Women turn unwanted items into decorations for the home

4/23/13 Women turn unwanted items into decorations for the home | St. Cloud TIMES | sctimes.com
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Women turn unwanted items into decorations for the home
Apr 13, 2013 |
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Val Broste, Kathryn Laakso and Jean Bjerke started their book refurbishing company, Book Women 3, earlier this
year. / Jun-Kai Teoh, jteoh@stcloudtimes.com
Written by
Amy Bow en
FILED UNDER
Life
Sauk Rapids
Waite Park
Books are treasured by Kathie Laakso, Jean Bjerke and Val Broste,
but they aren’t just for reading.
Kathie Laakso has packed her home with books. Some are meant for
their traditional purposes, but others are transformed into decorative
pieces.
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The woman and two of her friends, Jean Bjerke and Val Broste, all of
St. Cloud, earlier this year started Book Women 3, a book
refurbishing company.
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The letter K was Book Women 3's first project. The
book, 'The Martha Rules,' was converted into an art
piece using antique decorations. / Jun-Kai Teoh,
jteoh@stcloudtimes.com
The friends rescue unwanted books from libraries and thrift and
antique stores. They then turn them into lamps, decorative stacks,
ZOOM
book hooks and cut-out letters. They sell their
creations at Gypsy Lea’s in Sauk Rapids.
“We love books,” Bjerke said. “We don’t want
them to go into the landfill.”
The business is set up in Laakso’s garage.
The women worked together at Marketplace
Counseling in Waite Park. Laakso recently
retired, and the friends wanted to stay in touch.
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4/23/13 Women turn unwanted items into decorations for the home | St. Cloud TIMES | sctimes.com
Learn more about Book Women 3, a book
refurbishing business, on Facebook,
www.facebook.com/Bookwomen3, or by e-mailing
bookwomen3@gmail.com.
Items are also sold at Gypsy Lea’s, Sauk Rapids,
www.gypsyleas.com.
The trio always liked doing arts and crafts.
They started talking about books and
brainstorming ideas they saw on the website
Pinterest.
“In this digital age, we want to find a way to
display books so they can be of focus,”
Laakso said.
Their first project was a book cut into the letter K. The book, “The
Martha Rules,” by Martha Stewart, has a light green cover. The
women decorated it with an antique knife and stamp.
The letters look nice displayed around the home, the women said.
Another project is a lamp featuring an Edison light bulb on top of two
computer and technology books. It’s clever, the women said.
Book hooks have hooks glued on books. It’s perfect for holding items
such as jewelry, they said.
“We love to read books, talk about books and display books,” Laakso
said. “It’s a natural extension.”
Laakso carved out room in her garage for a work space. Her late
husband, David, liked to work on building projects, so she kept his
tools.
The women learned how to work power saws, band saws and
sanders.
Stacks of books fill the garage. The women would like to expand their
offerings by adding items such as chairs and headboards. For
example, they will replace the chair’s seat with books.
Cutting into the books can be difficult though, the women said. They
save some titles that they can’t bear to dismantle.
Laakso recently picked up a book from 1889 at a used bookstore in
Alaska. The book was just too interesting to use.
And sometimes the women start reading the books they are
repurposing.
“It slows down the process,” Bjerke said.
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