Reading nooks and reading books have always played an important role in my life. My childhood was full of books and reading nooks. I have been surrounded by books, given books as gifts, encouraged to read and take care of my books.

Virtually every room in the house in which I grew up had book shelves. My Father had a huge library where books were not only alphabetized but also arranged according to genre. I kid you not! We had masses of books and many reading nooks in which to while away hours. If you love to read books then you’ll love these ideas for clever reading nooks.

My Father had a big reading chair, under a light, beside an antique writing desk and books were always piled on the floor on either side of the chair. Not that he was untidy; the piles were neat. But books were everywhere, ALL the time. Reading nooks were de rigeur.

When I go to a house and there are no book shelves, it doesn’t feel like a home. A bit like not having a dog; a house is not a home without a dog. And so it is, for me, with books. It’s a wonderful thing to encourage literacy and reading. It’s also a wonderful thing to create reading nooks in special  places or from disused spaces; like under stairs.

Not only is under-used space given a new lease of life, but there’s snuggle value in curling up in a partially enclosed space. Don’t you think?

Although sometimes all you need is a comfy chair. If you don’t have stairs – or the space underneath has been given up to a wine rack – you can use fabulous chairs as decor items AND reading nooks. Voila! Instant heaven.

Don’t you feel wonderfully relaxed already? Grab a wine, and a good book, and re-la-xxx!!

I was lucky to have my own room when I was kid – WITH the requisite book shelves – and even tho we had three living areas I was encouraged to ‘play in my room’ – probably to keep the mess to a minimum. But that was OK, because I had plenty of books, a radio and the Paris Gap fashion magazines my Father would bring home for me. So think about how to create reading nooks in kid’s bedrooms too – BONUS, kids don’t litter all the other rooms with their mess; it’s contained in one spot 🙂

Wow, there are some great ideas there. Reading nooks are terrific in corners that might otherwise be wasted, piled high with squishy cushions and decorated in bright colours.

If you have the opportunity to design reading nooks from scratch or re-purpose a cupboard they can become a real feature plus provide a wonderful space for curling up with…a good book! Reading nooks can look like they just belong; they fit beautifully into the design of the whole room.

Reading nooks aren’t just about shelving; they are about cool interiors, great fabrics, fun colours, elegance and fitting in with your decor. As you can see from some of these examples, a disused cupboard or the space it once occupied will make for a great reading nook; it’s like having an extra room! Well, sort of.

It’s not only the space under stairs and disused cupboard spaces that make for great reading nooks. Often the space under or around a window can be perfect; indoors and out.

And you might like a combination of bench seating and book shelves flanking a corridor. The example below is very symmetrical and works beautifully.

But the final word on reading nooks may be on the throne! Oh come on, you know you all do it!

If you liked these ideas, these see some other ideas on ‘Thing of Stone & Wood‘, storage ideas for kid’s bedrooms, clever bathroom storage, and having a Home Office in a closet.