Hey all! Glad to see you've all found your way back to my amazing blog! Today I have what I think is a pretty exciting post for you guys (and me, if I'm being honest). I'm going to be giving you a tour of my reading nook at college! I'll be going over the space I have, how I managed to fit a reading nook into a college dorm room, and how I decorated it as well as show you guys some of the books and bookish items I have!
The Tour
Overall view
Left: The left side of the nook. Right: The right side of the nook.
Left: Bookshelf. Middle: Reading Chair. Right: Trunk and booksleeve hanging.
Left: Second view of bookshelf + the decor next to it. Right: Overhead view to show off the lights.
The tapestry from Society 6.
The Space + How I Managed It
Obviously going into college, I had limited dorm space. I knew that I wanted to bring some of my favorite books and most anticipated books on my TBR with me, but the challenge was where to put them. I decided after getting the dimensions of my room off of the college website that I was going to bring my smallest bookshelf, but I needed to ensure that I'd have a space for it. That was when I decided to loft my bed.
Now my bed sits five or so feet in the air, leaving me with enough space to have a cute little area underneath. I decided to put my bookshelf underneath, and that was actually the first item I had there. My trunk followed. Everything else that is shown in the pictures/video above trickled in at various stages of the first two months of me being at college.
For me, the key to managing my limited space and being able to bring my bookshelf was lofting my bed. If I had not lofted my bed, I would not have had enough space for anything that I've put in my little peace corner. While my dorm room is larger than most, I still would not have had the option of bringing my bookshelf if I had not lofted my bed. Another plus to me lofting my bed is that I feel like not only does it make the room seem bigger, but I also have my bed out of the way. I feel like I have a living space down below and then I have a sleeping/relaxation space away from everything else.
How I Decorated
When I first started on my reading area, I only had my bookshelf and my trunk. Obviously books livened up the space a little bit, and throwing a patterned scarf over my trunk also helped, but it still wasn't amazing. My mom and step-dad went out on the same day that I moved in (while I was unpacking, actually) and bought me a reading chair. At that time, we had been discussing different reading chairs for months and still hadn't decided on one. They went to a few different stores and sent me pictures of each chair they came across, and I wasn't particularly sold on any of them. And then they sent me a picture of the chair that you can see above. I'd been wanting a papasan chair for years and so I immediately said yes. Within an hour they had bought it and I had it sitting next to my bookshelf.
I also knew that I wanted a tapestry to cover the exposed support bars, my charging cords, and the plain white wall behind all that. So I saved up my weekly allowance and purchased a tapestry from Society 6 that fits perfectly and looks amazing! I'd had my eye on this specific tapestry for a long time, before I even knew that I wanted one. It's gorgeous and I'm so happy to have it in my room. Sadly, I don't know where (or if) I'll be putting it in my room at home. It may just end up folded in a box until next year's move in.
I also brought in my bookshelf. That is the main thing I knew that I wanted to bring to college. Most people brought a cubed shelf for storage of food or something, but I knew that I wanted a bookshelf. I absolutely love it and it's the perfect size for my small collection of books that I brought with me. Plus, it's short enough that I can stack books on the top, but tall enough that you can see it over the top of the chair.
I wanted more lighting underneath than I had. Having the main lights in the room on offered some, but everything underneath the bed was still in shadow. So I decided to shop around online and found a 33-foot remote controlled fairy light. I strung it through the bars underneath my bed and plugged it in, and voila, cute and instant lighting.
I've had a few booksleeves for a while now and I wanted some place to display them rather than just have them sitting on a shelf or in a drawer. That's when I decided to hang them! Obviously when I'm using them, they're not hanging, but in college when I'm not traveling I don't require all of them at once. Therefore, I hung some string with clothespins attached and used that to hang my booksleeves. It's not perfect, but it helps block some white space that wasn't covered by the tapestry and it allows for me to have my booksleeves in a cute, accessible space.
Lastly, I had some boxes that I couldn't fit on my bookshelf, so I stacked them next to it. At first, it looked boring, but then I put my absolute favorite throw pillow on top and hung one of my scarves I use for bookstagram pictures behind it, and boom, instant cute.
My Geeky Touches
Now, obviously because I'm a huge nerd, a lot of my decorations are nerdy and go along with that theme. For instance, we have a Spider-Man build-a-bear sitting in my chair that my friend made me because of how much I love Spider-Man. My favorite throw pillow is A Court of Mist and Fury themed, and it rests on book subscription boxes that are full of bookstagram props. Also, proudly hanging my booksleeves is also a nerdy decorating moment of mine. I have 4, but I have 3 of them hanging on clothespins and the last one just propped beneath it. Of course, my bookshelf is also pretty enough to be a decoration, so I think that will be my last geeky touch that I'm going to talk about.
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Thanks for reading! If you liked this post and would like to see a full dorm room tour (for my half of the dorm room), drop a comment down below OR leave a reaction to this post! And feel free to drop a comment with any other post ideas that you'd like to see come to my humble little corner of the internet!
xoxo
Lauren
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Such a pretty book nook! I love how you added your own personal touches to your place for reading. I wish I had a specific space to read; however, my house is infested with books so I might just be sitting on a stack of books.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I absolutely love it. I definitely feel being infested with books (I am 110% out of space in my room for books).
DeleteP.S. sorry it took me so long to reply...I did see it immediately but for some reason there was a glitch in my browser that wouldn't let me publish comments! I finally got it fixed though <3