The novel may be dead… or at least transferred to a digital format. So, what if physical books have gone the way of the CD?

Like many people nowadays your CD collection might exist only in a cloud, accessed through your phone or tablet.

But if you have an excess, and your local charity shop is bursting at the seams, why not turn them into a piece of furniture?

Furniture

Books lend themselves perfectly to legs for a piece of furniture. Stack those books on top of each other and you have the perfect leg or legs for a book table. You could even fix two books together and create the table surface too. Or blend the books with a piece of wood to create a stylish alternative. It’s really simple…

Stack them high for custom sofa legs, stack them higher to create a table.

But people have made all manner of ingenious things using books. From beds to baths, to sheds or lining an entire wall with books, creating a wallpaper effect.

Book Planters

Stack a couple of books and cut a hole deep enough for a plant pot to slot into. Those flowers on the shelf will look amazing.

Knife Block

Bind a few hardcover books together and stand them up as normal. Now you can easily insert a knife or set of knives into the top, slipping the blade between the pages. It’s a novel idea.

Handbag/Purse

Take a single book – you’d really need a larger, thicker book with a hardcover for this. Remove the pages and fix a pocket of material into the inside covers, in place of the pages. Leave enough material for the book/bag to be opened. Finally fix a couple of handles on the book’s opening section – one on the front cover, one on the back – and you have a book bag or purse.

Hidden Storage

It’s a bit of an old school one, this. Cutting out the middle of pages from the book, leaving a few front and back uncut so it looks like a normal book. But delve a little deeper and you have a neat literary hideaway. Slip it back on the shelf and who would ever know?

Or cut the spines off a few books, leaving about an inch or so of the pages then stick those spines onto a wooden draw (or build one specifically). You can slot the whole thing into a bookcase or unit and no-one’s the wiser.

Lamp

A couple of books stacked make the perfect place to hide the wires and fittings of a lamp. Fix the stand on top of the books, with a decorative bulb and you have a genuine book lamp.

Wall Hooks

A book or two placed behind a wall hook and screwed into the wall make for the perfect practical decoration. Visitors can admire your good taste in authors and your talent for art as they’re hanging their coats.

Picture Frame

Cut off the books’ spines and stick them to an existing picture frame to create a unique hanging decoration. Or take a hardback book and cut a neat photo-sized square into the cover and slip your favourite family picture inside. You’ll need to add a second inside cover to hold the photo. For extra points prop the photo-frame book at an angle against another book to make it look like a standing photo frame.

Wallpaper

Break out the pages and paper your walls with them. Be warned though, walls are big and book pages are small. You’re going to want to get some help or think of it as something for a feature wall.

An alternative, if you want the printed word on the wall is to take a few of the pages and put them in a picture frame and hang it up. It can make a nice additional decoration.

Bookshelf

A bookshelf… to put books on? Well you could, but what this bookshelf is a shelf made of books. You could either make the shelf itself from old books. Or keep the original shelf surface and make the supports from books.

Conclusion

Books offer you the chance to give your décor a unique twist. Even if you’re not a bookworm, you’ll have fun with these brilliant book design ideas. Alternatively, if you have books and don’t want to create tables, lamps or coat hooks (and your local charity shop is still full) you can always donate them to a library or hospital.