Bling Up Your Bookshelf With Stenciled and Gilded Books DIY

Royal Design Studio
by Royal Design Studio
Recently in honor of Paint+Pattern's celebration of France I posted about the gilding of the Palace of Versailles that had eye-popping over-the-top gold everywhere. Glorious eye candy for us regular folks. But there's no reason why we can't enjoy an easy gilding project using discarded hardcover books. A shelf full of these pretty accents could give your space a rich and decadent feel.
Books are all the rage as interior accents right now - without covers, piled high, ornate, decoupaged and painted like objects d'art. So how about making our own? Beautifully patterned books, softly aged and almost befitting a palace! This stenciled and gilded books DIY could give a perfect vintage look for our own home decor or could make for a beautiful and thoughtfully handmade gift as well.
I like to paint several books at one time since several are almost as fast as one, but you can try just one to get the feel of this project.
STEP ONE


Paint one to two coats of Versailles Chalk Paint(R) on the book covers, edges and up to " on the inside of the book covers. Let dry.
STEP TWO


Use a small brush to paint a thin coat of Clear Stencil Size on top of the chalk painted areas. Let dry. (I used too much in the photo so you could see the product. Typically a thin coat should be plenty.)
STEP THREE


Tear off one sheet of gold leaf along with its backing paper. Turn it over and lay it on top of the book cover, ensuring slight overlap to wrap around the edges and the insides of the cover. Continue to add the gold leaf until all of the painted areas are covered. A miss here and there is fine. Once done, crumple up a sheet of wax paper and rub it over the gilded areas, pressing the leaf into the size. Continue rubbing until all of the gold is compressed. Finish this step by cleaning up your surface to avoid the excess gold leaf from sticking back to the books (you'll probably want to vacuum).
STEP FOUR


Next, pour a small amount of Old White Chalk Paint(R) into a container, add about one third of water and stir. Use a clean brush and wash some paint over the book covers, skipping some spots so the gold leaf can shine through. If you add too much paint, just wipe it off with a damp rag. Dry and start over. If you'd like to dull the look of gold, add lots of wash over your gilded books, but if you like the shine, add just a little. Be sure to cover the edge and the inside area of the gold leaf. Let dry.
STEP FIVE


Open the book up from the middle and lay face down flat on a surface. Place the French Menu Lettering Stencil over the book and use the Coco Annie Sloan Chalk Paint(R) to stencil with. I skipped the area of the book spine, but you could stencil that too if you like. Let dry.


STEP SIX


Lightly sand all over to expose some of the Versailles chalk paint color and distress to your personal liking.
STEP SEVEN


You could paint the edges of the pages of your books to complete the look. I used the Versailles, but you could use any other leftover colors too. Stand the book up with the pages facing you. Grab the pages tightly with one hand and use the other hand to paint all the three sides. Let dry.


STEP EIGHT


Stand the book up vertically and pull the covers all the way back to create a small gap between the spine of the book and the bound pages. Attach an old key or chandelier crystal to an approx. 18" of jute and push the jute through the opening as shown above.


Visit our blog for more inspiring stencil pattern ideas and full how-to:
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2 of 4 comments
  • Royal Design Studio Royal Design Studio on Jul 28, 2014
    Hi @ ! We totally agree! Bookshelves contain so much of our personality and interests! Thank you, @Miriam I !
  • 17335038 17335038 on May 20, 2022

    I'm sure that these decor books would have cost a lot more in a fancy shop than what you paid for the materials to create them.📚️

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