Books – Page 3 – The Interior DIYer

This week I’ve been spending some quality time with an old DIY of mine; I had some books that I’ve been meaning to re-cover for ages, and there was no better time than the present to cover them. Especially when one has a head cold and is house bound.

I first thought of this idea years ago for some of my favourite books which were a bit too colourful or unsightly for my liking, so I came up with a cheap, cheerful and crafty solution – deceptive dust covers. An oldie, but a goodie.

Below – you can see the new covers in action on some of the more colourful books in our ammunition, along with the ‘before’ pic for comparison …

You of course don’t need to go dark with your dust covers – that’s just my preference. It would be just as easy to do the opposite and cheer up otherwise bland and dark books by using bright construction paper. I’m just partial to old looking books.

I will be the first to admit my deceptive dust covers idea partly came about to temporarily suppress my dream to have a library full of old books when I grow up. The smell of rich mahogany, leather bound books, ladders, long hours reading on couches and twirling. Basically just becoming Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I had to finish with this picture of Toshi – there was a book laying open on the table, the windows were open and the wind was flipping the pages. She looked caught between terrified and amazed. Silly kitty. And of course, you can check out my full dust cover tutorial here if you’re curious. xx A

Let me start by saying that anyone who appreciates hydrangeas half as much as I do is getting their own blog post. Queue a seamless introduction to the insanely talented Abigail Ahern.

I picked up Abigail’s new book, Decorating with Style, a couple of weeks ago and might need to invest in a second copy as the pages are already wilted from the excessive amount of saliva having been secreted from my face. Sharing my love of all things dark design, skulls, quirky decor, faux flowers {um, hello}, and not to mention some tore up from the floor up DIY’s thrown in the mix, Abigail’s design is drool inducing.

Flipping through the pages of her book really makes me wish I owned our apartment. I would faux-panel the hell out of the walls and lather them in moody grey hues. Her book perfectly embodies one of my favourite saying these days – go big or go home. Don’t be afraid. Colour outside of the lines. Break some of the rules. Have fun with how you design your home. Unbutton your top a little and enjoy it; that’s what a home is for. And importantly, you don’t got to break the bank – design doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Lord knows half my stuff is the cheapest of the cheap.

Abigail and her book are also featured in the current May / June issue of House and Home which is on the shelves until the end of this month, so snatch it up while you can.

And to finish, Abigail’s shop Atelier has been on my list to see for a long time. To quote Liz Lemon –

I want to go to there.

Fingers crossed I can sneak over to London sometime soon so I can go touch everything in her shop. Major design / girl crush.

Image cred 2 and 5.

Deceptive dust covers – revisited

My kind of style