Gracefully Searching: Book Art

Hey all, TGIF- this week was so busy, so looking forward to a nice night with Blayre, we are going for dinner, followed by an engagement shoot tomorrow and Sunday we are hosting an Oscars party can't wait! Pictures to come Monday!

As a reader of blogs I am always searching for great ideas/easy tutorials. Last week one of my girlfriends from my design course Amy shared a great DIY with me that I had to share with y'all. All of these shelves hold Amy's boyfriends cookbooks- functional, colourful and acts as art! Without further ado here is the tutorial.

The inspiration for the bookshelf wall was actually an article I read in House & Home Magazine where the decorator used the bookshelf wall to display coffee table books- you know, the big hard cover ones with glossy photos in them? I loved the effect that the covers of the book had on the room. It really looked like the shelves were displaying art and I loved it!

So although I didn't have any of those books, what I did have in my home was every cook book known to man... Thanks to my wonderful and talented boyfriend/ chef Andrew.

The cook books were originally stored on a bookshelf where all that was visible was the spine of the book. Finding inspiration for cooking by looking at the books in that way was impossible. The covers, titles, chef's names all but disappeared.

On top of that... The bookshelf was the opposite of trendy and new, so it needed to go.

I went to Ikea for some picture ledges --about 15 of them. I measured the tallest book and then based my spacing on that, about 18" in between each shelf. Starting at the bottom I used a level an a pencil to mark my holes and just measured and drilled until all of the ledges were secured and in place! It took a few hours simply because making sure the ledges are level is one of the most import steps to the process. Otherwise, it was super easy!

Now I have more space in my office, instant "art work" and colour on my walls, and my boyfriend is reading cookbooks he nearly forgot about! Moreover, it's a great conversation piece.