project REstyle #2: vintage book box

tonight's REstyle project is the perfect example of how you can find inspiration from any object.


while searching through the romance novel section at the goodwill (with the hopes of finding some awesome covers to turn into tacky valentine's day cards), i stumbled upon this vintage, hard-cover romance novel. i immediately fell in love (pun intended)!

i couldn't justify bringing it home to sit on a shelf and grow dust, so my REpurposing instincts kicked in and within seconds i knew exactly what i needed to do.

BEFORE: 1950's hard-cover, romance novel, along with some scrap pieces of cardboard, fabric, and a few vintage buttons.

i gently cleaned the cover, and removed the pages along the inside spine (yes, i saved the pages - either for reading, or another project!).

next, i measured and cut the scrap cardboard to make the frame of the box, then attached the fabric and cardboard to the inside of the book. i cut a hole in the front cover to super-glue one of the vintage buttons in, and used some scrap yarn to braid a strand for the loop closure.

i put a quick coat of paint on the inside cover to mask the worn interior, and voila!

AFTER: vintage book box, which i am using to store my drawing tools for my figure drawing class!

what do you think?


~kara