Best Places to Get Hardcover Books for Decor
Farmhouse and vintage home decor styles have been making books for decor use more and more popular over the last several years. Hardcover books have become more of a demanding shelf accessory, making them harder to find and more expensive. Today, I want to share with you the best places to get hardcover books for decor -- and this list will be especially helpful for those of you on strict budgets!
What I Look For
I don't want all of the books on my shelves to be completely meaning less, so I try to have a nice blend. When I shop or hunt for hardcover books, I look for books that I've read before, books by authors whose work I've enjoyed, books with cool sounding titles, and then books in the color schemes I'm trying to decorate with. If I have no luck with finding books I'm remotely familar with, I then go with color and title. And to those of you who say not to judge a book by it's cover, that's exactly how I've managed to find most of the books and musical artists that I love to this day. Sometimes, it's totally ok to pick something out just based on looks alone. Usually, they're marketed perfectly for people just like you!
Where I Shop for Hardcover Books
Buy Nothing Group
Nearly every city in the US has a local Buy Nothing group on Facebook. To find out if there's one near you, or how to help start one in your city, visit BuyNothingProject.org. They also recently started their own platform for people without local Facebook groups to be able to better connect with others for gifting. The entire purpose of Buy Nothing is to take various things off other people's hands for free. Everything is free. It's not only to help those who are unable to buy things they need for everyday living, but to all pass off things that you might not want or need anymore to someone who could us it. I've been so grateful for every item I've been lucky enough to have passed onto me. Put a call out for what you want and just wait to see if anyone can pull through!
Locally Run or Used Book Stores
If you're not particular about what books you're searching for, you could get really lucky with finding clearance hardcovers in the $1 book sections. If money is no object, you can also take part in the thrill of the hunt for books you've loved reading growing up! I like to browse these areas for what I call "filler books", or books to go in between other more important books or for short holiday seasons. Shopping in locally own book stores is the best way to support local businesses and keep shops like this running. I've found some extremely unique finds in the dollar section this way, including a complete works book for William Shakespere!
Dollar Stores
Places like Five Below and Dollar Tree will often carry books that don't do too well on sales. I've filled up my son's library with unique finds this way, and have even started purchasing hardcovers when I'm able to find them. My local Dollar Tree typically carries sci-fi stories, so I'll grab one every once in a while for my office shelves or for our Halloween decor.
Little Libraries
In my two latest trips to donate a few of our old books to our local Little Libraries, I found some fantastic finds that made me exclaim aloud. One of which was a Starcraft book written for the video game franchise Mike and I enjoy for our office, and another for my kitchen Spring decor that I remember reading as a child called, (title here). Please understand that this is a book swap system. If you take books, please give books back! I have gifted TONS of books to Little Libraries all over my city over the years because it, like the Buy Nothing Project, is a way to give back to your community. My city is very lucky to have so many residents offer up their address for Little Libraries. To find a Little Library near you, visit LittleFreeLibrary.org.
Online
There are tons of websites online that give you the ability to buy used and new hardcover books within your budget, such as ebay, Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, Depop, thriftbooks, pangobooks, and Better World Books. Ebay used to have a bookstore called Half.com that has since been merged into the main ebay website. I found a lot of used Harry Potter books through them to use for my wedding when I made paper flowers and decoupaged my shoes.
Other Options
Get creative when looking for hardcover books. Thrift stores will always have a book section. Yard and estate sales can prove to have some very interesting and unique finds. Even grocery stores might surprise you every once in a while! Support your local libraries when they sell off books that their patrons never touch.
Buying used books not only achieves the look of an authentic library collection, it also helps keep more items out of landfills. When you've moved on from the look of old books, consider paying it forward by gifting them to someone else looking to get onboard with the trend.
Let me know in the comments below where you like to hunt for hardcover books, or what your go-to list looks like! Right now, I'm on the hunt to find a lot of the books I got into after I graduated high school. I gifted almost my entire collection away and hoping I can find them used by chance! I know I could easily buy them new again since I still see them on the shelves, but what a story I'd get out of hunting for them used instead!
