Breathe New Life Into Old Or Used Books With A Whimsical Wall Decor DIY

Books can be the most magical items. Not only can the pages take you to far off lands and tell the greatest stories, but they also add an element of decor and design that elevates any room. While stocking your bookshelves with favorite reads means you can see or pick them up whenever you want, sometimes old or used books pile up and create clutter. There are so many creative ways you can recycle or upcycle these, like turning old books into unique light fixtures or repurposing an old book into a decorative clock, but what if you could turn your old books into a whimsical work of art that trails up and around your walls and ceiling? With some wire, hooks, glue, and the old pages of a book you don't mind pulling apart, you can build a sculpture that is reminiscent of a Hogwarts scene or that can bring your dark or light academia decor scheme to life.

To turn your old books into home decor, you just need a little time and a lot of pages. It's never at the top of a book lover's list to begin ripping pages out of their reads willy-nilly, so choose a book you don't plan to read again or one that might be falling apart already. You can even head to a local thrift store and pick up books you don't mind ripping up: just make sure to have one copy in good condition that you can use at one end of your sculpture or design. You can also mix books together or use illustrated copies to add depth and dimension.

As shown by thesavvyhome_ on Instagram, the end goal is to have a trail of pages leading from the intact book all the way up one wall to your ceiling, with the pages connected to the wire to make them seem like they are floating. Besides the books and a hot glue gun, you'll also need some Artistic Wire Craft Wire or Acejoz Clear Fishing Wire and a pack of IDEALSV Ceiling Hooks. Take the wire and string it through two hooks that you have inserted into the ceiling that are spaced about a foot or more apart. You can choose the distance so that your pages either hang lower or higher when attached. Depending on where you want your page trail to end, you can leave more wire on the end that is farthest away from your wall climbing section or have the design end on your roof. Begin the wire on a surface where your anchor book can lay open so it looks like the pages are flying out of it.

Once you've draped your wire, take your torn-out pages and glue them all along this tether. You can curl, fold, or just adhere pages along the entire length to cover it completely. Attach the pages all the way down to the open book, and pin this open for a magical finish. You could also include other decorative items like faux flowers or branches, leaves, ribbon bows, etc to add color and dimension. Instead of wire, an alternative is to use ribbon or string for the base, but just make sure to pull it taught so it's not flimsy.