we recently bought the book young house love: 243 ways to paint, craft, update & show your home some love by sherry and john petersik (you may have heard of their blog by the same name). although the book includes projects of varying time commitments, cost, and difficulty, most of the ideas in the book are very simple – that is, they’re really adaptable to how much money (if any) you have to spend, how much space you have in your house or apartment, how much you can really alter your house or apartment (i.e. if you’re renting), and how comfortable you are with certain tools, etc. basically, if you have zero money, next to no space, and don’t trust yourself with a toolbox, there’s still plenty of projects in here for you. sometimes i get overwhelmed when i see certain home decor/improvement projects on pinterest or other blogs because they seem SO specific, and i fear that it won’t turn out well unless i follow the instructions exactly, but this book is different. it’s meant to be a springboard for whatever inspires you and whatever you can manage in your own space.

since we live in a relatively small space that we can’t alter too much, i usually gravitate towards projects that involve sprucing up things we already have in ways that i haven’t thought about before. i’ve already bookmarked tons of ideas in the book that fit this description, including the first project in the book: faux wallpaper the back of your bookcase.

we purchased this ikea bookcase awhile back and it’s been decorated many different ways throughout the last couple of years. it’s gone from being filled with just books to being a little more styled and now, since the move, it’s filled up with books again. not that lots o’ books is ever a bad things, but i’ve been ready to do something different with it lately, and i loved the “wallpapering” idea. i’ve seen people paint the open space behind their bookcases before, and i love how it looks, but i hate the idea of not being able to move the bookcase in the future because there will be weird blocks of paint on the wall.

you can pretty much use anything for the faux wallpaper, including fabric, scrapbook or other fancy paper, wrapping paper, or anything else you can think of. i went to target, bought a roll of brown kraft paper for a couple dollars, and decided i wanted to make it look slightly more exciting. i used a potato to create a circle stamp and stamped four squares of paper with white polka dots.

once it dried, i wrapped the paper around four square pieces of cardboard that i cut from a box we found in the recycling (it was super clean). (you’ll want to make sure that your paper/fabric is slightly bigger than whatever you are wrapping it around, so that you can secure it). i just used tape to secure the paper to the cardboard, but if you’re using fabric, you may want to try glue. then, i just popped each square into the squares in the bookcase. they went in pretty well, but one of them i had to insert from behind because it was a little too large to fit in from the front. here’s how it turned out:

we moved most of the books into another area and kept just a few on this bookcase, because i wanted it to have a simpler look and feature some other items as well, like my vintage typewriter, the piggy bank my bff ruth gave me for my sweet 16, and our memory jar from last year.

i also made the little tray that you see below with a cheap frame from hobby lobby, two drawer pulls from home depot, and fabric to put below the glass. i love little trays like this, but they’re always so pricey, so this is a great way to make your own! (here’s the how-to)

can’t wait to share more little projects as we complete them! have you made any simple updates in your homes lately?