20+ Creative Ways to Repurpose Old Books Plus Infographic

For as long as I can remember I have loved reading books.

Books were my friends!

I started out going to my local library and reading every book I was drawn to.

Once I became a teenager and got a part-time job, I started buying books and I

never stopped.

I was hooked on owning these precious gifts.

I would often collect every title by a favorite author.

I read books of all types–from history to travel to art and cookbooks, from biographies

to literary and popular fiction.

I even enjoyed reading books in a foreign language–Spanish, in particular.

The more books I bought, the more bookshelves I had to buy to hold my precious tomes.

Over time, I got married and my new husband had a massive collection of art and history

books housed on massive wall of shelves.

When I joined a reading group, my book buying escalated.

At one point, I subscribed to the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild–

resulting in new book shipments each month.

Of course, I had to buy even more bookshelves to hold more books.

In all honesty, our home was beginning to get a little cluttered with so many books.

Recently, hubby and I resigned ourselves to the fact that we had run out of space for

more books.

We had even resorted to piling books on the floor in some rooms.

We realized that we needed to go through our books and choose some to donate.

This was no easy feat because our books are like children–they’re precious to us.

The process was slow, but we eventually made some space on our bookshelves.

We donated books that were in excellent conditon and set aside other books to repurpose

and upcyle–eventually.

As I was gathering book repurposing ideas, I discovered amazing reinventions on Pinterest and

this awesome infographic which inspired me further.

Give Your Old Books a New Home

There are so many people and places who can enjoy the books that you are ready to part with:

*Donate to Thrift Shops, Libraries, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, homeless centersor senior citizen center

*Create a “Little Free Library” in your building’s laundry room or community room

*Give your old books away to friends and family

*Swap books that you have already read with book club members and friends

Give Your Old Books New Purpose

There are myriad ways to make something new and useful out of old books.

Just put your fertile imagination to use!

Some creative ways to repurpose old books include:

Bookmarks
Candleholders
Clocks
Coat racks
End tables
Floating bookshelves
Headboards
Lamps
Miniature Decorations
Monogrammed letters
Garlands
Wreaths
Phone charger docks
Picture frames
Postcards
Succulent planters
Secret treasure boxes
Vases
And more…

Feast Your Eyes on These Creations

With a bit of creativity and a little effort, you can transform old books from dust collectors

to showstoppers.

These are just some of the cool book re-creations I found on Pinterest:

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Ready to DIY?

Check out more innovative ways to repurpose old books in the amazing infographic below designed by

Custom Made.

Then, when you are ready to put some of your old (possibly tattered) books to use after you’ve read them

(maybe more than once), then give these creative, beautiful, functional projects a try.

Have fun cutting, gluing, planting, and displaying your repurposed book creations!

Click to Enlarge I19 Creative Ways to Repurpose Old Books
Infographic by CustomMade

Do you have a lot of old books in your home or office that you would like to repurpose?

Which creative items would you like to make with old books?

Share your thoughts and comments with us.

“Shared at the Monthly Bohemian Blog Hop”