Decorating the Library We Don't Yet Have

If you are here frequently enough to know that I have bought a banana hook and various other items for our new-but-not-yet house (including a dining room hutch, which is residing at a friend's house because as my mother in law says, you couldn't fit another toothpick into this house with our family of five, Joel's parents, Joel's sister, and Joel's sister's accumulation of furniture and things for HER upcoming move), you may not be surprised to find out that I've also undertaken a few small decorating projects. Yes, we don't live there yet, but I have things to hang on the walls. That patience thing is just not taking for some reason.

I came across a quote that I liked in the kids' new Precious Moments bedtime book (a baptism gift for Oliver, but if you think the big kids will allow it to sit unused til he's old enough, you haven't met my kids.). Searching for a way to use it in a project, I came across this idea on Pinterest (of course), which linked to an item for sale on Etsy (naturally). Ten dollars for the wrong quote is not my idea of a deal. So I took a good, hard look at the photo and engineered my own!

First, new frames for 50% and 40% off at Michael's, thanks to my mother-in-law's couponing prowess. Then, transparency sheets for the quotes themselves, free from my sister-in-law's fourth grade classroom. But what for the page of literature in the background? What book could I deface in order to make something cool for the walls of my own home library? (I can sense my husband's indignance as he reads this. Joel, I concede, it is really your home library. Online catalog, shelf markers, and all.)

This is where it comes in really handy to be married to a librarian. I asked him if Lafayette had a collection where they collect "weeded" volumes, those to be taken out of circulation. He asked what kind of book I wanted. Shooting for the moon, I requested some classic work of literature, or even a dictionary or other reference work. No math textbooks, I stipulated. He warned me that they weren't likely to have much good literature lying around in the donation pile, but he'd check. And do you know what book Joel brought home for me that very day?

The freaking Odyssey of Homer. I love that man.

So I have the sweetest pages, with numbered stanzas and everything, to mount behind my quotes. I wish I had some "in progress" photos, but the process was pretty simple: Rip out pages from the Odyssey, say a brief prayer of repentance for defacing classic literature, and then crop slightly to fit my frames the way I wanted. For the larger frame, I took two facing pages from the book, cropped, and taped them in an aesthetically-pleasing overlapping manner. Next, I played with the quotes in Microsoft Word to get them to the right size, alignment, font combinations, etc. and printed on the transparencies. I cut the transparencies to size using the glass from inside the frames as a template.

That part took some doing, because I found that the ink smudged just a little even after I let them dry awhile. I printed several times and came up with some creative ways to cut them to the right size so that the ink would remain undisturbed. Because as a mother of three children under four years old, I like to seek out extra tasks that try my patience and perfectionism.

Into the frame went the glass, transparency, book page, and backing, in that order.

But in the end, I turned out a couple of pretty cool-looking pieces for our future home library walls:

(No "before" or "in process" pictures, sorry, but imagine empty frames and an intact Odyssey, I guess?)

Also, any suggestions for a paint color that might look nice with these? We have a dark teal recliner and mostly oak-ish-looking furniture for the library. I'm just undecided what direction to go with the wall color. I want it to feel warm and sophisticated, so maybe something in the brown family? I don't know, I've never had to make these decisions since we have been renting forever.

If you enjoyed this little project, or have done something similar, leave me some love in the comments. I'm also eager for more decorating ideas I could undertake before we move. Do you have a Pinterest board I should be following?