DIY Dinosaur Bookend

I have a thing for quirky, unusual . . . things. I also have roughly enough books to open a shop, so a decent bookend is always welcome. If I can find a way to put the two together, and have a little fun with a quick DIY project? It’s happy dance time!

A while back, I fell in love with this adorable Dinosaur bookend:

I fell in love with it on several levels. For one, it’s just too cute. For another: dinosaur! It took me a while to find the perfect specimen for my own bookend, but I finally did:

I bought it at Goodwill for a dollar, and I’m sure the cashier thought I was nuts, since it was the only thing I found in that store! I wish I could let Tryshen know that his dino went to a good home.

When we moved into our new house, there was some scrap wood left over from a repair to our back porch. Ruby picked out a piece for me. I decided I didn’t want to spend the money on a nice beveled piece. Dinosaurs are rough and tumble, right? Their bases can be, too, I guess. I attached the dino to the base with E6000 glue.

At first, I thought I’d just copy the original picture, since I loved it so much, and use green spray paint. I had a half-full can that I bought for a dollar at Goodwill during a different shopping trip. But for some reason, maybe just because the paint was old, the paint didn’t give good coverage to the dinosaur and the base. Even after three coats, it didn’t look right. I also thought that the green made the dinosaur look like a lizard.

I had a $4 can of metallic spray paint that I’d bought to freshen up this:

I still need to get to that, but I broke out the paint and gave gold a try. The results were instantly spectacular! The layers in the wood show through, but they’re all shiny gold and they remind me of sedimentary layers, so that’s okay. Plus my dinosaur kept his fierce glare. I think the gold gives him more of a grown-up flavor (even though he’s still a plastic dinosaur.) This would be adorable in a kid’s room, but I love it in my office as well.

I spent a dollar for the dinosaur, the wood was free, and I used maybe another dollar’s worth of paint–cuteness for two bucks! I think just about anything glued to wood and spray painted would make a great bookend. Ruby has some plastic horses that I’m thinking might be pretty awesome for her bedroom.

I especially love the way the dinosaur looks like he’s taking a step, sort of, so he’s putting his shoulder into holding up those books. What a good boy!

The bookshelf might be his new home, but this dinosaur is simply irresistible in his natural environment. I’m seriously tempted to collect a bunch and just line my patio railing with them!

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