Autumn Decor: Tabletop Stack of Books Free Printable

Today I am posting what so many of you have been asking me for… the tutorial for the autumn decor I made using a stack of thrift store books. I used book covers for decorating in the way of a free printable that I created as seen in my Fall Home Tour post.

Creating this autumn quote on a stack of books is the kind of decorating project I love – decorating with books. It is fast, affordable and super easy.

How to Make Book Covers for Decorating for Autumn

supplies needed:

• White books
• White craft paint
• Small paint brush
• Printer and white printer paper
• Paper cutter
• Repositionable glue stick

Download the book cover for decor free fall printable:

Print this .pdf: Free Printable Autumn Quote for Decorating a Stack of Thrift Store Books

How To Apply the Autumn Book Decor Printable Quote

1. Remove book jackets from books. Paint over the titles on the bindings with white paint. I did this so the color of the titles does not show through the white paper strips you cut out from the printer paper. Let dry. I needed 2 coats of paint to cover the titles.

2. Using a paper cutter, follow the marked lines on each side of the printable to cut the Autumn quote into strips.

3. Center one strip on each book to figure out how much excess paper you need to cut off of each end so each strip is just long enough to be wrapped around the end of the bindings.

4. Trim the strips to the length needed.

5. I used a repositionable glue stick to attach the strips to the books so that I could easily change the quote with the seasons. It has the stickiness of a Post-It note. Make sure to glue all the edges of the strips as well as the center.

6. I pushed the ends of the paper strips inside the bindings on the books and then smoothed each paper strip with my fingers to make sure each was adhered.

Once each book has the paper strips adhered, stack them and you are done. I placed mine in my foyer. I found the tray at the thrift store. It was light green and white. I painted the inside orange and used sandpaper to distress the outside.

A creative and affordable way to repurpose old books. Don’t let the color of books you many already own stop you from doing this. Craft paint can change the color of any book if you can’t find enough books in the color you want.

You can also make the stack in different ways… print out your favorite quotes and sayings…mix and match book and paper colors…lots of possibilities to make a stack of books with a quote on the binding for every season or holiday.

You can see more of my fall decorating ideas in these 2 posts:

Finding Fall Home Tour Fall Home Tour Part 2

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