Book page wallpaper isn't a new idea. But, it's a worthy idea to revisit if you want to add some charm and texture (or hide unsightly "charm and texture") to your wall without investing in expensive wallpaper panels.
Using just a stack of pages from old books, a jug of wallpaper paste, and a credit card, interior designer Kara Paslay and her mom covered an entire room together (ceiling included).
If you can't bring yourself to tear apart your treasured books, this project would make excellent use of outdated encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases and maps, trashy novels, and even comic books (especially for a kids' room). What I love is how the wallpaper can take on a wonderfully aged gradient if you find old pages in various stages of yellowing.
And if you accidentally mess up — simply grab more pages to work with. It's a simple, green and low-cost way of dressing up your wall!
Read More: DIY Book Page Wallpaper at Kara Paslay Designs
MORE BOOK PAGE DECOR ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• Make a Dictionary (etc) Wall
• Inspiration: Book Pages as Wallpaper
• Inspiration: Decorating With Old Book Pages
(Images: Kara Paslay Designs)
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Comments (16)
I once worked with a stylist who had a small house either in the Hamptons or the North Fork and she did this to her floor and covered it in finish.
I bookmarked a blog post last year that showed a hotel bathroom with song-sheet wallpaper. I guess the process is the same. http://toftsnummulite.blogspot.com/2011/08/holiday-inspiration-look-no-planes-ii.html
I've never thought of adding book pages as wallpaper. It looks interesting and may try it with my kids room one day
http://www.loftsofmerchantsrow.com
I've even thought about doing this just by taping the pages up. (In an area where nobody would be likely to touch the wall and mess it up, like using music pages behind the piano or something.) It would take like fifteen minutes to do a small wall that way and you could take it down as soon as you started hating it.
Reminds me of Tilda Swinton's office in "We Need to Talk About Kevin," where she used maps to wallpaper the room. That movie is hard to watch, but her office (pre-child disaster) looks fantastic.
I once did a wall like this, but instead of wallpapering, I just used masking tape to tape the top part of each page to the wall, creating a lovely soft shingled/scaled effect. Much less permanent, which was great in my rental. Only downside was having to retape up pages every so often.
i love the design of the room and the different textures.
the ceiling is really creative...but a bit overwhelming for me. i separate work and sleep and all those pages make me think of work (maybe its my line of work- lots of reading!) but i can see how it could bring others a lot of joy!
Such a cool idea. It'd be neat if you tried dying the pages of the books or encyclopedias as well to match the decor. Gives you more range but it looks great here as is. Great job.
Pretty cool... how is it to remove, though? Better or worse than normal wallpaper? Or does that depend equally on the paste and what the wall you're covering up is like?
I suspect that this photographs well, but looks a underwhelming in person.
Even if you are dead-on, balls accurate (thank you, My Cousin Vinny), the inconsistencies probably look pretty sloppy. That might hold a lot of charm in a display at Anthropologie, but maybe not at home.
this used to be called decoupage. Old magazine advertisements make a colorful and less monotonous alternative.
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I am doing this to a shelf. It's called decoupage. Use some Mod Podge.
I did this to the surrounding area around a chalkboard I painted on my office wall, and everyone who visits compliments it. I used about 20 different books ranging from atlases to encyclopedias to old novels; the variety added great texture.
Use Elmer's white glue - cheap to buy in bulk and super easy to clean up. Probably easy to remove the paper too, given that it's water soluble, but I have no desire to remove my paper collage yet!