Help us decide what to do with books we are looking to upcycle! We will post a DIY depending on what DIY you want to see on the blog!
As literature-loving, generally bookish folk we frown upon
ruining a perfectly good book. We hoard books in our home libraries like the Kardashian
sisters hoard Louboutins. It’s
a
wonderful obsession to have (both books and shoes, really). When we did our
book clutch tutorial we saved
the inside pages of the books we re-purposed and popped them on our bookshelves for later enjoyment. We put pretty paper over the books we re-purposed then but you may not even have to go to that extreme!
Luckily for us, exposed spines are
super
chic right now
à la Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware:
Do you remember the Lauren Conrad/Lemony Snicket
fiasco? She “re-purposed” his books into a storage container which she coined
the “Bookshelf Box” and he was
not
pleased. Snicket, in typical Snicket fashion, commented: "it has always been my belief that people who spend too much time
with my work end up as lost souls, drained of reason, who lead lives of
raving emptiness and occasional lunatic violence. What a relief it is to
see this documented" (
Oh No They Didnt). The video tutorial was deleted by Conrad without comment. It's unfortunate because Conrad is actually a literature lover herself who runs an online book club, has written her own fiction and posts other fun bookshelf DIYs like this one:
"Operation Organize: Get Colour Coded".
Mandatory Book Loving Disclaimer: I
would never destroy a book that could still be read. Books are my most
cherished possessions. I respect the written word and I respect the process
that goes into writing a book. Destroying any book is not something to take
lightly. However, if a book is
falling apart, un-readable or headed for the trash I think it then becomes okay to
use the pages for DIY purposes. Instead of being thrown out, shredded or recycled
the book continues to live on and remind us of it's former glory. Here at WTD were
recently given a set of books that were destined for the recycling bin. The
subject matter is now obsolete and they can’t really be donated anywhere
because of it. In this case, we feel that it’s okay to re-use the books for a
DIY project.
What books should you use for your upcoming DIY project? Text books are a great
example; in any field where information is constantly changing and quickly
becomes outdated a 500 page textbook (that cost you hundreds at the campus bookstore) quickly become
worthless and inaccurate and therefore no longer valid. One of my friends once moved into
a house at University that had a closet FULL of outdated text books from previous tenants that the used
book store had no interest in purchasing. The cycle is shamefully wasteful and
creates a heck of a lot of book garbage. So why not re-purpose them into something
for the home? As literature lovers what is better than being surrounded by books? Another great source of print for DIYs is magazines and
newspapers which are truly only meant to be read once and get recycled every
day. The pages can LOOK like book pages without forcing you to ruin a book.
Here are JEM's favourite book DIYS from Pinterest. Help us decide which one to try by telling us your favourite in the comments below!
Mason Jar
The mason jar heart book candle has been floating around Pinterest since I first started pinning. The project does raise some questions though: how to get the page to reach around the jar horizontally...how not to light the page on fire... details I'm sure we could figure out if you chose this DIY as "THE ONE".
The Book Monograph
So this DIY makes it pretty obvious that you destoyed a book but it also looks pretty awesome! You might spend a lot of time with your scissors on this DIY project... that's a lot of pages to cut through!
The Book Planter
I like books & I like plants so why not combine the two? The logistics of this one seem like they could get tricky... questions arise like how to conquer drainage and avoid mustiness? If you check out the second picture on our Pinterest (click-through link) there is a HGTV how-to which we would consult.
The Other Book Planter
This one is my favourite so far. I love the different coloured pages. You could recycle a book AND an ugly plastic planter... upcyling rocks!
The Book Headboard
DIY headboards are all the rage on Pinterest right now and I especially like this bookish one. If you can't sleep the book is already open for you ;)
Painted Books
Who knew painted books could be so chic? I love that they preserve the book but hide ugly or tattered covers.
Framed Books
If you're like us you're proud of your books! Why not show them off in style? Create a book gallery wall OR simply incorporate a few of your favourite titles into your already existing picture gallery.
So what do you think? What DIY would you like us to do? Comment or tweet us @jemcolborne.
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