Upcycling: Books

There are always countless books coming into The WCSS Re-Use-It Centre. A lot of these books are holiday and travel reading, with plenty of best-sellers and modern classics pumping through the store at a steady rate. For $2 a book you can't really go wrong: read it, pass it onto a friend, take it around the world with you to read on trains and planes...

We do also find ourselves with large pile of books that are slightly less desirable, for various reasons: water damage, torn pages, outdated knowledge, or super-specific information that Whistler folk have often escaped past lives in the outside world to avoid.

I shudder at the very thought of trashing books. Having grown up reading and having majored in English Lit at university, books are friends and teachers to me. So I'd rather avoid sending them to the compactor where and when possible.

I've found some amazing ideas for upcycling those books that are no longer reading material, for whatever reason.

Some artistic upcycling ideas include:

This tree:

This dress and more at this blog:

Or more practical ideas, like book shelves made of books! Find the how-to here.

Try a plant potted into a classic novel (plus more upcycling ideas for plant holders here).

Or, go all out and use books as bricks! This is the counter of my favorite bookstore in Melbourne, Australia.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world is your oyster! Come down to The Re-Use-It Centre and rescue a few books to create something amazing and unique. Perfect projects for those rainy Spring days...

Enjoy.


Helen, Manager of The WCSS Re-Use-It Centre