How to Make Books You’ve Already Read Useful

Books are great to have and always seem to accumulate whether you want them to or not. There are a few books such as coffee table books that remain active for years. However, most books get read once and then shelved or even boxed. It's hard to throw away a book, especially if we enjoyed it even if we may never read it again. Also, since we often have a connection with books that we own, it's hard to give them away. So here are a few ways to use the books you have around the house.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Books

1. Some books look great on shelves, like old hard cover books and classics. If you have limited shelf space, try and reserve the space for these kinds of books. Often times these are the books that we have stored away. Bring them out and enjoy how studious you will look.
2. Are you a displayer? If you have displays around the house of little knick-knacks, see if you can find books that are related to the subject of the knick-knacks. For example, if you have a small collection of ceramic sheep, maybe you have a nice copy of "Little Bo Peep". Or if you have a sense of humor, "Silence of the Lambs". Any sports memorabilia hanging around? Display some sports books with them.
3. Have any books with beautiful covers? Treat them just as you would other artwork. You can find small shelves that are easy to install and treat them the way you would treat a frame for a picture. Buy some small shelves that would look good with your artistic books, and hang the shelves with the books around the room just as you would paintings.
4. Make a shelf out of books. Some books we just know we won't read, aren't that exciting to look at and would just be taking up storage space. Also, you may need more shelf room maybe even for books! So make a book shelf out of books. Stack up books to make the sides, and make the shelves by bridging large books in between the sides. Not only will it look pretty cool, but it will give you more shelf space.
5. Never underestimate how cool it is to use books to store valuables. Find a book you don't really care for and hollow out the middle of all the pages. use this to store valuables like spare keys, money and jewelry.

Tips & Warnings

• Be creative before you throw books out or store them. You can think of something worthwhile to do with them.
• NEVER throw books in the trash. Somebody somewhere needs books and there are always charities looking for books, so please think of those places before you think of the bottom of your trash bin.