diy farmhouse books – Sweet Southern Grace

When my friend Terrie from Decorate & More with Tip asked me if I would like to join a blog challenge for word stacked books, of course I would agree!! My first thought was that I would love to make a set of these books for my sister-in-love, who just built a new home with her husband, last year. We had not given them a house warming gift, so I thought this would be perfect!

A little bit of family history with this key. This key was found by our oldest two daughter’s when they were little in their Grandmother’s home. She is my husband’s Grandmother, whom we called Big Grandma & who is our youngest daughter’s namesake. We were cleaning out her home, getting ready to renovate it and we were allowed to take things from her home that we thought we would like to have. One of the girls found this key and I’ve had it in my jewelry box now for around 14 or 15 years.. not knowing really what to do with it, but I knew one day an idea would come and I could have a way to honor this key, per say. I am not sure what this key went to or any significance behind it. I am thinking it went to…maybe an armoire or hope chest.

I headed to our local Dollar Tree for the books. When I make a set of these books, I like to tear off the front and back covers of each book, along with several pages as well.

I used my homemade DIY chalk paint recipe that you can find on our youtube channel. I did a light layer of paint on the spine of each book. I did not saturate my paint brush with paint, but I didn’t dry brush it either. I wanted some of the spine to show through. I did a heavier paint layer in between each book, to help adhere to each other, acting as “glue”. On the top and bottom of the book set, I painted a light layer so that some of the wording would show through.

After the books are dry, I grabbed my stamps and black ink that I purchased from Hobby Lobby. Don’t forget to purchase when they have those for 50% off or use your 40% coupon.

I decided I wanted to stamp the words, “Home Sweet Home”, onto the spine of the books. I thought it was a fitting saying for a house warming gift.

After my stamped letters where dried, I headed to my ribbon stash and I used this light khaki colored ribbon from Hobby Lobby and added the twine.

I decided to tie the ribbon, a little off centered and incorporate the key with the ribbon. After I tied the ribbon, I made sure to heat seal the edges of the ribbon.

I can’t wait to give this set of stacked books to my sister-in-love. I hope she can find a place in her home for it and every time she looks at it, she thinks of their Big Grandma.

Please check out all of my friend’s and how they made their own diy stacked books! We are a diverse group with many talents! I know you will not be disappointed!

Love, Shae

Terrie over at Decorate and More with Tip

How to Decorate with Books in Your Home Decor

I have teamed up with several blogger buddies for a April Thrift Store Challenge. Our rules were that we could purchase one to two items from one thrift store, to keep it as budget friendly as possible, then style in our homes. Challenge accepted! Actually, most items in my picture is from past thrift store purchases, estate sales, yard sales or on sale! I love a good bargain!

I decided to stop by one of our local thrift stores on my way home one day. I enjoy shopping at thrift stores because you never know what you will stumble upon! I went to the furniture section, in the back, looking for a couple of chairs or a antique chaise lounge that I could deconstruct. I have been wanting to deconstruct a couple pieces of furniture for our master bedroom. As I was thinking that I wasn’t going to find anything for my challenge today, I spotted it! The antique wood gable vent louver!! (I call it a gable and the hubs calls it a louver.) I already loved the color of the wood and I had an idea of where to style it in our home. I originally thought I would place this above our kitchen window but no cigar! It was to big! My next thought was to set it on top of our mantel. Eh! I wasn’t feeling it! I decided to set it on the bottom of the mantel and I started playing around with some lavender and terra cotta pots. I loved the look that I was beginning to achieve! I styled my tiered tray, added my diy chalk painted farmhouse books, our diy candlesticks and I loved how my spring chalkboard peeks out of the picture! Best of all, I only paid $1.99 for the gable vent!!

I hope that you will hop on over to each of my friend’s, as they show us, what they found on their thrift store challenge!

Love~Shae