DIY: Literary Headboard

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

I hope you all had a very green and cheerful day! 

Recently, I've been thinking about ways to repurpose and reuse old and damaged books. For most of my life, the very idea of taking apart a book or throwing a damaged book out was considered a sin. However, after spending the last two years working at a library, I realize that sometimes you really do have to recycle or throw out books. And that is where repurposing comes in. A book that started me off on this notion is The Repurposed Library by Lisa Ochipinti. She has some really wonderful ideas about making mobiles, bookshelves, mirrors, etc., out of old books. 

Inspired, I thought about the stack of old books lying around our apartment and how to rejuvenate them. We  also were in sore need of a headboard for our bed...and...an idea came! Let's make a headboard out of one of my very favorite books...a very damaged, 1960 ex-library edition of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain! 

**Important** Make sure if you decide to do a similar repurposing with old books gathering dust in your home that you aren't taking apart a rare or valuable book. A great place to look to get a quick book appraisal is www.addall.com. You can also look on the back page of the title page to see what edition the book is (if you see a first or even a second edition, you probably shouldn't use it--unless it's in terrible condition). For instance, I have a copy of You're in Love, Charlie Brown and I almost used it, except, I looked inside and realized it was a first edition. 

Anyway, this DIY project cost me a mere $8 and it took James, my boyfriend, and I two hours (including drying) to make it. It came out really quite classy...and nerdy, of course. 

First things first. 

Supplies: Mod Podge (a glue & gloss), Duct tape, box cutter, a paint brush or sponge, several thick poster boards or foamcore boards (number depends on the width of your bed), old book or magazine pages, scissors, and mounting tape (we used Scotch Permanent Mounting Tape). 

Foam boards laid out with Mod Podge & my beloved Arthurian work. 

Steps: 

1. Before going out to buy poster board, make sure you measure the width of your bed and decide how high you want your headboard to be. For us, we needed our board to be 57 inches long. We decided on a high of 22 inches, so we only needed two boards. 

2. Decide on a design! We went with a traditional look. An easy way to make both sides of your poster boards even is to do one side first (and cut it out with a box cutter) and then trace the outline of the first onto the second. 

3. Line up your poster board pieces and duct tape them together on one side. 

4. Flip your board around to the other side and start taking out pages of your book or magazine. Then you can figure out where you want them to go on your headboard. The book we selected has lovely vintage text, great passages, and beautiful illustrations that we decided to space out throughout the headboard. 

5. Next: time to Mod Podge! You will need to put Mod Podge on the poster board and then on top of the pages themselves. It comes out white at first, but it always dries clear and has a smooth, glossy finish. This part is the most time consuming. We did two coats of Mod Podge on ours and it came out great. 

6. After letting it dry completely (about 30-40 minutes or so after the second coat), trim any excess paper off your headboard. You could file or smooth edges as well. 

7. All done! Apply mounting tape to the back of your headboard (use a good amount, so it doesn't fall off in the middle of the night on you!), and hang it up on your wall for a literary tribute over your bed! :) 

James took a close up! 

Such a cozy space now! 

Let me know if you try this out or adapt it for another wall decoration. Or, if you have other ideas for repurposing books, please share in a comment below! [As I've been getting comments on how to comment, to comment: click on the No Comment button below.] 

Thanks for reading!! Have a delightful week. 

Karyn