How To Make “Leather Bound” Books

Bring out your old paperback books and dress them up! With this simple tutorial, any used and inexpensive book will look like a valuable leather bound book that is worth showcasing on the premium shelf of your bookcase! The best part of it? Absolutely no crafting skills are required, and it takes just a couple of minutes to make one. So, in no time you can have half a dozen books ready to decorate any spot of your home.

All I actually did was to make a book jacket cover with some faux leather.

And to make things a little more interesting, I placed a number brad on the spine of each book, a little shiny detail that adds character, just as if my books were part of some precious collection.

Here, they’re nicely arranged on the mantel, but they will look just as nice on a bookshelf or stacked on an accent table.

They’re perfect for the fall décor with this warm brown.

To make your own, you will need:

Step 1: Cut a piece of faux leather that has the exact height of the book you want to cover and about four inches more than the total width of the book (total width = front cover + spine + back cover).

Step 2: Use some removable double sided tape on the inside part of the front cover to hold the faux leather in place (optional, but it helps as the material will slide).

Step 3: Secure a two-inch margin inside the front cover of the book with regular tape (depending on how firmly you want the faux leather cover to stay on the book, you can use alternative types of adhesive, i.e. removable tape for a temporary cover that will not damage the book, wide clear packaging tape for a strong bond, or spray adhesive on all the exterior book surface for a permanent solution).

Step 4: Mark with a Sharpie and use a thumb tack to poke a little hole on the spine. Insert the number brad. These number brads are like fasteners that open up. They come in a nickel finish, as you see here, but I decided later to spray paint them all in gold.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2 & 3 for the back cover.

One half yard faux leather will cover about six regular size paperback books (about $10 with coupon from Joann’s. The numbers brads are also from Joann’s ($ 3.99 for a pack of 24).

For another idea on how to cover paperback books, check this project, too.