Vintage Home Decor DIY: Boundless Books

     I was browsing Youtube the other day and found this awesome tutorial for beautiful vintage-styled boundless book paper bundles. The tutorial is done by Jc frias, who does amazing home decor/diy videos! Go check him out, he's got some wonderful tutorials I want to try!!! So anyway, the instructions seem so simple and the result looks so beautiful I just had to give it a go, so I went to town and got myself the meterials right away!!

This is how it turned out~~ Posed with my new budding collection of vintage keys > w <

 

    Oh, just on a side note, you'll notice that the background to my photos are different, that's cause I'm currently studying abroad in the UK! So I'm now living at my new dorm room~

The tutorial in the video is super simple, but I'll walk you through my process anyways.

You'll need some books, preferably thick hardbacks. You can usually get them cheap at thrift stores, so keep an eye out. I found a copy of Pride and Prejudice that would be perfect, but the thought of tearing through that gave me the chills so I left it alone. I got mine just under a pound each.

I practically grew up in a pile of books, so ripping the cover off like I did was a painful process, but eventually I got the binds off. I don't have a lighter, and I didn't want to risk the smoke detector in my room going off, so instead of running a lighter along the spine, I heated the spine on some foil over the stove to melt the glue and peel it off.

I got a fantasy novel, which means it has maps inside. I really liked the looks of them, so I carefully tore these out for later use.

Next is time to age the books. The copies were actually already kind of yellowed, but I wanted to distress it further, so I brewed some strong tea, and used the teabag as a painting tool to dye the pages. The video recommended coffee grounds, which gives a much darker shade, but I drank all my coffee and hadn't bothered to go to the super since so tea is all I have. One thing to take note is that it's important to get the edges and sides dyed, or it'll look unnatural.

It looks quite white in the photo, but it's all stained up and ready to go! Get some twine and tie your bundle up, and you're all set!

Time to get my hands on the maps I set aside! This time after dousing in tea for 5 minutes, I put it in the oven at 200F and left it for about 7 minutes. (You want to check it often, as you certainly don't want it to burn up!

Here's how they turned out:

I made a few rips and tears and curled some bits to really give them a aged look. I love how they turned out! I've arranged all this on my bedside table and I just get so happy every time I turn around!

Now I'm just gonna find a craft for the covers... hmm... they're long enough for my knitting needles to fix lengthwise... perhaps a craft supply holder? I can arrange needles and stitch markers and such~