Back to School Inspired Decor

Our back to school inspired decor incorporates vintage book pages, stacks of vintage book bundles, and a metal lunchbox to give those back to school vibes.

Back to school season is always met with mixed emotions around here. On one hand, after a long summer break we are usually craving a little bit more of a daily routine. On the other hand, it can be really hard to find the motivation to start sticking to a stricter schedule. By putting up some back to school decor, I was hoping to inspire us all to look forward to all the new school year brings.

My back to school inspiration

As I was organizing some of our inventory in our office last weekend, I came across a vintage alphabet book that I picked up at an antique show last year. When I found it, it was missing its cover and the first and last pages containing the letters a and z. My practical self told me to pass on by. Why would anyone want to buy a partial book? My creative self tried to pick her jaw up off the floor. Look at those gorgeous colors! Look at those thick, textured, yellowed pages! I had to have it!

I didn’t know at the time what I would use the pages for, but I had Rich work them into his bundle deal with the sweet antique vendor. She gave us a good deal. (It never hurts to go shopping with your six kids in tow. Especially when you are shopping for vintage children’s items.)

When we got home, I packed the alphabet book away with some of my other vintage book remnants and awaited inspiration. I intended to sell it off page by page at a vintage market as nursery decor. Somehow, I never ended up bringing it back out.

When I saw the book again last weekend, I knew just what to do with it. It would make the perfect back to school inspired wall decor in our library! There were just enough pages to fill the space above our piano. I love the whimsical look of these colorful pages. They are just the thing we needed to add some back to school vibes to this space. I used these binder clips and some finish nails to quickly and easily hang the book pages on the wall without damaging them.

Vintage Book Bundles

To fill the space under the book pages, I added some stacks of vintage books. Vintage books add so much color and texture to a space. They are great for adding height to your decor as well. Most of the books in our back to school decor are either vintage school books or dictionaries. Grouping the books by color gives a more collected look.

Alternating the books by displaying some of them with their spines to the front and some of them with just the pages exposed adds variety. Breaking up all of the colors with a little bit of neutral texture also adds more interest to the display.

Stacking these vintage dictionaries provided a place to display this potted houseplant. By itself, the pot would have looked too small.

If you’d like to add some vintage books to your home decor, you can shop our latest collection here.

Practical Back to School Storage

I moved this metal nine drawer cabinet into the library next to the piano to add some storage space for the kids’ piano books and homeschool workbooks. This vintage globe fit perfectly on top and added some height and color to the space.

I think I will go back and label each of the drawers with the kids’ names. They really needed someplace to store their school workbooks and notebooks. Last year, they ended up stacking their books on top of the piano most of the time.

A Space to Inspire Learning

My goal in designing our back to school space was to create an atmosphere where the kids felt inspired to learn and explore new things. To me, vintage books and book page illustrations help create the feeling that life is full of possibilities and that beauty is all around us in the small things.

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You can shop our vintage book collection here.

Browse our vintage home decor here.

Buy the binder clips I used here.

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