The quickest way to gain usable space in a master bedroom is to build storage upwards and keep the floor clear. Nine ideas do most of the work: go full height, use the awkward corner, add a second hanging rail, put storage behind the bed, use sliding doors where space is tight, fit internal drawers instead of a separate chest, build around a chimney breast, add a dressing zone rather than a dressing room, and use the space under the bed properly.
Master bedrooms in UK homes are often only slightly larger than the second bedroom, which means they carry a full wardrobe of clothing for two people in a room that was not planned for it. The ideas below are ordered roughly by how much space they recover.
The metre of space above a standard wardrobe is usually the largest piece of wasted volume in the room. Taking storage to full height recovers it and, counterintuitively, makes the room feel taller because the vertical line runs uninterrupted from floor to ceiling.
Use the top section for genuine long term storage: out of season coats, spare bedding, luggage. Keep frequently used items in the lower two thirds. If access is a concern, a folding step stool that lives inside the wardrobe solves it.
Where a full height unit is not available, a matching top box fitted above an existing wardrobe achieves the same visual result and is widely available in standard widths.
Corners are where storage plans usually break down. Two wardrobes meeting at right angles either leave an unreachable void or block each other’s doors.
A dedicated corner unit with an angled front resolves this and gives surprisingly generous hanging space. If a corner unit is not an option, run one wardrobe fully into the corner and place a chest of drawers or open shelving against the returning wall, so the corner is absorbed by the shallower piece rather than the deeper one.
Most wardrobes ship with a single rail set high, with a shelf above and a large empty space below. If your clothing is mostly shirts, trousers and jackets, that lower space is doing nothing.
Fitting a second rail below the first roughly doubles the hanging capacity of that section. Allow around 100 centimetres of height for the upper section and the same below for shirts and folded trousers, and keep one full height section for coats and long dresses.
This single change often removes the need for an additional chest of drawers, which recovers floor space rather than just organising it.
In rooms where the bed must sit against the main wall, the space either side of the headboard is frequently wasted. Tall narrow units flanking the bed give you storage exactly where it is otherwise unusable, and they frame the bed in a way that looks deliberate.
Keep these units shallow, around 35 to 40 centimetres, so they do not crowd the sleeping area. They will not hold hanging clothes at that depth, but they are well suited to folded items, shoes and accessories.
A bed with built in storage in the base extends the same idea downwards. Our modern beds UK sale selection includes ottoman style frames that lift to reveal the full footprint of the bed as storage.
A hinged door needs roughly its own width of clear floor to open. In a room where the bed sits within a metre of the wardrobe, that clearance does not exist, and you end up squeezing past a half opened door every morning.
Sliding doors remove the swing entirely. The trade off is that you can only access half the interior at a time and the track requires occasional cleaning. In narrow master bedrooms the benefit outweighs both.
Mirrored sliders do additional work in a tight room, reflecting light and removing the need for a separate full length mirror.
A separate chest of drawers occupies floor area and adds a second large object to the room. Internal drawers inside the wardrobe carcass hold the same volume within the footprint you have already committed to.
The best arrangement is usually a bank of three to four drawers in one section, positioned at waist height where they are easiest to use, with hanging space above and shoe storage below. This also means you only open one door rather than navigating two pieces of furniture.
If you still need a surface for lamps and daily items, a slim console or a pair of bedside units will provide it with far less bulk than a full chest. Browse modern bedside cabinets UK sale options with a drawer and open shelf for the best ratio of storage to footprint.
Period properties and many post war homes have a chimney breast with an alcove on either side. Those alcoves are almost always between 50 and 90 centimetres deep, which is close to wardrobe depth.
Filling both alcoves with storage and leaving the chimney breast clear gives a symmetrical arrangement that looks architectural rather than added. The chimney breast itself becomes the natural place for a mirror or artwork.
Measure both alcoves separately. They are rarely identical, and a difference of two or three centimetres is common in older houses.
Few UK master bedrooms can spare the space for a separate dressing room, but a dressing zone works in a corner of most rooms. It needs three things: a mirror, a light and a surface.
A slim dressing table against the wall opposite the window, a stool that tucks fully underneath, and a wall mounted or leaning mirror covers it. The important detail is that the stool must tuck away completely, otherwise it becomes an obstacle in the route between the bed and the door.
Compact options from our modern dressing tables UK range are designed at depths that suit this kind of corner arrangement.
Under bed space is the last easy gain. The distinction is between using it and dumping in it. Shallow drawers on runners, either built into the bed frame or on castors, keep items accessible and dust free.
Store flat items here: bedding, folded knitwear, shoes in shallow boxes. Avoid using it for anything you need daily, since kneeling to retrieve items every morning gets old quickly.
If the bed is high enough, vacuum bags for seasonal duvets make the space go considerably further.
Before ordering anything, measure the room and draw it to scale, including the door swing, the window reveal, the radiator and any sockets. Then mark the walking routes: from the door to the bed, from the bed to the window, and around each side of the bed.
Then check the practical constraints that catch people out. A radiator under a window limits what can sit in front of it. A chimney breast changes the depth available in the alcoves. Sockets behind a wardrobe become inaccessible, so note where they are before deciding. And in older UK properties, floors are rarely level, so a wardrobe with adjustable feet will hang its doors far better than one sitting on a fixed plinth.
It is also worth being realistic about what you own. Counting your hanging garments by length, and measuring the depth of a folded stack of jumpers, takes fifteen minutes and tells you whether you need more hanging space, more shelving or more drawers. Most people assume they need more hanging space when the real shortage is shelving.
Finally, think about who uses the room. Two people sharing need separate zones, otherwise the storage becomes a daily negotiation. Splitting a wardrobe vertically down the middle and giving each person a full height section from floor to top shelf is simpler and more durable than splitting it by garment type.
Any storage plan that blocks one of those routes will be undone within a month. Storage that respects them tends to survive. This is the single most useful half hour you can spend before choosing furniture, and it is how we would recommend anyone approach a bedroom project at Furniture in Fashion.
Roughly the same as the door width, so a 50 centimetre door needs about 50 centimetres of clear floor in front of it. If your layout cannot provide that, sliding doors are the better choice.
In most wardrobes, yes. If your clothing is mainly shirts, trousers and jackets, a second rail nearly doubles the usable hanging space and often removes the need for a separate chest of drawers.
Around 58 to 60 centimetres internally for standard hanging. Shallower units of 35 to 40 centimetres still work well for folded items, shoes and accessories, which makes them useful beside a bed.
It can, but it needs to be securely fixed and it changes how the room feels to sleep in. Tall units either side of the headboard are usually a more comfortable solution than a bridging unit over the bed.
They work well. They reflect daylight back into the room, add apparent depth and remove the need for a separate full length mirror, which saves both wall and floor space.
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