DIY Book Wall Decor

From the moment that I saw CottonStem’s book wall, I knew that I wanted one. I just didn’t know where I would put it. Flash forward to now, Evan and I have decided to stay in our current house for the next two years (More on why we are doing this later). I decided that if we are going to stay here then I need to at least be creating something or I’ll go crazy. I love to rearrange furniture but our current home layout doesn’t allow for much variation so decorating the walls is where I get to use my creative genes the most. Enter, DIY book wall art.

If you’ve been reading for awhile then you know that my sister is an elementary school librarian and she was getting rid of a ton of vintage books. I asked her why and she said they do a clear out because the kids don’t want to read old looking books. It seriously made me so sad to hear this. I snagged a ton of classics for Isla’s library, like Snot Stew, Stone Fox and Indian in the Cupboard. These are just a few books that I can’t wait to read to her when she is a little older. 

I also grabbed about 15 lesser known titles for my book wall and came home and got to work. I actually put this together during the Superbowl and the whole thing took about an hour to complete-not counting the hand painted sign which took about an hour by itself. 

Planning a Design

The first thing I did was decide what kind of pattern that I wanted to do, and it actually ended up being much bigger than I had planned but I love it so much. I drew out the pattern on the wall with pencil first to see how it looked. I marked the corners of where my sign would go too. Once I had the pattern drawn, I cut out several book pages from some of the books and used double sided tape to stick them to the wall. I outlined the pattern with these so it would have a layered look when it was done. 

Then I took my books and found pages that I wanted to be showing when I hung them up. Some of them had the cutest illustrations and I loved how they look. I used actual hammer and nails to hang them on the wall. It was kind of hard for me to put a nail whole through a perfectly good book, but I told myself that at least they would be on display instead of the garbage somewhere. 

Trial and Error

I tried to hang them using my nail gun with brad nails and it didn’t work. Heed my warning. The nails go right through the book and will not support the weight. I used one common nail on each side of the cover. Additionally, I left a page on either side of the book so I could use the double-sided tape and cover the nail hole with the center pages. 

I tried to push the pages up or down to give it the effect of being read and kind of popping off the wall a bit and some books I just let hang open off the wall. To create a hovering sign effect, I layered the books and when I got to where my sign would be I overlapped them a little into the area. I wanted to give the effect that my sign was resting on top of the books, and not the wall itself.

Finishing Touches

I used my hand painted sign tutorial here to make this sign and attached a 1×2 frame that is unfinished because I love the lighter look of unstained wood right now. To find the perfect quote for the sign, I started researching book quotes and it took me forever to find one that hadn’t been used a million times already, but that still felt cozy. Ultimately, I love how it turned out. I was a little scared to do this project because I tend to over think things, but I had my husband giving me good feedback the entire time and we really enjoy the wall now. It’s a great conversation starter when we have company over and I can’t believe it didn’t take long at all. 

Coming soon!

My February project was a master closet makeover. Since we are staying put for awhile, I needed to redo our closet. I put up with it for the last 5 years because I thought it wasn’t worth fixing. My husband has more clothes than anyone I know, so I’m going to try and maximize the space to make our home easier to sell when the time comes. It’s a reach in closet and needs a little structure so stick around and subscribe if you’re needing to update your closet as well. 

I hope you liked this DIY book wall art. Let me know if you did and use #paytononpurposediy if you create one so I can see!! 

Leave a comment down below if you have any questions. 

Happy Monday, Everybody!

-Payton