How to Turn a Book into Wall Art

I didn't realize how much I loved my hometown of San Francisco until I left it. Then I got to move back for a while before I left again. The quote below expresses my sentiment exactly. 

When I first saw the gorgeous book This is San Francisco by Miroslav Sasek, originally published in 1962 and which my mom bought for us on the spot, it inspired the colors for our future playroom/sunroom. 

We painted the walls of the room in our new house a delicious pumpkin, and used the teal rug and emerald loveseat from our Atlanta house. I added sheer light seafoam blue curtains. But the walls remained a blank canvas for too long.

Finally, although I was originally going to scan and print copies of the illustrations, I ended up getting a second copy of This is San Francisco on Amazon for only about $8 shipped. I whipped out the Exacto knife and got to work slicing, ending up with this lovely pile and these empty frames, just waiting to get together. 

I picked up two colors of textured art paper at Hobby Lobby, one color inspired by the sheer curtains and the other an almost-white for off-setting the colorful illustrations against the darkish seafoam background. 

In an amalgamation of wall collage planning and hanging methods I gleaned from Pinterest, I laid out my filled frames on brown wrapping paper (basically a big roll of brown paper bag type paper), traced the frames, and measured and marked where their hooks were. 

I hung my tracing on the wall, hammered the nails in, and then cut the paper to the nails so I could tear the paper down. Then the finale: hanging the pictures!! 

Here's the whole collage. Included are a cork board to keep papers from piling up on my desk... 

 ...and a magnetic knife rack from Ikea for hanging my schedule and cleaning printables in easy reach and easy view. 

You may also remember the wonderful San Francisco metal print gift. I echoed the white frames of the collage by hanging a retired empty frame that Dear made for Elora's baby room decor around it. 

         

I love how the collage peeps out through the eat-in nook archways. Seeing it out of the corner of my eye makes me feel like I've accomplished something and like the house is getting homier and homier. 

   

This is Isabelle. Have you met her yet? That's her paw print waving from the upper right-hand corner of the blog. 

Step-by-Step Instructions for Turning a Book into Wall Art

1)  Choose a book and decide if you will buy a copy for deconstruction or reproduce the images another way. 

2) Cut out the images you want to use. 

3) Select frame style and layouts within the frames. Notice that I used both large and small frames, and most of the large frames have two pictures in them. Choose frames that are larger than your pictures so that you can add uniformity and color with matting.

4) Cut your matting out slightly larger than your pictures and affix with glue. You may want to test your glue, book paper, and matting paper to make sure that no bumps or seep-throughs affect your final art.

5) Fill your frames and lay them out. If you are making a collage, I recommend  laying the full collage out before attempting to hang it on the wall.

Book Suggestions for Book Wall Art

If you like Miroslav Sasek but would love to feature another city (or state), check these out:

Dick and Jane books would make nice vintage-y wall art for a children's room. And I've wanted to frame a Leslie Patricelli Potty image for the kids' bathroom: 

Hahaha!! Is that too far? =)

Prints from a Norman Rockwell book such as Best of Norman Rockwell would also be lovely. 

Really, the possibilities are endless, the price is extremely budget friendly, and the personalization opportunity is unique. What book would you use?

Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate