Tuesday, December 11, 2012

How to Age Books



We have some old medical books and encyclopedias from an auction and nothing to do with them. They looked ugly on the shelf, and took up space for no reason. So, we were looking for something to make a sort of pedestal for a planter that was simple and free (other than supplies that we already had). My mom thought to put books underneath, but not nice books that could get ruined. She found the old medical books and remembered that everything looks better with a coat of paint. So that's what we did.






You can use any color, really, but brown is neutral and matches with our decor. We used acrylic paint, but probably anything would work.





To give the book a worn leather look, we Mod Podged crumpled tissue paper on top. We used spray because it has a faster applying and drying time. First you spray the book, and then the tissue paper after it is layered on top.




This is after the Mod Podge is dry. It didn't look very good so all you have to do is...





Paint a few of mixed shades of the color you are using on top of the tissue paper for more character and depth.






If you want an even more aged look, you can give the outside edge of the pages a thin coat of watered down brown paint applied with a paper towel. As you can see in this picture, you have to be sure to paint the border of the cover.




This is the finished book with some other real vintage books we have. The three  bottom books are painted, The black books are just painted black and then the spines patted down with paper towel when the paint was almost dry.



If you have trouble finding real vintage books, don't worry, some of the books featured in this picture are for sale on my Etsy shop, The Tattered Hanky.

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31 comments:

  1. Love this idea. My husband has lots of outdated medical books.....they are ugly and take up so much space. I'm going to have to give them a paint job!

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  2. I would love to see how the books turn out! Thanks for stopping by!

    -Emily

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  3. this is so awesome!! love the finished product!!

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  4. Wow, cool idea! I was just yesterday eye-balling my disaster of a bookshelf wondering what to do, what to do. Now I have inspiration!

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  5. How fabulous is this. Thanks for the tutorial and thanks for joining TTT. Hugs, Marty

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  6. "Everything looks better with a coat of paint." - It's so true!!! Haha! Who would'a thunk of painting books? My word! It turned out good! Love it!

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  7. Great Tutorial! They turned out great! I definitely need to make some of these for decorating! I just started a new link party and would love if you would come on over and share your post or social media sites. http://designeddecor.com/talkin-about-thursday-3/

    DeDe@DesignedDecor

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  8. Thanks for sharing that great idea for aging books, Emily! Congratulations for being featured over at "A Stroll Thru Life" blog party...that's where I found your blog.

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  9. Great tutorial. I will be featuring this tonight at my Winter Blues Wednesday party that opens at 8pm EST. Please stop by and pick up an I've Been Featured button. Thanks.

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  10. Great idea! Going to check out the rest of your blog now.

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  11. Looks great and blends great with the others! I just started a new link party and would love for you to come over and share your post or any social media sites. Talkin’ About Thursday - http://designeddecor.com/talkin-about-thursday-link-party4/
    DeDe@DesignedDecor

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  12. How cool is that! Can't wait to try it. I'm featuring your aged books in the PoPP Spotlight this week. Thanks for linking up.

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  13. Thanks so much for featuring me!! Can't wait to this week's PoPP spotlight. I'll be sure to grab your button.

    Emily

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