The Plaid Pladd

So about a year ago I discovered a cache of books in our apartment complex’s paper recycling bins. Some of them were text books, others were more than a hundred years old! And about Belgium! So I rescued them, not because I particularly wanted them, but because, guys, this is not what we do. Some of them are still going to the library book sale, but I decided to use one to decorate a wooden trunk Steven made a few years ago that we’ve been using as a TV stand.

Sturdy, but ugly

I’ve never done anything like this before, but it was super easy! The first step is adding a coat of primer:

Remembering to tape around the hinges/handles/lock thing

Then after that dries a second coat of primer, just for fun:

I could've probably done a better job, but I was trying to finish before it started raining

Then, once that dries, it’s modge podge time! I got the kind for furniture, and just started carefully tearing/cutting out pages and gluing them onto the trunk.

Does it make me a bad librarian that I enjoyed it?

Don’t worry, it was just a collection of D. H. Lawrence short stories. And it’s not like it’s gone! Its spirit lives on in this way cool trunk I now own.

Anyway, my bottle of modge podge ran out after covering the trunk with pages and then applying a top coat. And when I went to buy more, well, you know how it is. I basically couldn’t help buying the SPARKLE version, it’s like an addiction. To glitter. So the top two coats may be incredibly sparkly.

Though you probably can't tell because by this time it was night.

Super exciting!! And easy! And I didn’t have to buy a bunch of supplies I’ll never use again. I guess besides the half a can of primer I still have left.

I still have quite a few old books I don’t know what to do with from that rescue, but you can bet I’m looking around my apartment for more things that need decorating!