In a rented flat, choose a freestanding wardrobe that can be flat packed again, fits through the narrowest door on your route in, and needs no fixings beyond a single removable anti tip strap. That rules out anything fitted, anything requiring the removal of a skirting board, and anything so heavy that two people cannot lift it down a stairwell. Within those limits you still have plenty of choice.
Renting changes the maths of buying furniture. You are not choosing for one room, you are choosing for a sequence of rooms you have not seen yet. The wardrobe that suits a Victorian conversion with high ceilings may be useless in a new build with a 2.3m ceiling and a tight landing.
The most common mistake renters make is measuring the bedroom and forgetting the journey. Before buying, measure:
Flat packed furniture solves most of this, since boxes are far easier to manoeuvre than assembled carcasses. The question to ask is whether the wardrobe can be dismantled again without damage. Units held together with cam locks and dowels usually survive one or two rebuilds. Units glued during assembly generally do not.
Most tenancy agreements permit minor fixings that can be made good, but the safest approach is to assume every hole will need filling. A wall strap for an anti tip fixing uses two small screws and is almost always acceptable, and it is a genuine safety measure rather than a cosmetic change. Anything involving brackets, rails screwed into plaster or removal of existing fittings should be agreed in writing first.
Photograph the room before you assemble anything. It takes a minute and settles any question at the end of the tenancy about whether a mark was already there.
Two narrow units are easier to move than one wide one, and they adapt to more room shapes. If your next flat has a chimney breast, two slim wardrobes can sit either side. A single 180cm unit cannot.
Rented rooms tend to come in magnolia, grey or plain white, so a wardrobe in oak, light wood effect or soft white will look at home almost anywhere. Strong colours are satisfying in a room you own and awkward in a room you inherited.
A solid pine wardrobe will outlast everything else you own, but carrying it up three floors is a different matter. Engineered board units strike a reasonable balance for anyone who expects to move every year or two.
Rented bedrooms are often small and awkwardly shaped. If the bed sits close to the wardrobe wall, sliding designs avoid the swing space problem entirely. The sliding wardrobes UK sale range includes narrower widths that suit second bedrooms and conversions, where a hinged door would collide with the bed.
Many rented properties include a wardrobe, often a fitted one of uncertain quality. Before replacing it, consider whether it can simply be improved. A new rail, better hangers and a set of internal shelf dividers cost little and can be taken with you. If the existing wardrobe is too shallow for hangers to sit square, which is common in older fitted units, a shallow chest of drawers elsewhere in the room may solve the problem more cheaply than a second wardrobe.
Where storage is genuinely short, look at the space you are not using. The area under the bed, the top of the wardrobe and the foot of the bed are usually empty. A ottomans UK sale option gives you storage and a place to sit, and it moves house without difficulty.
Rented rooms rarely allow much choice about where the bed goes, since the radiator, window and door tend to decide it. Work outwards from there.
Place the wardrobe on the wall you walk along rather than the wall you walk towards. A wardrobe you approach head on makes a room feel shorter. Keep a clear route of at least 60cm between the bed and the wardrobe, and if that is not possible, reconsider the depth of the unit rather than the width.
If the room has a chimney breast, the alcoves are the most valuable storage space available, and they are often exactly the width of a slim wardrobe. Measure both, since they are rarely identical in period properties.
Three habits prevent most end of tenancy disputes involving furniture:
Renters benefit from thinking in terms of a portable kit rather than a fixed scheme. A wardrobe, a chest, a bedside cabinet and a mirror will furnish almost any bedroom you move into. Choosing them in a consistent finish means they continue to look deliberate even when the room around them changes completely. At Furniture in Fashion we group pieces by finish across the modern bedroom furniture UK collection, which makes it straightforward to add a matching item later rather than starting again.
If the flat has no hallway storage, and few rented flats do, a compact unit near the door prevents coats and shoes migrating into the bedroom. Options in the hallway storage furniture UK range are usually shallow enough for a narrow corridor and light enough to move on your own.
Assemble the wardrobe in the room where it will stand. This sounds obvious and is routinely ignored, usually because the living room has more space. Bedroom doors in flats are frequently narrower than the assembled carcass, and a wardrobe built in the wrong room is a problem that can only be solved by taking it apart again.
Lay a blanket or the flattened cardboard packaging on the floor while you work. It protects the flooring and stops screws disappearing into a carpet pile. Check the unit is square before fixing the back panel, since the back panel is what holds the shape, and a carcass fixed out of square will never close properly.
Rented properties are rarely generous with cupboards. There is often no airing cupboard, no loft access and no under stairs space, which means the bedroom wardrobe ends up absorbing bedding, suitcases, cleaning items and paperwork alongside clothing. Planning for that from the start prevents the slow overflow that makes a room feel chaotic within months.
Reserve the top shelf for bulky but light items such as spare duvets and pillows, since these are the things you reach for least often and they do not benefit from hanging space. Keep suitcases nested inside one another rather than side by side. If the wardrobe base is open, a shallow lidded box on the floor of the unit keeps shoes contained and stops dust settling in the corners, which also makes it far quicker to clean the room before an inspection.
Anything you genuinely use weekly should sit between knee and shoulder height. It is a simple principle and it is the main reason some wardrobes feel workable and others feel like a struggle, regardless of size.
Most tenancies run for twelve months, and the most useful question to ask before buying is what happens at the end of that period. If you expect to stay, buying something substantial makes sense. If the tenancy is uncertain, or you are sharing with people whose plans differ from yours, favour lighter pieces that one person can move alone.
Keep the packaging for the first few weeks if you have anywhere to store it, since returning a wardrobe that turns out not to fit is far simpler while it is boxed. Once you are confident it works in the room, flatten and recycle it. Returns are available up to 30 days, which covers most of the period in which a sizing problem would become obvious.
An anti tip strap uses two small screws and is generally acceptable as a safety fixing, but check your tenancy agreement and tell your landlord. Fill the holes when you leave.
Internal doors in UK flats are commonly 762mm wide. Assembled wardrobes are almost always deeper than this once the door and handle are included, which is why flat packed assembly in the room itself is the reliable approach.
Yes, provided it dismantles cleanly. A well made unit that survives three moves is better value than three cheap ones, but check that the fixings are mechanical rather than glued.
Felt pads under each foot spread the load. Move the wardrobe by lifting rather than dragging, and allow the carpet pile to recover before the final inspection.
Add a narrow freestanding unit or a chest rather than replacing the fitted one. Removing a landlord’s fixture usually requires written permission and reinstatement at the end of the tenancy.
Solid pine wardrobes last because the material can be repaired, refinished and adapted in ways…
Pine is a real timber, which changes how you should judge an affordable wardrobe. This…
Mirrored wardrobe doors are usually discussed as a way to make a room look bigger,…
Modern rustic holds two opposites together: the texture, grain and warmth of rustic materials, and…
Grey is the most requested wardrobe colour in UK bedrooms, and almost every disappointment with…
Open wardrobes suit small rooms, alcoves and rented homes where fitted storage is not an…
This website uses cookies.