One of my favorite parts of our home has come to be this cozy corner of our living room – the way it welcomes us in to a slower pace of life and savor quiet morning moments or meaningful conversations that stretch long into the night. The way it invites us to come, curl up with a good book and a fresh cup of coffee and simply stay a while. And its hard to believe that we almost missed the opportunity to create this space we have come to love so much.
When we purchased our home, we knew we had some major work ahead of us. Our not-so-new home sweet home was built in 1938 and still had knob and tube electrical wiring throughout, which would need to be replaced. To complicate matters, most of the walls in our home were made from the original lath and plaster, which meant fishing new wire to every plug, switch and fixture was not going to be an easy feat. We also wanted to make some other significant changes like adding a full bathroom upstairs and completely redoing the kitchen.
Needless to say, we were a bit in over our heads.
But one silver lining in the midst of the overwhelm was the sneaking suspicion that underneath the laminate flooring throughout our main floor, there may be original hardwood. As soon as we got the keys to our new home, one of the first things we did was pull up the laminate flooring and sure enough was the original Douglas fir hardwood flooring.
But there was one slight problem.
In our living room, the flooring stopped short in a not-so-subtle spot. Our hopes and dreams for our beautiful new home with its beautiful hardwood floors were instantly obliterated.
We debated for some time about what to do. Do we lay new laminate flooring over top of the hardwood and just not worry about it? Do we try to feather in new Douglas fir hardwood and hope that they match when we refinish them? At one point we even considered turning the nook into a built-in coat closet for additional storage.
But then we had a thought: What if we could see this “problem” as an opportunity? What if there was a solution to all of this we just didn’t see yet?
And as we thought about it some more and perused Pinterest for inspiration, a solution began to emerge indeed.
You see, for quite some time we had also wondered what to do about the seating situation in our living room. Realistically we could seat about five people comfortably between our couch and accent chairs, but we love people and we love hosting, so we wanted to find a way to be able to seat a few more. We realized if we could turn this space in our living room into a cozy reading nook, we would solve both the “problem” of the hardwood stopping short AND simultaneously incorporate more seating.
It was a win-win solution.
Then we had another idea: What if we could “modify” an existing cabinet of some sort to simplify the process of building out drawers for this reading nook? After measuring our space and doing some research, we realized that with some slight framing adjustments and paint, IKEA’s BESTA TV bench and drawers could do just the trick.
We added some MDF trim to make it look built-in and painted it all to match the trim and casing throughout our home. Then we stained a sheet of birch 3/4″ plywood for the bench top.
Then came the fun part. We added antique brass pulls from Wayfair to the drawers to make them look more custom. I have linked similar ones HERE.
We also wanted to incorporate a large piece of art to our cozy reading nook. Using some nails and string, I added DIY Heart String Art to the wall above the reading bench, which helped to add visual interest to the wall, while keeping the space light and airy.
Because our walls are lath and plaster, we knew we couldn’t easily add electrical for lighting to our reading nook. So we opted instead for two matte black rechargeable battery-operated sconces, which we installed on the side walls for additional reading and ambiance lighting.
To finish off the reading nook, we ordered a custom-made cushion for the bench off of Etsy and added some pillows and a cozy blanket that we had on hand.
We love how this once “problematic” space has quickly become one of our favorite parts of our home. It serves as a tangible reminder that what once caused us so much discouragement is now a beautiful space that we get to enjoy and share with others. And my hope is that it inspires you as well to look for those “problematic” spaces and see what they too can become.
This Darling Adventure 