8 Dark Academia Thrift Flips: Transforming Thrifted Finds into Bookish Home Decor

do you love the nostalgic charm of a space filled with books and interesting objects well then you've come to the right place because in today's video we're going to transform thrift store finds and old books into Academia inspired Decor so if you're ready for some unique and budget friendly DIYs let's get started I wanted to make some unique unque book inspired wall art so I searched online and found images of the book spines of two of my favorite books I went to Office Max to have the images printed out on 24x 36 in pieces of card stock they offered to cut them but I wanted to use scissors so that I could cut out the exact shape I also purchased two 3ft long pieces of lumber and and traced out the shape of each poster onto the lumber and used my jigsaw to cut out the shape before you adhere the poster you'll want to paint the sides and top edge of the boards with black paint or another color that coordinates with your poster and let the paint fully dry the easiest way to mount the poster is to apply spray adhesive to the wood get your poster aligned and then press it into place with spray adhesive you shouldn't have any wrinkles like you might get with Mod Podge or other adhesives after both posters were adhered I decided to sand over the edges of the paper with my orbital sander to create a softer more natural looking Edge but then I needed to paint the edges again with another coat of black paint unfortunately I had some black paint on my hands and I accidentally smudged the Jane Austin poster and I tried to wipe it off which only made it worse luckily the PO poster was the one I liked best anyway to avoid wrinkles I applied three light coats of a spray on clear top coat I added a Sawtooth hanger on the back so I could hang them on the wall [Music] you may remember a recent DIY project where I made a bird busting through a picture well I wanted to make something similar but this time I wanted to use a book instead to make a hole in the book cover it's easiest to drill a hole to get started then you can use scissors or your fingers to make the hole larger you can make your thrift store book look like any book title you like just find a picture of your chosen book cover online by searching for vintage book covers in the public domain print it out in a size to cover your book I printed mine on card stock and adhered it using spray adhesive once your faux book cover is attached use a utility knife to reveal the hole based on the book cover I chose you might have guessed that instead of a bird this time I'm using a small plastic Mouse and because it's so small it was very easy to hot glue it into the opening without having to cut away addition parts of the book I decided to distress the edges of the book cover with a sanding block to give it a slightly aged appearance [Music] viewers often ask me where I get all of my energy because let's face it I'm no spring chicken and I have two answers for that I get a good night's sleep every night and I take ag1 every day ag1 is one of the most comprehensive nutritional supplements on the market ag1 is packed with over 75 vitamins minerals probiotics and po potent superfood ingredients designed to boost your energy levels support your immune system and improve your gut health it's simple to use just mix one scoop of powder into 8 to 12 O of cold water mix well and enjoy I know it looks like it might taste like grass but it actually has a subtle fruity taste once opened store it in the refrigerator for optimal results I love knowing that ag1 Bridges nutritional gaps in my diet and supports My overall well-being I genuinely feel healthier and more energetic if you'd like to give ag1 a try just click on the link in the description box or scan the QR code on the screen and you'll get a free one-year supply of vitamins D3 plus K2 and five free travel packs with your first order I thrifted this jewelry box for $3 at least I think it's a jewelry box but the rooster design seems like it would belong in the kitchen anyway I want to use it to store my extra book plates so the rooster has to go you'll want to sand over any designs before you repaint to make sure that you have a smooth even surface I like to use chalk paint on small projects like this because I don't have to use a primer I gave it two coats to get full coverage for a library theme I printed out an image of an old Public Library sign on regular copy paper since I'm going to apply it using reverse decupage I needed to print it out as a mirror or reverse image you can use regular Mod Podge for this but the photo transfer Mod Podge will give you a much higher quality image brush the Mod Podge over your surface and place the paper face down press the paper into the Mod Podge you may want to go over it with a brayer or a plastic scraper let the Mod Podge completely dry I always wait overnight the next day dampen the paper with a wet sponge sponge or a spray bottle wait a few seconds and then use your fingers to rub off the top layer of paper if you're using the photo transfer Mod Podge it comes off very easily if you want you can use a sanding block on the edges of the paper to give it a more aged appearance make sure the paper is completely dry and then brush on a top protective coat of PGE I was planning on traditional decupage for the front of the box and so to make it easier to cover the drawer front I just went ahead and knocked off the little wood knob I found a few more vintage book spine images online and printed them out on regular copy paper in a size to fit the width of my box for best adhesion brush Mod Podge on the box and on the back side of the paper then arrange the paper on the box smoothing out any wrinkles for the little drawer at the bottom of the box I cut off the extra paper at each end of the drawer and then decaged those small pieces to the strips of wood along the edges of the drawer once the Mod Podge is dry you can soften the paper edges with Sandy paper and then apply a top protective coat of mod podge I reattached the small drawer knob with a bit of Gorilla Glue if you want your box to have a more vintage appearance lightly distress the Box edges with sandpaper and then brush on a coat of antiquing wax chalk paint really absorbs the wax so this step will completely change the color of your paint if you want a lighter look you can water down Waverly wax before applying it or use a little clear wax on a rag to wipe some of it [Music] away I wanted to make bookends using actual books so I thrifted four books of similar size and color and then I used some Goof Off to remove the titles fingernail polish remover and lighter fluid will also remove most titles I tore out a mostly plain sheet of paper from an old book and ran it through my printer printing out one of my favorite Jane Austin quotes you'll want to separate your quote into to four separate strips so that you can add one strip to the spine of each of your books you can cut them out or for a more casual look you can tear the paper into strips using the edge of a metal ruler to get straighter lines decco pod your paper strips to the book spines again I always like to apply Mod Podge to the book and to the back of the paper and then once it's adhered I apply an ADD additional coat of mod podge over the top of the paper Now to turn the books into bookends we're going to use cheap metal bookins as a base it should be simple but it took me a minute to figure out how to arrange the book so the quote would read properly left to right attach the upright book to the metal book end first I situated the metal book in inside the back cover and traced out its location then I applied a good amount of hot glue to the inside cover and arranged the book end in place then for the horizontal book I arranged the book in inside the back cover traced around it applied hot glue to the inside back cover and press the book in in place apply additional hot glue in the joints between the two books and on the metal book end in inside the front cover of the upright book so that that book will stay closed add additional hot glue on the underside next to the metal book end to make the books even more stable the exposed metal book in on the underside will not be perfectly level with the horizontal book so cut out a piece of cork or fabric to cover the metal to create a More Level surface I adhere a piece of felt with spray [Music] adhesive what would a dark Academia inspired video be without some kind of book lamp and this one is so much easier than the ones I've done in the past start by disassembling a small cheap thrift store lamp all you'll need is the socket the cord and the center metal rod you could buy a lamp kit but it will cost you more create a small stack of books that are the same height as the metal rod then find a drill bit that is the same size or slightly larger than the metal rod and drill the hole all the way through your top book I like to clamp the book closed so hopefully I will drill in a straight line the hole will be slightly raised so level it off with the utility knife so that when the books are stacked they will lie flat on top of each other line your top book on top of your second book and push a pencil through the drilled hole and make a mark drill a hole all the way through your second book in that spot and continue this process until you have drilled a center hole in every book my metal rod was quite short so I only needed three books take the metal rod and push it through your stack of books you only want about a fourth of an inch of the rod to be protruding through the bottom book open up the back cover of that bottom book and attach a washer and a nut flip the books over and screw the lamp socket onto the opposite end of the metal rod keep tightening until the books are pressed snugly against each other flip the books over and open up the bottom cover run the lamp wire through the knot on the bottom through the books and out through the bottom of the socket wrap one end of each of the wires around the socket screw screws and then tighten the screws slip on the cardboard insulation sleeve and then slide on the decorative sleeve flip the book back over using a metal ruler and a utility knife cut out a channel for the cord starting at the nut and going all the way to the page edges make the channel deep enough for the cord to fit completely inside then unscrew the nut and slide the nut and washer down the cord out of the way and cut out a small cavity for the nut so that it will sit even with the cord Channel reattach the nut and Slide the cord into the channel to keep the cord from moving around I covered the Channel with a piece of duct tape it turns out I didn't need to drill a hole through the bottom book cover but since I did I went ahead and filled it with a small circle of [Music] felt this little cabinet was a great find for only $4 but I didn't care for the stairstep design so let's let see if we can make it look more like a vintage card catalog I started by using my jigsaw to remove the decorative inner Edge on the top drawer I sanded The Edge smooth and while I had my sander out I just decided to go ahead and distress the entire piece I took the drawer from the single box and placed it on top of the Second Step then I cut a piece of old wood from my stash to make a new top that would cover both drawers I thought about removing the single drawer completely but decided it would look cute if filled with small accessories so I left it and I saw off its decorative Edge and cut a small piece of old wood to fit over that space too I used a combination of wood glue and a few brad nails to attach the wood pieces in place I glued a very thin piece of wood to the side of the drawer I had moved to make it look like it belonged in its new spot I also glued a small strip of wood across the back to keep the drawer from falling out for an authentic card catalog appearance I needed to remove the small wood knobs check for screws but these knobs are usually just glued in place and can be pulled or knocked out once the knobs are off you can distress the dra fronts even more if you like to further age the green paint I decided to brush black wax over the entire cabinet I waxed the painted areas and the wood pieces I had added and wow I loved how it looked I will definitely be using black wax more often I ordered some small Library handles from Amazon and attach them in such a way that the handle can see sealed the knob holes I was going to print out little label inserts for them but instead I cut out words from an old textbook page and inserted those into the handles [Music] I had this crazy idea to create a wreath using paperback books not just the pages the whole book however to keep the wreath a reasonable size I did cut each book in half using my miter saw then I drilled a hole through the center of each book since the book covers were in very bright and clashing colors I tore them off including the cover over the spine I snipped apart a Dollar Tree metal wreath form so that I could string the books onto it even with the books cut in half the wreath was very heavy and the wreath form didn't hold its shape and I didn't want an oval shaped wreath so I decided to try something different this time time I used a large needle to run a strand of twine through the holes in each book if you don't have a large enough needle you could just run florist wire through the holes in the books to secure each end I tied a metal washer to the twine pushing the books tightly together and tying the washer as close to the inbook as possible for additional interest I cut words and phrases from book pages and used Mod Podge to glue them to each book for variety I glued some to the book spines and some to the book pages due to the washers it's easy to hang it from one or both ends I ran an S hook through one of the washers and hung it from a curtain rod [Music] I had a few cut up paperback books left over from the previous project and I was wondering what I could do with them and then I found an old shadow box in my stash I like the look of book pages red up like little Scrolls so I made a bunch of tiny Scrolls just tying some twine around the paper for the back of the shadow box you can probably guess I printed out an image of old books on a shelf I cut it out and adhered it with spray adhesive and at some point I removed some of the Scrolls and added in a small clock face and hourglass for a more vintage like appearance I decided to paint the frame with black chalk paint and to save of time I just left everything in place once the paint is dry you can use a razor blade to scrape off any of the paint that gets on the glass you know I like a distressed look so I ran a sanding block over the edges of the box and then brushed on a coat of antiquing wax I always think using antiquing wax over black paint makes the wood look older than using clear wax this shadow box had originally hung vertically but it's very easy to move a Sawtooth hanger I also keep a small supply of Sawtooth hangers and Tiny screws in my crafting [Music] supplies I hope you got lots of inspiration from today's video and if you'd like to see even more book inspired DIYs here's another video I think you'll like [Music]

Channel: Canterbury Cottage

Views: 37,888

Keywords: Dark Academia Decor, Light Academia Decor, DIY, DIY home decor, thrift flip, Trash to treasure, Upcycle, Repurpose, Interior Design, Budget decor

Id: SOSnODztXn8

Length: 23min 24sec (1404 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2024