic bunting when there are so many other interesting materials to choose from!
You can easily cut up clothing and other textiles you’re about to throw away into elegant party banners. But it’s even easier to use the pages of old books or magazines. And of course you can use your bunting again and again if you take care of it and store it well!
One of the best book decor ideas for: Making parties of all kinds more festive.
10. Book Page Chandelier
They were actually sold in places like the Pottery Barn. But you could easily make a book page chandelier yourself!
All you’d need are three crafting circles of graduated sizes, some clips, glue and paperback book pages.
One of the best book decor ideas for: Showing off some beautiful book illustrations. Or, just use simple, word-printed pages if you prefer!
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