DIY – Dollarstore White Lion Bookends

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DIY – Dollarstore White Lion Bookends

Earlier this year I was exploring the aisles of my local Dollarama when I came across some rather interesting garden decorations in the form of lions. I liked the shape of them, but since I don’t have a garden where they could sit proudly amongst the flowers I left them where they sat on the shelf. On my way home from the store I had what I consider a rather brilliant idea, and a day later returned and purchased two.

Dollar Store Garden Lions

For some time I’d been eying all those white ceramic animal book ends which seem to be everywhere recently, but hadn’t yet managed to bite the bullet and buy some. In particular this owl set at Chapters had caught my eye.

Chapters Owl Bookends – $39.99

Anyway, my brilliant idea was to transform those somewhat regal dollar store garden decorations into a set of bookends.

My first step was to fill my garden statues with the river rock that I also got at Dollarama.

Filled with Dollar Store River Rock

Once all the rock was inside I discovered that the rocks moved around a bit if I moved the lion, so I used paper towel to fill in some of the gaps and reduce movement. I sealed up the hole on the bottom of the lion with some thin cardboard from a box of frozen pizza.

Cover the holes with cardboard

Next up was painting. I decided that spray paint would be the easiest to apply. I mounted the lion on the painters pyramids I used during my first spray painting project. This allowed me to easily spray around the base of the lions. I did three coats of glossy white spray paint, letting it dry completely between coats.

Getting Ready to Spraypaint

The last step was to glue some white felt to the base of the bookends. This serves two purposes – it covers the unsightly cardboard, and it will also protect any surface I place the bookends on. I traced the base of the lions and then cut inside my pen mark to get pieces of felt that were slightly smaller than the base. I affixed it to the bottom of the lions with my glue gun.

Tracing the base on felt

I have to say that I’m quite pleased with the way that these turned out.

The Finished Bookend

Here’s what this project cost:

  • Two dollar store garden decorations: $4 at Dollarama
  • Two bags of dollar store river rock: $2 at Dollarama
  • White glossy spray paint: $5.49 at Home Depot
  • White felt: $1.02 at Fabricland – the location was closing, so it was 60% off $17/yd and I only bought 6.5″.

For a total cost of $14.31 (tax. included) I think I made a really nice pair of bookends.

Fred and George - the Lion BooKends

I’ve decided to name them Fred and George – I’m sure you can guess why.

linked to: The Shabby Nest, At the Picket Fence, Remodelaholic, Addicted 2 Decorating, Making the world cuter, Coastal Charm, Polish the stars, Home Stories A2Z, The Kurtz Corner, DIY by Design, Savvy Southern Style, Decor to Adore, Beyond the picket fence, Chic on a shoestring, Addicted 2 Decorating, The CSI Project
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46 Comments

  4. Wow…I’ve seen this done before, but your detailed tutorial makes yours above and beyond. These lions are super cute…I like the picture of the lion in the box…looks like it’s in time out! Thanks.

    Would love it if you would link this up to our Rockin’ link party going on now at RoCa and Company. Here is the link: http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-fall-and-you-rock-2.html Come and show off what you got. Hope to see you there…

    Remember…YOU ROCK!!

    Carmen @
    RoCa and Company
    http://www.rocaandcompany.blogspot.com

    Reply ↓

  5. these are fabulous. so creative of you!
    i would love for you to link this post up to flashback fridays going on now over at love notes.
    go check it out!
    {love} lauryn @ lovenotesbylauryn.blogspot.com

    Reply ↓

    • I wish I had known how well they would turn out – I would have bought more lions and made gifts.
      Oh well – maybe next spring they’ll have a different garden ornament I can transform!
      Michelle

      Reply ↓

  13. How wonderful and creative! Hmmm, I’m going to have to really look at the ceramics at the dollar store today, you’ve made me see some real possibilities!

    Reply ↓

  17. These are so cool! I love bookends and I think it’s really cool that you came up with them yourself. I wish they sold better figurines at the Dollar Tree here in AZ! I’ll have to look around the next time I’m there for potential copycat bookends! :)

    Reply ↓

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  42. I have spent a bit of time going through your posts, more than I should have but I must say, its worth it!

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