CREATIVE LOCATIONS

We decorate our homes in order to enjoy them. For book lovers, adding a cozy and well-lit space dedicated to reading can be the perfect finishing touch.

Most homes, of course, don’t have a spare room for use as a library. But interior designers often carve out one section of a living room, sunroom or master bedroom as a dedicated reading area, says designer Pamela Harvey.

Harvey, who splits her time between design projects in Florida and in the northern Virginia/ Washington, D.C., area, says that where you put a reading space depends on your habits. Are you seeking a spot that’s private and silent, or would you rather have an open, airy reading space to share with family members?

Here, she and two other interior designers — Kansas Citybased Jaclyn Joslin, founder of Coveted Home, and Bethesda, Maryland-based Kelley Proxmire — suggest ways to create a perfectly luxurious space, even on a budget.

Joslin has helped two clients turn unused formal dining rooms into multi-use spaces. Although the rooms are used by the whole family, she says, “in both homes we added nice comfy chairs for the adults to sit in and read.”

Proxmire added a reading space to a home office for a woman who wanted her kids to cuddle up and read while she worked.

She has also creatively repurposed spare closets, a trick that’s especially useful in children’s bedrooms. For one client, she removed closet doors, added a padded bench seat across the width of the closet, and then added a wall-mounted light fixture. Builtin drawers underneath the seat and shelf space above mean the closet still offers storage.

Add pillows to the padded seat and a curtain for privacy, Proxmire says, and you’ve got the perfect place for a child to curl up and get lost in books.

And if your reading space must be in a common area, you can still have a measure of privacy. Try adding a decorative screen or strategically placed bookcase that functions as a room divider. That’s “a great way to carve out a little space in a corner of a room for a retreat-like feeling,” Joslin says.

LAYERED LIGHTING

Build in “the flexibility to have different levels of light” in your reading space, Harvey says.

She suggests a mix of table lamps, floor lamps and small reading lamps.

“Task lamps work really well,” she says.

Joslin agrees: “I love floor lamps that are sleek and minimal that can be tucked under or right next to the chair to provide direct light for reading,” she says.

ANGIE SECKINGER/SHERRY MOELLER VIA AP This undated photo provided by Sherry Moeller shows an upper level seating area in a home designed by Pamela Harvey in McLean, Va. A bar cart placed near a comfortable window seat provides a place for a reading lamp and a spot to rest a mug or glass, creating a cozy reading nook with plenty of natural light.