Our Reading Nook

We love books. My degree is in English Literature and, sleep permitting, I still love good book.

It may seem pretentious but for me, passing on a love of books to my children is as important as teaching them to brush their teeth and eat healthily.

Thankfully neither of them take much persuading.

We have lots of books. I buy them, we go to the library, if people ask me what to get them for birthdays and Christmas, I always say a book.

The problem is that while both children have small bookcases in their bedrooms and one of our landings houses the big book cases, the nature of our many stair cases house means that the books in the living room never had a real home.

Until now.

I searched for ages for a book case. It had to be slim so as to fit down the side of my wing backed arm chair (bought a few years ago in Next) but with enough shelves to house books for a variety of interests and levels.

From Peppa Pig, Thomas the Tank Engine and classic picture books to early readers and phonic-friendly ones suitable for Boo.

I eventually found one on a local selling site and, after dropping Boo at school, set off with G to a little village near Bolton and paid the princely sum of £10 for this little beauty.

Our farmhouse is so old that modern furniture just doesn’t seem to fit. I love the thought of a piece of furniture with history.

Just think how many books have nestled on its shelves.

It has worked a treat. Both children have made great use of our new book nook. It is next to a radiator and has a lovely view onto the farm yard.

I intend to change the books every couple of months so they both get to read different things and I am already planning the next lot of material. I am hoping to keep the topics seasonal and maybe follow some of the topics Boo will be learning about at school.

As you can see from the photos, there are not many of my books on the shelf. I’m not sure either of the children would be that impressed with my choice of reading material but, you never know, if I have a backlog of books to get through, I may sneak one or two of my choices on there.

While many bloggers like to end there with an idyllic view of life with kids, I would just like to add that the book case doesn’t always look so nice.

After a particularly heavy session with G, it is more likely to look like this…

It only takes a few minutes when they’ve gone to bed to get it looking nice again.

Maybe one day I will be able to settle in our little reading nook myself. However I am under no illusion of how short these messy days are and however they play with books is ok with me.