Crafts with Old Books: The Codex Compartment and a Primer Planter

March 13, 2013 | DIY Home Improvement, Handy How-Tos

Congrats, you found an apartment (on Rent.com, of course) and moved in! Let’s think back to moving day for second. Do you remember the part when you were lifting a really heavy box and swore that before the next move you would get rid of all these books?  Why not repurpose some of those books to help decorate your new home?

If you’re decorating on a budget, here are a couple crafts with old books to turn them in to something cool for your apartment.

Crafts with Old Books: The Codex Compartment

Sure, you can buy faux storage books at lot of different kinds of stores to stash away valuables amongst your regular books. The problem with these books is that they often look like a “Downton Abbey” set piece with public domain titles of War and Peace andDavid Copperfield. We all know you didn’t read either of those. So why not just make a hiding book out of one of your old books?

This is a case of bigger is better, so try to find something in the 500-page range. It also works better if it is a hardback book. The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades of Grey are pretty good examples. Chances are no is ever going to ask to borrow these and you will never read them again. And we know you are still way too attached to your Harry Potter collection to take an X-Acto knife to it.

• Chapter One: Puzzle Glue, an Inch Wide Paint Brush, and an X-Acto Knife
  Gather these things.
• Chapter Two: The Night Before
  Open the back of The Da Vinci Code and glue the back cover solidly to the final page. Not just a dab on every corner—white wash the whole page. Close the book and put a plastic bag on the front cover to protect it. Use the paint brush to put glue around the outside edges of the pages. Now put something heavy and book-sized on top of The Da Vinci Code—perhaps your Harry Potter collection isn’t doing anything tonight.
• Chapter Three: Sweet Papyrus Surgery
  This part takes some time and patience. Open the book the book about 10 pages in after the cover page. This is so that even if it opens, it looks like a regular book. Trace a rectangle to get a good spot to cut. Carefully, with a fresh and sharp X-acto knife, cut a rectangle about 10 to 20 pages deep. Remove the innards and repeat. This can take a while, so just keep digging.
• Chapter Four: Hide the Evidence
  Clean up after yourself. Especially the inside corners on your new safe spot, sometimes they get a little ragged. Some folks like to add felt to the inside.

Crafts with Old Books: The Primer Planter

The planter pretty much works the same way as the Codex Compartment, but there are a couple of differences.

1. Find a thrift shop book perhaps with a catchy, plant-oriented title like Introduction to Horticulture.
2. Start cutting about 35 pages in. Or, even better, find a “last page” that has something interesting to read on it.  This display is open book.
3. Once you are finished cutting, paint the inside with more glue and spray with a water sealant.
4. Find a plant that is low-maintenance and hard to kill, like cactus.
5. Add rock and soil to the base and add your plant.

And you lived happily ever after. What are your favorite crafts with old books? Let us know in the comments.