For many of us, reading is a quintessentially cosy pastime, a time-honoured tradition with rituals around when and where we do it. So it’s no surprise then that more and more of us are creating specific reading spaces in our homes – or book nooks – where we know we can go to curl up with a good story for a few hours. And it’s more than just dedicated libraries – we’re also installing window seats for the very purpose, or heading to a favourite armchair in a room without a television. Stuck on how to create your own book nook? Take inspiration below:
Alexandra Tolstoy, writer
Our house isn’t the biggest so I read in bed – it's a real refuge, especially as it’s under a window looking up onto a cherry tree. I still read out loud to my daughter before she goes to sleep and have spent many hours on a little slipper chair next to her bunk bed. Nowadays I also spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks and that happens everywhere – as I’m cooking, in the bath and when I can’t sleep at night – being read to by Prunella Scales or David Suchet seems the ultimate luxury to me.
Paula Sutton, interiors stylist
I have a large red button-back sofa that engulfs me like a warm hug and is situated under a tall bookshelf in a corner of our drawing room. It's the perfect reading spot as it's only an arm's length away from a variety of well-read novels, historical biographies and beautifully photographed gardening and interiors tomes. There's plenty of space to curl up and while the hours away engulfed in something enticingly juicy or intellectually enlightening – whatever takes my fancy at any given moment. The room is a no-TV zone, so only jazz classics like Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington are allowed to play lightly in the background. Failing that I read to the accompaniment of Norfolk birdsong or a grumbling tractor.
Matilda Goad, designer & creative consultant
Our kitchen banquette is a really hardworking space; it caters for everything from squeezing 12 friends around the table to an intimate setting for our family on weekdays. It’s also the perfect spot for reading – without others around it’s a big comfy space to spread out with a load of books. I love to buy second-hand interiors books on eBay, like old Terence Conran and David Hicks, and use them as reference points for inspiration.
Hollie Bowden, interior designer
My reading nook is in a classic front bay window setup with a really deep armchair that has a zebra print thrown over the top. I can read, relax and watch the world go by through the sheers. I love reading in a very deep chair that’s upright enough to concentrate, but still low, deep and high-sided enough to completely sink into. Great reading chairs envelop you in my opinion.
Olmypia & Ariadne Irving, co-founders of Carolina Irving & Daughters
Our go to reading place at home is our L-shaped banquette in our conservatory. The conservatory is what first drew us to the house because the light was so incredible in there, so we knew we had to make this space as usable as possible. We had the banquette built and added tons of big comfy cushions; the corner is the best place to get comfortable and read a book. The room is flooded with light, but also becomes incredibly cosy when it's raining too.
Tish Weinstock, writer
We have the cosiest alcove in the countryside which I love to read in. It’s by the window in the library with lots of leopard print and antique tapestry cushions to snuggle up to. And if you don’t want to be found you can draw the curtains in front of you and no one would ever know you’re there.
Luke Edward Hall, artist
I have an addiction to books, and unfortunately I don't have anywhere near enough shelves. One day I'd like a library, but until then I am constantly surrounded by towers of books - on floors, on desks, underneath tables, in the loo! My favourite time and place to read, I would say, is post-bath, in bed. I leave my phone somewhere out of reach, and I try my best to relish a good 30 minutes of downtime before sleeping. The light from my bedside lamps is soft and warm, and, crucially, next to my bed I have an old painted Regency desk, on which four big piles of books sit, allowing me to dip in and out of tomes as I please.
Angelica Squire, interior designer
My home tends to be pretty noisy as I have three young children and so given I always have to keep half an eye on them, my favourite spot is at my dining table. Ideally reclined back with my legs atop the table like a proper slob (although leaning a magazine or book against one’s propped up legs is ideal, no?). It has a full view of the kitchen and sitting room as well as being in clear earshot of our playroom downstairs, and so I manage to multitask, listening out for squabbling as well as snatching a sacred moment to read. Ideally with Classic FM on in the background. Right now I’m switching between Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act and A Little Life. I also can’t resist a flick through How To Spend It if it’s the weekend.
Pandora Sykes, broadcaster and author
I tend to do all my reading in bed or the bath! But I do also love the window seat in my sitting room, where I like to imagine my daughter (almost 6 and falling in love with books to my delight) and I reading top-to-toe in the future.
Penny Morrison, interior designer
I retreat to my library when I want to read. There's nowhere better to escape to another world than amongst my bookshelves in front of the fire, curled up with my cats and dogs.
Emily Campbell, If Only If designer
Without being too much of a cliché, there is no greater place in my mind to feel completely enveloped and away from the world than my bed. After the madness of the day, wrangling three children into their rooms and doing the packed lunches, I start my own essential wind down. Obscenely hot bath, fresh nightie and into (ideally) clean sheets and a new book. That complete silence, the feeling of the time being just mine… it will forever be my favourite moment of each day and why I will always think of bed and books as being intertwined.
Sarah Corbett-Winder, stylist
I love to escape to the high backed wing chair in our sitting room. It was designed by my husband and you can really get your feet up, shut off the world, and indulge in your book. It always makes me question whether I want to come back?
Hannah Weiland, Shrimps founder
'Reading is my favourite hobby, and for me finding cosy reading nooks is a big part of the enjoyment of it. At home I have perfected my favourite reading nook, which is a vintage Broderna Andersson sofa in a beautiful vintage print by Gp& J Bakers. I lie lengthways across the sofa, and have positioned the perfect coffee table and coaster, so my cup of tea is in easy reach... which is essential. I love doing this when the house is quiet, I light a candle and often have the washing machine on, I find the sound and smells all very comforting.'
