I have a corner in my living room that has been, for the past three years, a place where things go to be dealt with later. A pile of books I mean to read. A throw that doesn't quite belong anywhere. A plant that's doing fine but not thriving. The corner had potential — good light, away from the main seating area, the kind of spot that could be something — and I'd been meaning to do something with it since we moved in.
The Orsina Goa Hanging Chair is what finally made me do something with it. And now it's the first place I go when I get home.
The Reading Corner I'd Been Promising Myself
I read a lot. Or I used to, before the sofa became the default evening position and reading became something I did for twenty minutes before falling asleep with a book on my chest. The problem wasn't time — I had evenings. The problem was that I didn't have a place that felt specifically designed for reading. The sofa is for watching things. The bed is for sleeping. I needed somewhere that was just for sitting and reading, with no other associations pulling at my attention.
I'd been looking at hanging chairs for about a year. The egg chair aesthetic had been everywhere for a while, and I'd been slightly resistant to it for that reason — I didn't want something that looked like a trend rather than a considered choice. The Orsina Goa changed my mind because it looked like the latter. The natural rattan effect finish, the cream cushions, the black metal frame: it had a warmth and texture that felt genuinely considered rather than algorithmically popular.
Why the Goa Specifically
The natural rattan effect finish was the first thing that worked for our space. We have warm wood tones throughout the living room — oak floors, a walnut sideboard — and the woven texture of the Goa sits within that palette naturally rather than competing with it. It looks like it belongs rather than like it arrived from a different aesthetic entirely.
The foam-filled cream cushions were the practical detail that sealed it. A hanging chair that looks beautiful but isn't comfortable to sit in for more than twenty minutes is a decorative object, not a reading chair. The foam-filled cushions are substantial enough to support a proper sitting position for an extended period — I've spent two hours in it without wanting to move, which is the test that matters.
The slim black metal frame takes up less floor space than I'd expected. The chair has a significant visual presence — it's a statement piece, there's no pretending otherwise — but the footprint of the frame is modest, which meant it fitted into the corner without dominating the room. That balance between presence and practicality was exactly what I needed.
Assembly and Installation
The chair arrived flat-packed and assembled more straightforwardly than I'd anticipated. The frame went together logically, the hanging mechanism was clear, and the whole process took about forty minutes with two people. It doesn't require ceiling mounting — the frame is freestanding, which was important for us as we rent and can't make structural changes. It stands independently and sways gently, which gives the floating sensation without any drilling.
I moved the pile of books to a small side table. The plant went to the windowsill where it's now thriving. The throw went over the cushion. The corner, which had been a holding area for three years, became a room within a room in an afternoon.
The First Evening
I sat in it that evening with a book I'd been meaning to start for two months. I read for an hour and forty minutes without checking my phone once. That is not something I do on the sofa. The chair creates a kind of enclosure — the egg shape wraps around you slightly, the gentle sway is calming rather than distracting, and the physical separation from the main seating area means the television isn't in your eyeline. It's a different kind of sitting to sofa-sitting, and that difference turns out to matter enormously for reading.
My partner tried it the following morning with a coffee and a newspaper. He was in it for an hour. He has since claimed it as his weekend morning spot, which I'm choosing to interpret as a compliment to my furniture choices rather than a territorial dispute.
Three Months On
The chair has been in the corner for three months. The rattan effect finish has held up well — no fraying, no fading, no loss of the texture that makes it look good. The cushions have retained their shape and their cream colour despite regular use. The frame is as stable as it was on day one.
I've read eleven books since the chair arrived. Before it, I'd read three in the preceding six months. I'm not claiming the chair is solely responsible for that — I'd also started putting my phone in another room in the evenings — but having a dedicated space that's associated with reading rather than with screens has made a real difference to how much I actually do it.
What It Changed
I have a place in my home that's just for me. That sounds like a small thing and it isn't. The corner that was a holding area for three years is now the place I look forward to getting to at the end of the day. The chair didn't just fill a space — it created one. A space with a specific purpose and a specific feeling, separate from the rest of the room and the rest of the evening's demands.
If you've been meaning to create a reading corner, or a quiet corner, or just a corner that's yours — this is the piece that will make you actually do it. I know because I'd been meaning to for three years and it took one chair to make it happen.
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👉 Shop the Orsina Goa Natural Rattan Effect Egg Hanging Chair on ALTOE
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Written by Rosalind Hatch. All opinions are her own.
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