Book-Page Dough Bowl Filler

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite thrifting finds with you, that you can use all year round for decor! I always feel like we are in decorating limbo in these dog days of winter. Christmas is over, but it’s not quite spring yet, so… what do we do?

Old books are such a great way to decorate, no matter what type of style you have. I love finding old books with pretty hardcovers to display on my built-ins and shelves through out the house. They are such a great way to add character to any space, without being fussy, or conflicting with everything else in the space. Todays books though, are another story!

For all of you out there reading this cringing at the thought of deconstructed books, I promise you there were no good books harmed in this project. LOL! I headed down to our local Goodwill, and raided their $1 shelf of every trashy old paperback book I could fit in my basket. Praying the whole time my kids wouldn’t notice the covers on these books! Thankfully they found a box of baseball cards they were completely consumed by, so I could pick undisturbed.

To begin deconstructing, I opened the books to the beginning chapter, and then started tearing the front cover and beginning pages off from there.

I copied the same approach to tearing the back covers off as well. I just thumbed through the last few pages of each book, and tore off what I didn’t like, all the trashy ads for the next novel to read!

Next I took each deconstructed book and folded it in half, and then tied it with some simple string. Best.thigh.workout.ever! Trying to hold those books together while I wrapped them with string was the only difficult thing about this project (not really), but that just shows you how easy this can be.

The advantage to folding them in half, is it gives the books some bulk, and some dimension, so that when I filled my dough bowl with them, they didn’t lay flat. The best part was is after I tied each book together, I let my kids toss them in the dough bowl. My son did about three, then lost interest and it was back to the legos. My daughter stuck by my side the entire time, which start to finish was about an hour and a half. I have a big dough bowl. But she says it’s her job to help decorate the house too! And I think she did a wonderful job!

I may have jumped the gun on spring a little bit, but after getting about 5 feet of snow in under 3 weeks, and more coming in a day, I was craving some green! When your budget doesn’t always allow for fresh flowers at the market, moss is your best friend. You can grab a bag for a couple of dollars at just about any craft store.

I recently had the joy of visiting one of my very favorite blogging friends, Jen at Migonis Home. Another new englander surviving winter, and what struck me as we went into her living room, was on her coffee table she had this beautiful white urn, and filled it with moss. It totally popped, and caught my eye right away, because I instantly told her how much I loved it! I added some left over book pages from the books I had just used to wrap around the moss and catch any little pieces that might drop. In other words – no dusting if someone bumps into it!

I’m already dreaming up ideas for my spring tablescape, but for now I’m enjoying this simplistic look. It’s clean and crisp, and compliments winter, without the space feeling to bare. I love the quote “Eat,Drink & Be Merry”, so when I recently came across this quote on pinterest, I knew it was perfect for our chalkboard during these cold, snowy winter days.

“Eat, Drink & Be Cozy”

For more inspiration on how to decorate your dining room table, you can check out these posts for other seasonal looks!

Farmhouse Tablescape

Springtime Brunch

Simple Summer

Thanksgiving Tablescape

Holiday Entertaining

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