Antique Doors and Book Page Wreaths

   

 

Several weeks ago, I found these doors listed for free on CL.  I was so excited! 

For a while I have been picturing 2 old, paneled doors in our family room, and these would work perfectly.

They were in great shape structurally, very sturdy and heavy, but they were different colors and had some very old paint which was peeling and crackled in the extreme. I used a hand sander on them, and then painted both sides with some white semi-gloss paint. 

 

I leaned them up against the wall behind one of the sofas.  Although I really liked them, something seemed to be missing.  But I left them there for a while, until I could figure it out.

One day, when I walked into the family room, it struck me that book page wreaths might look really good hanging on the doors.  I remembered pinning directions for a book page wreath at some point, to one of my Pinterest boards.  The tutorial was great, here it is in case you want to try one yourself - http://makelyhome.com/librarians-please-avert-your-eyes/   I loved how they turned out.

 

 

First I picked up the 2 wreath forms for 99 cents each from the Dollar Store.  Then I found a small paperback book at GW for 99 cents.  I used it for one door, and another paperback of similar size which I already had for the other.  The book wasn’t a keeper, so I didn’t feel badly about tearing it apart. In fact, I read a little of it as I was folding the pages, and had no doubt I was giving it more dignity by turning it into a wreath. 

 

 

Two suggestions I would give for anyone wanting to try one:

Paint the outside edges of the books with some craft paint, like the author in the tutorial suggests.  (of course you’ll need to wait until the paint dries to begin the wreath, but the paint will give a nice overall look when the wreath is complete.  I used a dark gray for mine.)

 

 

The other thing is to make sure you have plenty of glue sticks!  I bought a new package, and used at least half of it, if not more.

 

To hang them on the doors, we used small picture hangers, and secured them to the doors.  Then I used hot glue to attach a loop of jute string to the back of the wreaths; I slipped the loops over the hangers.  That was it!

 

I love the texture they add to the family room, and the “color” complements the neutral feel of the room.

 

 

I imagine there are limitless variations you could try with these wreaths!

 

 

I think Noah, in particular, is pretty impressed with them.

 

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