We moved into our first home about 3 months ago. We have done hardly any decorating...mostly fixing up the place to make it livable (it was quite the fixer upper!) But the first things we did do were to establish the reading corners throughout the home. We read a lot. And I realized just now as I am writing this that we have 6 designated reading spots in the house. I love that several times a day, I'll find the kids reading in one of our book nooks. My office has large book case full of mostly children's books, we have a library room (it's really the living room with a wall to wall bookcases), the kids have bedside books, Ken and I have bedside books with books for the whole family, and we have a basement bookcase full of children's books. That's a lot of books! So that makes 5.
But the 6th place was added a few weeks ago when we purchased these picture frame shelves from IKEA and made a display book case. It was an interesting thing: For as many books we had through out the house, so many of the picture books that were crammed into bookcases just weren't getting read unless I displayed them in baskets, or pulled them out for their reading piles.Think of it like browsing in the bookstore and not having any books on display, and only getting the spine to entice you to pull it down.
This bookcase has solved that problem! We rotate the books every other day or so, and the kids pull them down so much more often than before.
And besides that, it's just pretty. It's really like displaying art! Really good art at that!
There are so many ways to make display bookcases.
Here are some other ideas if IKEA isn't available (although, I hear Target has the same kinda thing)
A MacGyvered bookcase from old wire and such.
These bookcases are actually a rain gutters, painted white and cut to size. Seen on Small Notebook Blog and Tiny Decor Blog and Satori Smiles.
Clever IKEA hack that keeps the books from falling off but still give the visual punch.
We have plans to do more....like make the closet next to the shelving into a reading cave complete with curtains and flashlights to make for a dark cozy reading spot ...but more on that later.
So question: How have you made reading time fun at your house?