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My wife and I are both bookworms, and we’re hoping our daughter will be too. For now, we read to her on our bed or on the topper inside her playpen.

I usually read in bed too, or on our couch in the living room, and both spots are missing a good reading light. One corner of that room was meant to be our reading nook, until a relative gave us a nice massage chair that fit there perfectly.

We’re still planning to fix that corner, maybe with a lamp and some shelves on the wall for our books. If you came for the measurements, they’re at the bottom.

Do you read on the couch or in bed?

Then you’ve already got your seat, and all it needs is a light that reaches you.

On the couch

The Birch Lane Theodora’s arm swings out, so you can bring the shade in right beside your shoulder. It dims for the end of the night.

It does need a little floor of its own, so I’d give it the end of the couch, out of the walkway.

And if there’s nowhere to set a cup down, the 17 Stories Keasha C-tables are about $54 for two at Wayfair. The C-shaped base is made to tuck over the arm of your couch, which puts your cup right at your elbow. (The second one’s for whoever has the other end.)

In bed

If your bed’s against a wall, I’d hang the light there. The Joss & Main Kevyn swing arm sconce reaches 24.25 in out from the wall, so the light comes to you.

It plugs in, cord included, so there’s no electrician to hire unless you’d rather hardwire it. I love that it leaves the whole nightstand for your book.

Reading next to someone who’s already asleep? A lamp might be more light than you want. The Glocusent LED neck reading light hangs around your neck and throws a narrow beam onto the page, and Glocusent says it’s dim enough not to disturb a sleeping partner.

With one of its two heads on low, a charge lasts up to 80 hours, which is a lot of bedtime chapters. On its soft yellow setting, with any luck, nobody asks you to turn the light off.

Have a spare corner?

Start with the wall. Shelves don’t take an inch of floor, so they’re the easiest win in a small corner, and the chair can wait until you know there’s room.

Shelves for your books

Books get heavy fast, so I’d want real wood holding them up. I’d start with the Williston Forge Pingree, which is solid wood and rated for 50 lb. You get two shelves, each 36 in long, so there’s room for a good long row of spines.

If your books run big, I’d pick a deeper shelf. The 17 Stories Calheme is 10 in deep, against the Pingree’s 7.5 in, so your biggest books get more room to sit back from the edge.

For picture books, I’d go with a ledge. The Millwood Pines Darlicia stands them up with the covers facing out, though some shoppers found the color darker than pictured.

A chair, if the corner’s free

Our corner went to the massage chair, but if yours is still open, a narrow, upright chair is the easiest fit. The Gracie Oaks Arshveer wingback, about $347 at Wayfair, is 27.75 in across, and it slips in where a bulkier armchair would crowd the room.

It’s 33 in deep, so it does want that much floor plus walking room on the open side. Fit that, and shoppers say you get a comfortable seat.

Reading to a little one?

For story time, a little clip-on lamp does the job. If yours happens in bed, clip one to the headboard.

The Ebern Designs Liberty Hill is about $33 at Wayfair. Its light is a cool white, at 5,000K, but the gooseneck keeps it on the page, and the dimmer lets you turn it low for the last story.

If you ever build your little one a window seat, 16 to 18 in deep suits a kid better than the deeper seat a grown-up reads in.

Fingers crossed ours turns out a bookworm like her mom and dad.

How much room does a small reading nook need?

Less than you’d think. A chair only needs walking room on the sides you actually walk past, so a corner does half the work for you.

How much clear floor does a chair need?

30 in on each side you walk past.

Take the Arshveer. Tucked into a corner, it only needs a clear path on its open side, plus enough space in front to stand up out of it.

In a bedroom corner

If you’re planning a seat under a bedroom window, check first whether it’s the room’s emergency escape window. The window seat dimensions guide walks through what that means for the seat.

In a hallway or a windowless alcove

An alcove needs the least space, since three sides can be wall and only the open side needs walking room. A hallway’s harder, because residential code sets hallways at no less than 36 in wide, and a chair eats into that.

A windowless alcove is fine, too. The chair takes the same room either way, and you’d want a lamp regardless.

Beside a couch that can’t move

I’d put the chair at the end of the couch nearest the corner. Measure from that end to the wall, and take 30 in off for the walkway. What’s left is how much room the chair gets.

If you’re building a window seat

A window seat only saves floor where the wall already has a recess. Built out from a flat wall, it takes up room rather than saving any.

Without a seat back, you lean on the wall itself, so the cushions go behind you as well as under you. A built-in seat back runs 10 to 20 in tall, and the wall above it does the rest.

Where does the lamp go?

Beside you and a little behind your shoulder. Behind your head is the one spot that doesn’t work, because your head ends up between the bulb and the page and you read in your own shadow.

A window takes care of the daytime, and after dark it’s all up to the lamp.

I sold contract-grade furniture from 2016. More about who runs it.