How to set up a reading nook in a small living room

Find the corner, not the room

Most living rooms have one spot nobody uses: beside the bookcase, the window end of the sofa wall, the gap the TV unit didn't fill. That's your nook. A wall at your back and a side nobody walks past make a spot feel settled, even in an open-plan room.

Stand in the corner at the time you'd usually read. If the TV, the kitchen bench or the front door sits in your eyeline, try the next corner. Daylight from one side is a bonus; daylight straight into your eyes is not.

Choose a chair you can tuck into

A reading chair is judged by what your legs do. If you read curled up, look at seat depth before anything else: the deeper the seat, the more of you fits on it. If you read upright, a shallower seat with a firm back holds you there longer.

• To curl up: the Oscar boucle accent chair has a 55 cm deep, 58 cm wide seat on a 66 × 72 cm footprint. Of the chairs we stock, it gives you the most seat for the floor it takes.
• To sit up straight: the Dallas armchair pairs a solid wood frame with a 42 cm deep seat, so your back stays against it. It arrives fully assembled.
• For the tightest corner: the Cambria accent chair is 66 cm wide and 61 cm deep, the smallest footprint of the three.

If you can't spare any floor

Hang the seat instead. The Salvador macrame hanging chair holds up to 120 kg and leaves the floor clear underneath. The honest limit: it needs a screw hook into a solid timber beam or a stand, and the hanging kit is sold separately. Check what's above the corner before you fall for it.

Light it from over your shoulder

A ceiling light flattens a corner and throws your shadow onto the page. Put the light behind you and slightly to one side, at about head height when you're sitting, and the page gets the light instead of your face.

A wall light does this without taking any floor. The Camden wall light is 25 cm tall with a clear glass shade and takes a standard E27 globe; choose a warm white globe for reading at night, as the globe isn't included. It's wired into the wall, so it's a job for a licensed electrician. If you rent, a plug-in floor lamp placed in the same spot does the same work.

Give the cup somewhere to land

The nook needs one surface within arm's reach: for the cup, the book you've put down, the glasses. A bedside table does this job well: it's made to sit beside something low, at the height your hand drops to.

The Sofia bedside table is solid acacia with a water- and scratch-resistant top, so a hot mug isn't a crisis, and the drawer keeps the reading glasses and the remote out of sight. Before you buy, check its height against the arm of your chair; the top should sit at or just below it.

Make it warm to sit in

Two soft things finish the corner: something behind your back and something over your knees. A 50 cm cushion fills the gap a chair leaves at the lower back. The boucle teddy cushion is boucle on both sides, so it never shows a wrong face, and comes with its insert.

For your knees, the bamboo throw is 127 × 153 cm, big enough to tuck under your feet, and light enough that you won't overheat under it on a mild night.

Leave it a corner

The fastest way to ruin a nook is to keep adding to it. Chair, light, surface, something soft: stop there. If the wall above the chair feels bare, hang one small piece at seated eye level, like the 40 × 40 cm Forest Fable in its recycled timber frame. A corner that holds four things gets used. A corner that holds ten becomes storage.

Short on floor for a chair at all? A bean bag can be the whole nook. Our guide to bean bags for small spaces covers which shapes hold a footprint and which ones spread.