DIY Shabby Decorative Books

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Gather your materials, here is what you’ll need to make your own Shabby decorative books

books with hard covers // brushes // gesso // black & white acrylic paint (or any other two contrasting colors) // candle wax // 120 and 400 sandpaper //scissors // image printed on decals* (you can also choose other image transfer technique) // matte finish acrylic spray (or other sealer) // paper lace (optional) // raffia ribbon (optional)

Start by sanding the covers of the books with a 120 grit sandpaper, especially if your books have carved lettering on them, like mine did. I really like that my books already had some silhouettes with beautiful framings and I decided not to insist too much on them so I could ”integrate” them into to final look afterwards. After sanding, use a damp cloth to remove any residues.

Apply one or two layers of acrylic gesso, without any water and wait until it dries completely.

Apply one layer of black paint, without any water, to prevent the deterioration of the covers and let it dry completely.

Start rubbing the wax or the candle on all the surface of the covers, insisting on the corners and edges that you want to highlight later on.

Apply one or two layers of white paint, depending on how good is the coverage of the paint and let dry completely.

After drying, start sanding the covers from place to place with a 400 grit sandpaper, until the black paint starts to appear underneath the white paint and the covers start to look chippy. Insist on the edges and on all the places that you want to distress more, then use again the damp cloth to remove all the residues.

Apply the image you want on the edges and on the front of the covers and seal it with a matte finish acrylic spray.

For the edges I used an image from The Graphics Fairy, an excerpt from an old handwritten poem that I really loved. For titles and authors I used two different fonts from dafont.com and I made some tests on regular paper before printing them on decals, to make sure they would be a perfect fit for my covers.

If you want, you can add to your Shabby decorative books some paper lace, for an extra chicness.

For a completely distressed look, you can also dry brush the edges of the pages (when the book is closed) some white paint and a little bit of gray paint for depth. Just make sure you don’t use any water, because the pages will stick together if you do, and you won’t be able to open the books.

Add some turquoise raffia or some ribbon … et voila, some lovely Shabby decorative books, all distressed and beautified! :)

Use the image below to pin the Shabby decorative books for later

Even though it looks like a lot of work, I assure you the process itself is not difficult at all and the final results will exceed your expectations. I hope you like my DIY Shabby decorative books and decide to give them a try!

Don’t forget to smile,

Diana