National Coffee Day is on September 29 and to celebrate, make this DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack using scrap wood.
For more crafts, check out all our DIY posts.
Book stacks got so popular a few years ago. I don’t know when the burst happened, but, just like shiplap walls and sparklers at weddings, one day, book stacks were just everywhere.
Don’t fight the trend. Learn into it and make this very cute DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack.
We made ours using scrap wood with a rounded back, just like the spine of a book. But, it’s more sensible to make this using scrap wood that you have lying around rather than buying books just to use in a craft.
This would be a really great homemade gift for a coffee fan. For more ideas of what to get them, check out our list of 10+ Best Gifts For Coffee Lovers.
DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack
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DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack Supplies
- Miter saw
- Scrap oak stair treads
- Burnt Umber acrylic paint (or any dark brown paint)
- Plastic disposable cup
- Paint brush
- White acrylic paint
- Beige acrylic paint
- White alphabet stickers
- Jute cording
- Scissors
- A match
How To Make A But First Coffee Wood Book Stack
Use a miter saw to cut three pieces of 3.25- x 4-inch wood.
You want to cut from the back of each piece so that you keep the curved edge so that looks like the spine of a book. If you don’t care about that, you can just cut three equally-sized pieces from any part of the wood.
Pour some of the dark brown acrylic paint into the plastic disposable cup.
Paint the top and all the sides of one of the pieces of wood with the dark brown paint. Let it dry. If you think it’s too light, paint a second layer.
Add some of the white acrylic paint to the plastic cup. Stir until the paint is combined.
Use that new color to paint the top and all the sides of one of the pieces of wood.
Paint the last remaining piece of wood using the beige paint. Let the paint dry completely.
Now it’s time to add the alphabet stickers.
Starting with the beige brick, spell out the word “BUT”. The easiest way to do it so all the words end up right-justified is by starting with the “T” then the “U” then the “B”.
Set that block aside, grab the lighter brown block and use the alphabet stickers to spell out the word “FIRST”.
Finally, take the dark brown block and use the alphabet stickers to spell out the word “COFFEE”.
Stack the blocks on top of each other, starting with the lightest and ending with the darkest.
Take a piece of jute cording and wrap it around the blocks three times. Cut the cording with a pair of scissors and tie a knot up top. Then, tuck the extra pieces of string under the string that’s wrapped around the wood block.
Use a match (or lighter) to very carefully burn the jute cording to remove any fly-aways. This is optional. If you opt to do it, the cording looks really nice, but you want to be really careful with fire near wood.
DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack: Frequently Asked Questions
You can use books to make a book stack. Everyone seems to make them out of wood (us included) and call them a wood book stack. But you could make them out of books.
You want books that are the same size, so you could either buy three copies of the same book or you could find three books that are the same size.
If they have paper covers on them, be sure to remove the covers and look at the spine of the book. You’re going to put the words there, so you want to make sure there aren’t any words already imprinted there.
You don’t need to glue the wood book stack together. You could if you really wanted to, but these are just going to sit near your coffee area or on a tiered tray as decoration and aren’t meant to be handled. So they won’t be flopping around or anything. They’ll stay put without glue.
If you’re set on gluing them together, though, use wood glue rather than school glue.
You can use ribbon, twine, string, really anything you want as an embellishment for the wood book stack.
Purchase A But First Coffee Wood Book Stack Online:
If you really like this But First Coffee Wood Book Stack, but you don’t want to make it yourself, there are similar ones out there that you can purchase online (and if you say you made it, well, I won’t tell anyone your secret).
- Fresh Brewed Coffee Mini Wood Book Stack With Scoop (pictured above)
- But First Coffee Two Book Stack
- Mini Wooden Farmhouse Coffee Book Stack (choose from “This Is / How We / Brew It” or “Coffee / Espresso / Latte”
- Stamped But First Coffee Book Stack
You can see more options on Amazon and Etsy, in case these ones didn’t catch your eye.
More But First Coffee Projects:
Want another similar project? Check out our DIY But First Coffee Mug. There’s also our DIY Wooden Couch Sleeve With Coffee Cup Holder.
More Scrap Wood Projects:
We love using scrap wood to make fun projects. So anytime we purchase food, we save all the pieces (yes, even the really small pieces) because we could potentially use them in a craft later.
Some of our favorite crafts using scrap wood are:
- Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial
- Mix And Match Wooden Pumpkin Face Decoration
- X-Shaped DIY Wooden Magazine Holder
- Rustic Scrap Wood Bunny Tutorial
- Rustic Scrap Wood Snowman
- DIY Wooden Serving Tray
National Coffee Day With Dunkin’:
National Coffee Day is held annually on September 29. This year, that’s a Thursday. To celebrate, Dunkin’ Rewards members can get a free medium hot or iced coffee with any purchase.
If you’ve been wanting to try Dunkin’s Tomato Pesto Grilled Cheese that we’ve been raving about for months, try it Thursday and pair it with a free cup of coffee. If you’ve been meaning to catch up with a friend, invite her out for coffee. Buy your cup and get hers for free.
For a full list of National Coffee Day Deals and Freebies, click that link.
New Dunkin’ Rewards Program:
The new Dunkin’ Rewards program rolls out on October 6, 2022. Find out all about it in our How To Get Free Coffee & More With Dunkin’ Rewards (Formerly DD Perks) post.
DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack
National Coffee Day is on September 29, 2022 and to celebrate, make this DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack using scrap wood.
Materials
- Miter saw
- Scrap oak stair treads
- Burnt Umber acrylic paint (or any dark brown paint)
- Plastic disposable cup
- White acrylic paint
- Beige acrylic paint
- White alphabet stickers
- Jute cording
- A match
Tools
- Paint brush
- Scissors
Instructions
![Wood being cut on a miter saw.]()
Use a miter saw to cut three pieces of 3.25- x 4-inch wood.![Paint being poured into a cup.]()
Pour some of the dark brown acrylic paint into the plastic disposable cup.![A paint brush painting wood.]()
Paint the top and all the sides of one of the pieces of wood with the dark brown paint. Let it dry. If you think it’s too light, paint a second layer.![Paint being poured into a cup.]()
Add some of the white acrylic paint to the plastic cup. Stir until the paint is combined.![A paint brush painting wood.]()
Use that new color to paint the top and all the sides of one of the pieces of wood.![A paint brush painting wood.]()
Paint the last remaining piece of wood using the beige paint. Let the paint dry completely.![The word "BUT" on a piece of wood.]()
Starting with the beige brick, spell out the word “BUT”. Set that block aside, grab the lighter brown block and use the alphabet stickers to spell out the word “FIRST”. Finally, take the dark brown block and use the alphabet stickers to spell out the word “COFFEE”.![Jute cording wrapped around a block.]()
Stack the blocks on top of each other, starting with the lightest and ending with the darkest. Take a piece of jute cording and wrap it around the blocks three times. Cut the cording with a pair of scissors and tie a knot up top. Then, tuck the extra pieces of string under the string that’s wrapped around the wood block.![A match burning flyaways off jute cordking.]()
Use a match (or lighter) to very carefully burn the jute cording to remove any fly-aways.
Did you make this DIY But First Coffee Wood Book Stack? Let us know how it went in the comments.