Caps for sale! 50 cents a cap! Ho Ho! I loved that book when I was a kid. By far the best artwork I have ever seen on any wall.

I've used drawings I did as a child. Not juvenile if paired in the proper space.

I love it very much!..I have hesitated, but I won't now!!...So much beautiful and wonderful drawings in children's books....especially 'vintage'..thanks!

this is great, big improvement

LOVE it. I just love children's book art, and its always such a dilemma what to do when the kids outgrow them. I like this project very much.
(and I think I have 2 copies of this book, hmmm.)

I'm all for it.

did the same thing years ago with 'Goodnight Moon' - hung some of the black and white pages in a series above the bed in the house I grew up in. I haven't lived there in a long time but I love sleeping underneath them when I visit!

I adore this! Alexander the Alligator is one of my favorites and the illustrations are beautiful.

Wow, I love it. I read the book last night to my daughter but never thought I would use it as decoration. Brilliant!

The cleaned-up configuration gets you about 95% improvement without even changing the art!!

Oh, that's a great idea. Love it!

Check out "Flotsam" by David Wiesner...beautiful illustrations that are frame worthy!

Symmetry can be a great statement in itself. Coupled with the fresh palette of your cherished illustrations is striking! Great job! I love finding old oversized botanical books and using them this way too!

Love it! Might have to try this myself... Also, love your red (orange?) pillows!

I don't think it's juvenile. It's illustration, and it looks great. It just happens to be for a kid's book is all. They look lovely.

I love this. Totally had the same idea (same book even) but have never gotten my procrastinating self around to doing it, it looks amazing!

The off-center but symmetrical wall spacing works really well. Nicely done.

Wow! I'd love to do this with Dallas Clayton's "Very Awesome World." I think that would look fantastic because his drawings are so unique.

Great idea :)

Love it!! i bought a copy of 'the Red pony' by Steinbeck with the intention of framing all the illustrations, but i can' t bring myself to tearing up the book!!

we've used where the wild things are, I love the artwork in that book.

I ordered "The Little Island" by Margaret Wise Brown for 50 cents on Amazon with the intent of doing this but when the book came in the mail, it was in mint condition. I haven't been able to bring myself to slicing it up yet.

Definitely not childish at all--especially when they are framed so professionally :)

I would do this in my home!

We did this with with "What Pete Ate from A to Z" by Maria Kalman. It's in our media room on Hague Blue walls - it looks fabulous and makes us smile everyday. And no, we have no children!

http://www.amazon.com/What-Pete-Ate-Maira-Kalman/dp/014250159X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1299618702&sr=8-6

What a great idea, love it. To everyone that is afraid of tearing up a book, just google it and look in google images and print them off. That's where most of my art came from

You can also use a scanner -- that's probably what I would do. I've often thought about using children's book art on the walls, but I'm afraid it would make the place look a little too whimsical for a single woman, since I already have a couple of posters in that vein. I wonder -- is whimsy a turn-off for men?

Also, don't under-estimate the power of a kinko's color copy - photocopy the book so that you keep the actual book intact, and then you also don't have to feel guilty if you change the art out later. I love it!

right away I cocked my head to left and said "Aw". The turquoise in the prints really brighten up that space. I will risk sounding cheesy but I think it makes the space look really sweet.

Great timing on this post as I am just in the process of selecting my favorite pen & ink drawings from the original Frank L. Baum Oz books, to do the same thing.

Have to have the lunchpail tree!

I'm in the love-it camp too!

I actually bought a used over-sized Curious George book for $10 from which I framed two pages as a baby gift for my sister-in-law. The only sad thing is that you have to sacrifice the backside of the framed object (at least if it's professionally framed).

This art is less juvenile than Curious George, and I think it works well!

I guess this is a popular way to get cheap art! We used a vintage book called "We Were Tired of Living In a House." It was falling apart anyway so I look at it as recycling.

I love that book. My mom read it to me, I read it to my little sister. Can't wait to be able to read it to my own children.

It looks great as artwork too.

I love it. It is whimsical, but in a very good way. I've thought about doing this with pages from "You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum" -- it's one of my favorites. Or some similar New York-ey kids book.

I used "In the Night Kitchen" as kitchen wallpaper for the longest time. It was quite the conversation starter, especially when Mickey gets nekkid at the end!

It looks beautiful! It really brightens up the room and gives more continuity. Great choice on those images.

Why not scan the pics instead of tearing up the book?

Note to cremedela: whimsy is not a sin. Use it if you like it. As to turning off some man, would you want a guy around who didn't like who you are? Be yourself, have stuff you love, and find a partner who fits.
Love, Grandma

Any artwork that makes you smile is a good thing (to borrow a Martha phrase). I loved the book when I was growing up and still find the artwork colorful and playful. I can understand not wanting to tear up a book, but perhaps taking the illustrations out of a well-used book would not be so bad? Or scanning if you can get good quality? I like it!

I love primitive art, of course I'd love children's illustrations!

Love, love, love.

I think it's awesome!! My favorite book was Pokey Little Puppy...ha ha. Might be a wee juvenile but I still may try it :)

Grandma's right, Cremedela! AND sheesh it's International Women's Day...

LOVE that idea! I'm going to tuck that one away for use later. Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm totally copying you! My fave is "What do you say, dear?" Love it.
So... thank you very much, dear.

I love it! The foot book. That's the one for our house.

I remember that book! With the message that it pays to throw a temper tantrum! :-) ...btw, looks great! :-)

I LOVE IT!

I find the graphic simplicity so striking, and I don't know if it's the colors or the lighting, but they rev up the room!

Not sure what book I'd use, probably something by the good Dr. Seuss as his stuff's both bright and trippy to look at:)

My mother did that with images from a Maurice Sendak book long ago. As a child, I can't say I cared for it. I'd probably love it today.

Everybody's already said what I wanted to say, including the advice to cremelda and the big thumbs up for the Caps. Using one book for all the frames means the palette will automatically work for all the pages. I have one framed Oz book page, and it's only because it was torn out of the book by someone else: an original Emerald City of Oz color plate printed with metallic ink. If you're going to sacrifice a book, please check the publishing info and make sure it's not a first or rare edition!

I think it is a very cute look. I would not hesitate to use children's book art on the wall if I wanted to. I don't think whether it looks too juvenile or not is the point, really. The point is whether you like it and it makes you happy. It is your home, after all.

I have always wanted to frame the Garth Williams illustrations in The Little House series. I've bought copies at yard sales just for that purpose. I think I'll do it now BUT will enlarge them. I also have a good grooming book for girls from the 40's called Susan Be Smooth with lovely pencil illustrations in it to frame for my vanity area. You had a great idea.

don't know if edward gorey counts as children's art, but i would love to have some of his work on my walls

I have plans to do this in my bathroom with black and white Shell Siverstein poems and illustrations. They're a little silly but perfect for our little bathroom :)

I love my tintin prints.

I think it looks absolutely delightful, but I would have such a hard time taking apart a book!

I'm all for it. Not only can it look good, but it could also display your sense of nostalgia if you really did like the books.

I love
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes with illustrations by Marjorie Flack. I have a copy that's kind of ripped, so I thought I might frame one of them to go over my desk. I've also sold teacher book sized Dick and Jane pages from the 50s (I'm all out) which are sweet.

ohhhh. i have a book about mary blair, and i have been thinking about scanning some of the art in there and framing it. this might give me the motivation to finally do it!

i agree with ec05 - these images totally changed that wall and brightened up the room. It is very cohesive with the colors in the pillows. truly lovely!

Did this in my son's room and have received many compliments! I too went to Kinkos as I could not bear to cut a book! I chose 4 pages from Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry that were meaningful (not just ABCD) and used IKEA frames. I love that these are in an "adult room"!
http://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Bryans-African-American-Poetry/dp/0689812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299688807&sr=8-1

I JUST did this with a crazy French kids book about bears I got for free at our library (book sale leftover).

Caps for sale is my son's favorite book. He had Caps for Sale decorations for his first birthday. I've thought of doing this if he ever wrecks our copy, but I couldn't bear to cut up a perfectly good book.

maybe with some iconic charlie harper illustrations!

That particular book has the look of Scandinavian folk art in many ways. Depending on your tastes, there is probably at least one children's illyustrator out there whose work would look great in your home.

HOWEVER. It is totally illegal to print Google images from books, make photocopies, or otherwise duplicate things rather than pay for them. The copyright law protects authors and artists so they can control the rights of what happens to their work. Obviously, most of the time you can "get away" with it, although most color copying centers refuse to duplicate commercial work, at least around here. But I would hope AT readers would have enough ethics to look for a second-hand copy of the book they want and cut that up rather than infringe on the artist's rights. It may seem like "the same thing" but it's not.

I have been thinking about doing this for a long time with this exact book .. also because I like the color scheme in the illustration so much. I think I will try it for our upstairs hallway.

Yay! I have a few book prints in my daughter's room, and just last week we were reading Caps for Sale and I was thinking what great artwork it would make (anywhere).

For the artwork in my daughter's room, I bought 99 cent copies of the books on Amazon. The copies had some damaged, and that's why the price, but not enough damage that I couldn't scavenge great artwork!

The books (and many kids books) were odd sizes (short and wide pages, for example), so rather than get standard frames and have awkwardly sized matting, I bought individually-sold frame edges from the local hobby/craft store, so that I could customize the size of the frame cheaply.

Some of the best artwork I've ever seen comes from children's books. I plan on doing this (but from multiple books) for my daughter's bedroom.

seeing this post made me smile :) I read this book to my girls and I always wondered how the illustrations would look framed. now I know!! It looks great, and goes well with your cushions.

It elevates the humble (or not) children's book and highlights some great design. Not juvenile at all! I picked up a couple old children's books at a thrift store and am thinking of salvaging a few of the pages to frame, but I'm not tired of what's on my walls enough to make a change yet. Looks great!

This post has made me so happy. Love it!

I did this a few years back with a variety children's books I got secondhand that already had dammage and interspersed them with text clippings from my favorite poetry and Shakespeare - awesome when the text and art are unexpectedly complementary. Great post!!

I used the book jackets from a few of Miroslav Sasek's "This is..." series for my daughters room. I couldn't bring myself to cut the from the book.

I don't think this looks juvenile in the adult space. Ironically the colors from the book are very modern which adds to the room instead of detracts. It might make the room look childish if, say, the pictures were simply primary colors. Great job!!!

I have a couple of Tove Jansson's picture books, which are absolutely exquisite. I'm not sure I could bring myself to cut them up (even though I could buy copies just for the purpose), but I'm thinking of having a little shelf that they could stand on. I could change which pages were on display whenever I liked...

Cremdela - only if it's whimsicle f*ckery.

Inspirational!

...I have this exact book framed in my kitchen. Weirdddd:
http://whatiknowistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/nailed-it/

My library has a continuous booksale cart. The books are both discards and unneeded donations. The children's books sell for 25 cents.

rocks!

Great idea. I've bookmarked this post for future inspiration. Thank you for sharing!

I've been meaning to do this with a creepy European version of Rumpelstiltskin that I found at a used bookstore.

I love Caps for Sale and had been thinking of doing something similar (or with one of the Sally books)!

I've been meaning to do this with a favorite book, bought it, and took it to the copy shop. The copies ended up costing more than the book! :-)

I can't help finding it odd that so many people were so angry about using the covers of old adult books as postcards, and yet so many posters here would not hesitate to do essentially the same with children's books.

What's even weirder about this is that the pictures are arguably the most important part (to the "reader") of books written for very young children (most of whom could not read the content), whereas in adult books, the cover is the probably the least important part.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just very strange...

There is nothing "humble" or "juvenile" about a good children's book. A good children's book is for everyone and of course the art work can be fabulous. I love using "Caps for Sale" as wall art. Those beautiful colors and simple lines. What great idea.

this is amazing! i'd like to do this with a dr. seuss book!

Glad to see children's book illustrations recognized as art, and I love the look and the nostalgia of illustrations I loved as a kid. But, yeah, I'd hate to take apart a book, particularly an old book that might be hard to replace because so many go out of print. I've framed an entire book in a shadow box so just the cover was showing but the book wasn't destroyed. And I've framed paper jackets from old Nancy Drew mysteries to get their great covers.

I used pages from M. Sasek's "This is San Francisco" as art for our bedroom. My husband and I honeymooned there three years ago and fell in love with the city. They're a wonderful reminder and Sasek's illustrations are beautiful. The book wasn't an original print and my mother in law bought us another copy to enjoy intact. I plan on doing the same to the recently re-released "This is Washington, D.C.".

http://thegangbuysahouse.blogspot.com/2011/02/insta-art.html

Framing copies of covers of favorite vintage Golden Books works too - like "At the Seashore" - hanging in kids' room at our beach house.

Love it, great colour scheme in Caps. Though I would never put it up on my wall as it really bothers me that the poor man never got anything to eat. I'd probably feel hungry and guilty every time I saw it.

check out this great etsy site

Pretty me joy

I love the images, too.

And, can I just say... what a poorly planned place to stick the thermostat! You have done a great job working around that misstep!