This MUST BE THE PLACE...

Pick your room carefully. Your reading nook doesn’t have to be in the living room. In fact, this might be the worst place for it – the average family living room is busy, with plenty of traffic and activity. Bedrooms are often a good spot as they’re seldom used during the day. You could also choose a cosy fireside corner in the kitchen, or create a dedicated reading room in place of a home office.

Make space for two. We tend to think of reading as a solo pursuit, something we do on our own when we want a bit of quiet time. But reading together, whether that’s each with your own book or reading to one another, is a really great way of spending quality time, so design a reading nook for two to sit comfortably in.

Create a nap-friendly nook. Reading has a way of distracting the mind from the thoughts that keep us occupied and awake, so it makes sense to use this to encourage a good nap, too. Choose a sofa with enough space to stretch out, with soft cushions, add in a comfortable blanket, a fire or other heat source and you can read a few chapters until you feel your eyes start to become heavy.

Try transitional areas. I mentioned about choosing your room carefully – but it doesn’t have to be a room at all. Transitional spaces are parts of the home that we use to get from one to another, such as hallways and landings. Often there is quite a lot of wasted space here that could easily be big enough for a reading area.

Section it off. Use screens or curtains as a partition. This helps to reduce distractions and increases the idea that a reading nook is a distinct part of the home. It can even help just to use a different colour scheme.