How to Measure Your Room for a Traditional Bedroom Set in 10 Easy Steps

Measuring for a traditional bedroom set takes about twenty minutes and prevents the two problems people run into most: furniture that will not fit through the door, and a room where every drawer opens into something else. Work through the ten steps below with a metal tape measure, a pencil and a sheet of paper, and record everything in centimetres so comparisons against product listings are straightforward.

Step 1: Measure the Room at Floor Level

Take the length and width of the room along the skirting board rather than at waist height. Older British properties rarely have square rooms, so measure each wall separately instead of assuming opposite walls match. Note the shortest measurement for each direction, since that is the one that will limit you.

Step 2: Record Ceiling Height in Two Places

Traditional wardrobes are often tall, and ceiling height varies more than people expect, particularly in converted lofts and rooms with sloping sections. Measure at the wall where the wardrobe will stand and again in the centre of the room. Allow at least five centimetres of clearance above a wardrobe so it can be tilted upright during assembly.

Step 3: Map the Doorway and the Route In

Measure the door opening width, the door height and the width of the hallway or landing outside it. Then walk the route from the front door to the bedroom, noting any turns, banisters or low ceilings. A wardrobe that fits the room but not the stairwell is a common and expensive mistake.

If the route is tight, flat packed designs solve the problem, and most of our wooden wardrobes UK customers order arrive in manageable sections for exactly this reason.

Step 4: Note Every Fixed Obstruction

Radiators, chimney breasts, alcoves, window sills, light switches and plug sockets all affect placement. Measure their width, their height from the floor and their distance from the nearest corner. A chest of drawers pushed over a socket makes that socket unusable, and furniture placed directly in front of a radiator reduces heat output noticeably.

Step 5: Establish the Bed Position First

The bed dictates everything else, so place it on your plan before any other item. Standard UK sizes are useful to have to hand: a single is 90 by 190 centimetres, a double is 135 by 190, a king is 150 by 200 and a super king is 180 by 200. Add around five centimetres to each dimension for the frame itself, more for a traditional design with a substantial footboard.

If you are still choosing, our king size wooden beds UK sale range lists overall frame dimensions rather than mattress size only, which makes planning simpler.

Step 6: Allow Walking Space Around the Bed

Aim for at least 60 centimetres of clear floor on any side of the bed that is used for access, and around 75 centimetres where two people pass regularly. If the bed sits against a wall, only one side needs this allowance. Mark these corridors on your plan so they are not accidentally filled later.

Step 7: Measure Drawer and Door Projection

This is the step most often skipped. A drawer typically extends 45 to 55 centimetres when fully open, and a hinged wardrobe door needs roughly its own width in clearance. Add these projections to your plan as dotted lines. If two projections overlap, one of the pieces needs to move or change.

Where clearance is genuinely short, sliding doors remove the problem entirely, and it is worth comparing against sliding wardrobes UK sale designs before settling on a hinged model.

Step 8: Check the Window and Curtain Line

Measure from the floor to the underside of the window sill. A chest of drawers taller than the sill will interrupt the curtains and block light. Also note how far curtains project into the room when open, since heavy traditional curtains can take up fifteen centimetres or more on each side.

Step 9: Plan the Remaining Pieces in Order of Size

Place the wardrobe next, then the chest of drawers, then bedside cabinets, then anything optional such as a dressing table or blanket box. Working largest to smallest prevents the situation where small items occupy the only wall that could have taken the wardrobe.

Bedside cabinets should sit roughly level with the top of the mattress for comfortable reach. Measure your mattress height before choosing, particularly if you use a deep mattress. Options across our bedside cabinets UK sale selection vary considerably in height.

Step 10: Mark It Out on the Floor

Before ordering, use masking tape to mark the footprint of each piece on the floor, including the drawer projection lines. Live with the tape for a day. Walking the room reveals problems that a paper plan hides, such as a route to the window that now requires a detour.

A Simple Record to Keep

• Room length and width at the narrowest points.
• Ceiling height at the wardrobe wall.
• Door opening width and height, plus the narrowest point on the route in.
• Distance from each corner to any radiator, socket or chimney breast.
• Mattress size and total frame dimensions.
• Sill height and curtain projection.

Keep this list saved on your phone. It makes checking any future purchase a two minute job rather than a repeat of the whole exercise, and it is the same information our team at Furniture in Fashion asks for when customers want help confirming a piece will fit.

Traditional Sets and Their Particular Quirks

Traditional bedroom furniture tends to be deeper than contemporary equivalents because of moulded fronts, plinth bases and turned legs. A classic chest of drawers may be 50 centimetres deep where a slimline modern version is 40. Cornices on the top of a wardrobe can add several centimetres to the height, so check whether the quoted dimension includes them.

Footboards are another consideration. A traditional bed with a tall footboard occupies more length than the mattress suggests and can make a small room feel enclosed. If length is tight, a design with a low footboard or none at all is the practical choice.

Common Measuring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The most frequent error is measuring only once. Tape measures slip, and a two centimetre discrepancy is enough to leave a wardrobe unable to sit flush in an alcove. Measure each critical dimension twice, and write both figures down.

The second is measuring in the wrong units, or mixing them. Product listings are usually in centimetres or millimetres, so working in feet and inches means converting under pressure at the point of ordering. Stay in centimetres throughout.

The third is forgetting the skirting board. A wardrobe cannot sit flush against a wall with a deep skirting unless the back is cut out or the plinth accommodates it. Measure the skirting depth and check whether the piece you are considering has a recessed base.

The fourth is ignoring the carpet. A thick carpet with a good underlay raises the floor level by up to two centimetres, which affects both the ceiling clearance above a tall wardrobe and how easily a drawer or door clears the pile.

Planning on Paper Properly

Graph paper makes this considerably easier. Using a scale where one square equals ten centimetres, draw the room outline first, then mark doors with their swing, windows with their sill height noted, and every radiator and socket in place.

Cut out separate paper rectangles for each piece of furniture at the same scale. Moving these around the plan takes minutes and reveals workable layouts that are difficult to imagine in the abstract. Keep the drawer projections marked on each rectangle so they travel with the piece.

Free room planning apps do the same job if you prefer, though paper has the advantage of forcing you to enter real measurements rather than relying on defaults.

Building in Room to Change

Bedrooms rarely stay the same for a decade. A child’s room becomes a study, a guest room takes on storage duties, a spare room becomes a main bedroom. When measuring, it is worth asking whether the layout you have planned would still work with a larger bed, or with the wardrobe on a different wall.

Leaving one wall reasonably clear gives you that flexibility. It costs nothing at the planning stage and saves considerable effort later.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much space should I leave around a bed?

Around 60 centimetres on any access side is a reasonable minimum, increasing to about 75 centimetres where people pass one another regularly or where drawers open into the walkway.

What clearance does a wardrobe need above it?

Allow at least five centimetres above the unit for assembly, and more if the wardrobe has a cornice or if the ceiling slopes.

Do quoted furniture dimensions include handles and cornices?

Not always. Check the product specification carefully, as protruding handles and decorative tops can add several centimetres to both depth and height.

How deep is a typical chest of drawers when open?

Expect a fully extended drawer to project between 45 and 55 centimetres from the front of the unit, which must be added to the unit depth when planning.

What if my room is not square?

Measure every wall individually and plan to the shortest dimension in each direction. Older properties frequently vary by several centimetres from one end of a wall to the other.