How to Cover your Books

When we moved into our new home, our books and bookshelves that had previously enjoyed a glamorous life in our townhouse family room, were suddenly relegated to the loft until we could figure out what to do with them. See how sad they look in this haphazard location?

We recently moved the two glass-fronted bookshelves downstairs, flanking the front door, which really warmed up our entry. Unfortunately, the color cornucopia caused by the various colors of the books wasn't really workin' for me...so I did the unthinkable.....I decided to cover my books.  You're probably thinking, "{gasp} That's a lot of books to cover!!" I thought the same thing. So, I decided to only cover the books sporting offensive colors, like red, yellow and orange. Anything rocking blue, cream, white, or black got to stay au natural.

I picked up a roll of easel craft paper (75 feet for about $5) at my local Michael's and got to work.

Covering books is extremely easy, so here's a quick tutorial for those of you who don't recall the process from your grade school days.

• Step 1: Measure. Lay your book, opened, on your craft paper. Leave about 3-4 inches of excess paper all the way around your book. 

• Step 2: Fold. Fold the top and bottom edges so that the paper is near the exact height of your book.

• Step 3: Fold Again. Close your book and place it in the center of your craft paper. Fold the craft paper in half, over your book. Then fold each end of your craft paper under the front and back covers of your book. 

• Step 4: Tuck. Tuck the front and back covers of your book inside the folds on either end of your craft paper. 

While I sat on the floor covering my books, one after another, Aybee sat atop our tufted ottoman...keeping watch over her momma. She has such a tough life. Check out her majestic snout.

Anywho....once you complete the steps above, your book is done! You probably noticed in the picture below that the cover isn't sitting completely flat on the book. I ended up addressing that issue by adding a small piece of tape across either end of the book covers.

I employed my awesome boyish penmanship (I've come to terms with the fact that my handwriting will always look awkward) and scribbled the book titles on the spine and got to work arranging my shelves. I'm so happy with how much calmer and streamlined the shelves appear.

And yep, that's some good ol' Dr. Seuss from my childhood underneath the glass sphere.

Indeed, I have a three copies of Jane Eyre, and nope, ain't parting with a single one any time soon.

I'm still chugging away at getting the rest of my books covered.....speaking of which, who's ready for a book-covering party? {wink, wink....cue mischievous laugh here} 
P.S. I'm linking up here: