• The Comfort of Things: Reading nooks
A SPACE OF YOUR OWN
There are certain things in your home that are like old friends: they always cheer you up. We feel the love for somewhere quiet to sit and think
There are times when it’s just great to be tangled up on the sofa watching TV with one, or several, loved ones. Or to prop yourself up by the kettle with a cup of tea as other household members mill around and share anecdotes from their day. But at other times this can feel like too much social activity altogether. These are times when you’re itching to finish reading a book uninterrupted, get back to a craft project or perhaps you work from home and have business to attend to. Any of these activities needs a designated area that is exclusively yours. The kitchen table with all its comings and goings and constant interruptions will not do. An entire room, à la Virginia Woolf’s famous maxim (“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”), is the ideal, but not all of us are blessed with one. If a spare room is at your disposal, you’ll have the advantage of being able to shut the door: a clear signal to others to keep out if ever there was one. They don’t know you are actually snoozing on the spare bed rather than finishing a chapter.
Those not blessed with an entire room must carve out a space elsewhere. A corner of the living room can be commandeered as a reading corner. Overlooked areas like under the stairs, the landing, or the garage all have potential for a spot of household land-grabbing. So does the bedroom which, after all, isn’t used for most of the day.
Once you have claimed your spot, customise it so that it suits your specific needs. If you work from home, natural light will be essential to keep your mood buoyant, so put your desk near a window. Furnish your reading corner with your choice of armchair, side table, floor lamp and throw. Houseplants and cushions also help to stake your claim. Then, the only thing left to do is to occupy your space as often as possible. »
“Overlooked areas have potential for a spot of land-grabbing”