6. Old Book Floating Shelves and Hollow Safes
While books are treasured companions, damaged, outdated, or unreadable encyclopedias and novels often end up discarded in thrift store bargain bins or municipal waste facilities. Giving these literary relics a second life through creative repurposing honors their paper heritage while serving modern storage needs in a wonderfully whimsical fashion.
One of the most popular and visually arresting ideas is the floating book shelf. Choose a thick, hardcover book with an attractive spine to serve as the bottom support. Securely screw an L-shaped metal bracket directly into the wall studs. Open the book to the middle pages and slide the vertical arm of the bracket between the pages, then glue the front and back covers down tightly around the bracket arm using PVA glue so the bracket is completely hidden. Once secure, you can stack several other books on top of this anchored book, creating the optical illusion of a floating stack of literature. Alternatively, you can glue the interior pages of a thick book together along their outer edges, carve out a rectangular cavity in the middle, and create a secretive hollow book safe to hide your valuable treasures on a bookshelf.