DIY: Covered Books

Good Morning.  I'm excited to share a little DIY project with you all today.  A few weeks ago, I decided that our large built in bookshelves were looking a little cluttered for my liking.  This is the problem with large bookshelves for any organized neat freak; they always seem great in theory, but once the items are on the shelf things can feel cluttered and disjointed.  This is especially true if you are like us and have a limited number of books (or uniform items) to put on your shelves.  Never fear though, I did a little DIYing in an attempt to bring some uniformity to the shelves, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.  

All you need for this project is some butcher paper  (I found some on amazon), scissors, scotch tape, a pen and a ruler.  And of course, books to cover - lots and lots of books.  

First, start by estimating how much paper you will need for each book.  Remember, you need more than just the flat width of the book when it is opened for the spine.  Leave a generous amount on both sides of the book.  

Next up, draw a straight line as close to the top of the book as possible.  I lined my books up with the bottom edge of the paper every time to limit the number of cuts, but you could also draw a line along the bottom and cut there as well.  The idea is to have the height of the paper cut as closely to the height of the book as possible.

Cut the paper along the line, and you should have something that looks somewhat like this:

Next, I folded the paper around the book to make a jacket.  Don't use tape yet, but do make sure to create creases on the spine of the book that are prominent enough to see even if the paper is not on the book.

Then, slip the paper off and find the spine of the book.  (This will be denoted by the creases you just made around the spine.)

Write the title of the book, the author, or any other identifying information you want on the spine of your book.  I found it was much easier to write before the paper was on the actual book, hence the creases and slipping the paper back off the book before it is taped in the prior steps.

Finally, slip the paper back onto the jacket and tape into place on the inner covers of the book.  

And you're done!  

Now, I know this is not revolutionary for anyone that covered their books in elementary school, but this little project changed the entire feel of our room.  It was a little time intensive, but totally worth it to have some uniformity and cohesion to the shelves.  

What do you think?  I'm glad to have this done for Christmas, but I think I will keep it up long after the tree comes down!  

xo,