Don't Throw Out Leftover Bricks: Reuse Them For An Adorable Garden DIY

Whether you have leftover renovation materials or you've salvaged used bricks from an old demolition site, these heavy clay rectangles are more valuable than you might think. For DIY enthusiasts, the brick repurposing possibilities are almost endless. You can use old bricks for simple projects like homemade fire pits and landscape edging, or get creative and repurpose old bricks into beautiful light up patio decor. And when it comes to the garden, your old bricks can be transformed into beautiful decorative books with just a little bit of paint. Since bricks are already mostly book-shaped, all you need to do is paint a cover and some faux pages on them to create a bookish DIY that will look simply adorable in your garden.

This garden brick book DIY comes together quickly and adds a fun touch of whimsy to any outdoor space. It's also highly customizable, so you can ensure your DIY is full of personal touches. As for supplies, you will need a couple of bricks, white paint, black paint, colored paint of your choosing, and two paint brushes — one for covering the brick and another for adding small details. Alternatively, you can use acrylic paint markers for these small details, since they might be easier to work with.

To transform your old bricks into adorable, bookish garden decor, start by wiping off any dirt or debris on them so that you have a clean surface to paint on. Then, add a coat of white paint to three of the more narrow sides of each brick. The remaining sides will make the spine, front cover, and back cover of your book. Paint them in a color of your choosing. Once they're dry, go in with a small brush or your paint markers and add thin black lines on top of the white paint. These will serve as the pages of your book. Add details to the spine and covers of your book using the same small brush or marker. Now you have beautiful DIY garden ornaments that will enhance your outdoor space. To display the newly painted bricks, choose an area in your garden and stack the books like you would on a bookshelf.

As for customization options, the possibilities are bountiful. For starters, you can use an off-white color for your book pages to give them an aged, weathered look. You can also work with various sizes of bricks for a more organic look. If you love this DIY but aren't much of a book lover, there are several alternative ways to try out this project. Movie covers, board game boxes, and tiny cottages are all good examples of what else you could paint. You could even paint the bricks to look like sticks of butter or condiment packs to turn old bricks into adorable backyard decor that looks good enough to eat.