Saturday, August 3, 2019

A Faux Book Makeover






Don't you love this set of pretty books that sits on top of the island in my closet room?  Well, they aren't really books and they weren't always pretty either!  Read on to see how I transformed this collection of faux book boxes:



In the Beginning

All of these book boxes were found at Goodwill, a couple here and a couple there.  I've been stashing them away as I found them, waiting until I had a complete 'set' before making them over.  I can't remember the price of the Paris book, but the Amaryllis and both of the Captain Underpants were around $3 each.



Paint

I started with painting the Captain Underpants books in gold, both inside and out.  This was necessary as I didn't like any of the colors or design.  The amaryllis book had a nice velvety interior finish and pretty 'pages' painted on already, so I left that as was, just painting the exterior in a copper color. 



Pages

Once the Captain Underpants boxes were dry, I needed to figure out some way to make 'pages'.  I thought I could try painting the edges cream first and then add in details - but ended up stopping after one coat of cream.  Since a single layer wasn't enough to properly cover the gold on it's own, it ended up looking like book pages all by itself.  Let's hear it for serendipity! 😁



Finished 'Books'

I decided to leave the Paris book untouched, as I realized that when stacked together the three books looked pretty good.  

Wait, wasn't there four?  Yes, I ended up giving one to my daughter for her bedroom shelf.  She has plans to do hers up in washi tape 😉



All Done!

And here they are again, stacked upon a mirror with a few other pretties that I have collected/ made over the years.  I haven't used the books for storing anything yet, but so far I'm pleased with the look.

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If you want to see more, you can click:

Here to learn how to make your own Beauty and the Beast style rose cloche
Here to read about the faux rose vase
Here to learn about the mirror tray
Here to read about my milk glass lamps
Here to see some of my milk glass collection

If you want to shop my style:

You can find the chocolate candy candles at Amazon.  I purchased mine at Goodwill for $2 for a set of 4 and they are amazing.  A year later and the room still smells like chocolate when you walk in!

Note:  The Roman lady bust statue is no longer available at Walmart (mine was $20)
but I found this similar one from Amazon

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to faux book post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2019

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8 comments:

  1. Hi Jennifer-- what kind of gold paint did you use? I never thought of painting a faux book. I like the idea very much! I have a wooden faux book that needs decorating-- I'm thinking to mod podge it with scrapbook paper or something sometime. I have SOOOooo many projects to do and so little time!
    I'm featuring your post this morning-- thanks for sharing at Best of the Weekend!

    Liberty @ B4andAfters.com

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    1. Hey Liberty- For the gold book I used Rust-oleum fast drying indoor/outdoor in metallic gold. Your mod podge book idea sounds great, I would love to see the finished results! Thanks for the feature, you made my day!

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  2. What a great project Jennifer! I have a few that badly need some work. You've inspired me. Pinned!

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  3. Nice project redo! The capt underpants transformation is great - the original box was so yuck that I would have thought it junk, and now it's useful and lovely! I hope your daughter creates the last box!

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  4. Lovely and clever transformation. Jennifer ! Thank you for sharing with us at Meraki Link Party at Doodle Buddies. Drop by this evening to join the next Meraki Party..
    Much love
    Naush

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