Creating a Family Reading
Room
Among all the rooms in the house, the spare
room tends to be the most neglected and under-utilized.
After all, it's called a spare room because no one really uses
it. The room can come in handy for a lot of things
though. Having a spare in case friends or relatives stop
by is great, but let us take a look at a more useful and
useable idea for this room that your family will love:
Create a Family Reading Room
This is one idea that is making a quick comeback. In today's
age of technology and the Internet, the desire of children and
adults to read is steadily declining. Families used to
get together and read books and tell stories. But now,
good quality family time is decreasing as fast as their desire
to read. So what can you do to help your family start
reading again? Change your spare room into a reading room
- a.k.a. a home library. This can be done with simple,
easy, and practical decorating.
If your spare room has a bed in it, then it needs to be removed
before you can turn it into a library. You might consider
replacing the bed with a futon or daybed though, so it can
still be used for guests when needed, yet double as sitting
space in your reading room. Put the old bed in another room or
into storage. Once the bed is removed, take a good long
look around. Jot down notes on what colors you would
like
to use, what types of decorations, what type of lights,
accents, and so on. Once you have your ideas down on paper, go
and purchase a couple of bookcases. These do not have to
be the extravagant five to seven shelf solid oak
bookcases. These can be as simple as a two shelf aluminum
bookcase, or even wall mounted shelves. The goal here is
having a structure to hold the books that you plan on adding to
this room.
Once the bookcases have been bought, placed and stocked, search
for a container for a few magazines. Old wicker baskets
or milk crates will work fine for this. Grab a few
magazines that you know will be read and stock the basket with
them. It's also a good idea to have plenty of lighting in
your room as well. If you need to, purchase a couple of
floor lamps. These will serve as the extra lighting that
your family will need during their reading sessions.
 The overall theme that you should try to
achieve is a literary and educational theme. Try to
promote the art of reading with the decorations that
you place. For instance, purchase wallpaper border
that has designs of books and pens, and place it along the
top of your walls. If you can find some accent
pillows with a literary theme, those would be ideal
decorative accents for this room. And in order for
your room to work to your advantage, you must set aside
some reading time for your family. This may be hard
at first, (to get them to commit to a weekly reading
time), but do not give up! After a while they'll get
into the habit of coming into this newly decorated room
and spending their time reading and enjoying it. And
what a joy it will be when your child says, "Mom, turning
the spare room into a library was such a great idea!"
© 2006, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Find excellent floor lamps
for your reading room at our Lamps & Lighting Decor
Boutique.
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