It's Mommy Monday again, and today I'm excited to show you my girls' reading nook in their bedroom! My girls love to read. No big surprise- my sisters and I have always been big readers too- and I'm happy that they are continuing the family legacy :) When I was going to be moving into our current apartment, I knew I wanted a reading area to encourage their love of reading. My main problem was that I had a lot of books and not a lot of space. And since I am renting, I couldn't build anything or go crazy drilling holes in the walls. What I have ended up with is a combination of several storage systems for the books, and the girls and I love it!
Their reading area is in one corner of their 10x10 bedroom (the rest of their room is taken up with their 2 beds). I was extremely fortunate to have a group of mothers give us 2 monogrammed oversized Anywhere Chairs from Pottery Barn. They remembered me saying that I was drooling over them but could never afford them, and sent them as a surprise! My fellow mommy friends are truly amazing and I am continually amazed at the bond that we have and the commitment we have to supporting each other. The girls absolutely love the chairs, and they are big enough for us to sit together in one to read together too!
Between one of the chairs and the door I have a small shelf that holds a lamp (the only lighting in the room), white noise machine, and some books. I tend to put the thicker books, and box sets (like the Dr Seuss one in the picture) on this shelf.
In the corner, I have 4 shelves hanging on the walls. These hold the most books, and get the most use, so I rotate books in and out of these shelves. I found the idea on Pinterest to use shelves like this from IKEA to hold books, but apparently IKEA stopped making them. Not to worry, I found similar ones on Etsy. They really are wonderful for toddlers- it is so much easier for them to take books on and off the shelves, and they can find a book they want more quickly because they can see the front cover instead of the spine.
A few books sit on the floor under the wall shelving. We have two big books that have a recording of my parents reading it (SO awesome) that stay there because of their size, and I try to keep books we have checked out of the library there too so I don't lose track of them. We definitely add books to the floor during the week, but I try to pick them up at least once a week so that we can find all of the books without tripping over anything :)
The rest of the books are in one of two baskets like this. We keep the awkwardly-shaped and soft cover books in these since they are hard to put on a shelf. The girls also like to use these to take a whole bunch of books to the couch or their bed. And then dump them out. It is nice to have an easy-access way for them to take a bunch of books somewhere when the mood strikes though :)
And there you have it: our reading nook and book storage solution for my 2-year-old's! It is an ever-evolving system based on what furniture we have and what kind of books we have, but I think it actually works nicely to have multiple systems to accommodate different situations and different kinds of books. How do you store your kids' books? Do you have a reading area for your kids? I'd love to see your pictures too!
As an extra bonus, today I am also sharing an insider secret!
I just recently passed 50 followers on my store at TeachersPayTeachers, and to celebrate, I'm going to be sending all of my TpT followers a free product this coming weekend! If you haven't yet, head on over to my store and click on the green star to make sure you get the freebie. If you don't have an account with TpT, it's quick and free to create one.
I don't know about you, but in my area the holidays are already upon us everywhere I turn. I've seen stores selling tons of Thanksgiving decorations, and even some Christmas things are starting to pop up! Even Starbucks has started selling their pumpkin spice latte... Yep, the season of preparation is definitely approaching. Have you started thinking about the gifts you will be giving this year? I am trying to be more proactive and buy gifts gradually, and it makes me feel so much more relaxed about getting ready for fall and the holidays that follow. But I find myself going through a mental checklist trying to keep track of what I already bought for whom, what gift ideas I had thought of for others, and who I still need to think about. This exclusive follower freebie is ready to help with that! More details to come later this week, but for now head on over to my store and make sure you're ready, and if you know others who would benefit from a more organized, low-stress holiday season, send them the link too!
Happy Monday!
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