Where should a reading lamp go? Move it and see

A reading lamp can be bright, warm and beautiful and still be annoying to read by. Most of the time the culprit is not the lamp, it is where it stands. Light travels in straight lines, so anything between the bulb and the page, like your head or your hand, throws a shadow on the words.

Below is a plan of an armchair seen from above. Drag the lamp around the chair and watch what happens on the page.

Why the side matters

You hold the book, turn pages or write with your dominant hand, so that hand spends its time between you and the page. A lamp on that side lights your hand first and the words second. Put the lamp on the other side and the light arrives over the shoulder without crossing anything.

Straight behind you has its own problem: your head becomes the obstacle. The easy fix is the one the plan shows. Stand the lamp to the side, a little behind your shoulder, opposite your dominant hand. Right-handed readers want it on the left, left-handed readers on the right. In the plan, flip the hand button and the good zone swaps sides.

Distance does more than you expect

For a small bulb in a shade, the light on the page drops quickly as you move away: halve the distance and the page gets roughly four times the light, double it and you get about a quarter. That is why moving a lamp 30 cm closer can fix a gloomy corner, and why a very bright bulb far from the chair is often worse than a modest one at your shoulder. It also means you can use a gentler, warmer bulb if the lamp sits close, and you still need room: leave enough space beside the chair to sit down and stand up without brushing the shade.

Height and shade: hide the bulb

You should not see the bulb itself while you read. A shade, or an adjustable head tilted down at the page, keeps the glowing part above or beside your eye line and sends the light down onto the book. If you can see the bare bulb from your chair, either the lamp is too low for you or the shade is too small. Adjustable arms are handy here because you can aim the light instead of moving the whole lamp.

How bright, and what colour

A book needs more light than a sofa corner needs for chatting, but not a floodlight. Many lighting guides suggest a few hundred lumens up to about 800 at the lamp for reading, and a warm white of about 2700–3000 K for evenings. Lumens, not watts, tell you how much light a bulb makes. A dimmer or a dimmable bulb lets you set it to the day and the hour, which is more useful than getting the number exactly right.

Measure before you buy

Before you buy a floor lamp, measure these things:

• The space beside your chair: the lamp's base and arm need room without blocking the way, and a gap of about 30 cm between lamp and chair is a sensible minimum.
• Your ceiling height, so a tall lamp or arc does not touch it, and the height from the floor to where the shade should sit when you are seated.
• The distance to the nearest socket. Keep the cable along a wall, not across the walkway.

Check that the base is heavy and wide enough for the lamp's height, keep fabric shades clear of the bulb, and leave any fixed wiring to an electrician.

Try this before spending anything

Moving a lamp you already own is free. Slide a table lamp to the side of your chair, lift it onto a stack of books or a side table, or swap a bright bulb for a warmer, dimmable one. Second-hand floor lamps are easy to find and often well built; a new shade or bulb can make an old one feel new. If you rent, a lamp is a cosy fix that moves with you.

What to look for

• On a small budget: a standard E27 socket so you can pick your own warm, dimmable bulb, a stable base, and a shade that hides the bulb.
• In the middle: a head that adjusts or a good height, a sturdy base and a switch you can reach from the chair.
• If you want to spend more: adjustable colour temperature or dimming built in, so one lamp can be bright for daytime reading and soft in the evening.