Book Wall Tutorial
As a reader, I love the idea of decorating with books. Books are magical and can take you places you would otherwise never be able to go. When I first saw Erin's @cottonstem book wall on Instagram, I knew I needed to find a place to do my own version in my home. Here is the book wall that started it all:
I love how Erin comes up with unique ideas for her home. I mean, honestly, who thinks to slap some books on the wall? Luckily, we all get to benefit from Erin's creativity. I'm going to walk you through how I did mine. When I created my book wall, I didn't have a blog so I don't have pictures of the process, but it's super easy.
First, I decided on the overall shape of the space above our bed. I started on the far left page and worked my way to the middle. Once filling in the middle, I continued on the far right side and worked back to the middle. Every once in a while, I took a step back to make sure it was looking how I wanted.
To mount the pages, I just used 2 small pieces of double-sided mounting tape. It doesn't have to be heavy duty (it's only holding up an itty bitty page), but I do recommend using something stronger than regular double-sided tape. You can see in the picture above that my book wall was looking a little lop-sided when I finished so I tore off a piece of a page to tuck behind a page that was already taped to fill in an empty space. I didn't want all the pages to lie flat, so I made sure to have a few look like they are coming off the wall.
For the books themselves, I used a couple small tack nails and a hammer. I arranged the pages how I wanted and held them in place. Then, I just hammered the book to the wall. Since my wall only uses 5 books, I really won't have too many holes in the wall in the unlikely event I want to take this down.
Voila! Book wall! The whole project only used 6 books: 5 books and another book that I tore pages from (yes, it did feel weird to destroy the book). It only took me about an hour to finish the whole project. The sign (you can find it here) anchors the look.
This is such a great way to make your decor personal and meaningful to you. For example, since my book wall is above our bed, I used love poems and love stories.
Erin created the beautiful book wall for her friend Katie (you can find her on Instagram @hellosweetshade). Katie loves to play the piano so she used sheet music.
Heather (IG @interiorswag) was the one who helped me think to do a book wall above a bed, and I love how she used the frame.
You can also decorate your book wall for different seasons and holidays. Here is what I did with mine for fall and Christmas.
I'm obsessed with the way Tootie (IG @tootietrouy) used words on the pages.
I love the shape and sign Carrie (IG @acarriedaffairdesigns) used for her book wall.
A book wall is an amazing way to add unique character to your home, and the ideas for it are endless. If you decide to create a book wall, I would love for you to tag me on Instagram (@sawdust.angel) so I can see it.
