DIY Stunning Faux Marble Bookends With TikTok's Simple Wood Block Project

It's an eternal question for bookish homeowners: How can you elegantly display an ever-growing collection of books without cluttering a space or breaking the bank? It's all too easy to leave your current reads scattered throughout the house, but finding a dedicated place for all items goes a long way toward keeping an organized home. Bookends are a beautiful tool for displaying your favorite volumes on exposed shelves, tabletops, nightstands, and more. TikTok user @lonefoxhome has an easy and budget-friendly tip for organizing your bookshelves with a classy flair: DIY faux marble bookends using wood blocks and marble contact paper.

While a pair of real marble bookends can run anywhere from $40 on Amazon to over $200 from Perigold, this DIY project can cost as little as $16. Pro tip: Ask about free scrap wood pieces at your local hardware store to skip the cost of wood altogether, and just pay the cost of your desired contact paper. Especially if you'd like to create a cohesive style throughout your home with matching bookends, the cost savings can really add up! The contact paper hack also means your style options are virtually endless: Choose a pattern in pink marble, an option with golden marble veins, or a classy black-and-white iteration. 

Start by grabbing scrap wood or a couple of wood blocks from your nearest hardware store. If your local store doesn't offer scrap wood to customers for free, you can expect to pay less than $10 for a couple of wooden blocks like these Railing Support Wood Blocks. Then, choose contact paper based on your desired faux marble design. Contact paper is affordable and easy to use, making it the perfect product for DIYing a faux marble bookend set. Buy it in a crisp black and white color scheme from Home Depot for under $20, or purchase a gray and white option from Amazon for less than $6.

Next, prepare your wood by sanding it down with fine-grit sandpaper to make it completely smooth and remove any finish. Then, remove the backing of the contact paper and carefully wrap it around each wooden block, ensuring that the ends of the contact paper all gather on a single side of the block. This will help create the seamless effect and make the blocks look like real marble, instead of giving away the contact paper hack. Press evenly to eliminate wrinkles and bubbles, paying special attention to the corners. Then, use strong hot glue to bond your blocks together. You could skip this step and simply arrange them together if you'd prefer, but gluing them together means your contact paper seams and ends will be perfectly hidden once arranged on your shelves.