To know whether an open wardrobe will fit, you need four measurements: the wall width available, the ceiling height, the depth of clear floor from the wall, and the width of the narrowest point on the route into the room. If the unit’s dimensions sit inside all four with a few centimetres to spare, it will fit. Most delivery problems come from ignoring the fourth measurement.<\/p>\n
Open wardrobes are more forgiving than closed ones because there are no doors to swing, but they have their own requirements. Here is how to measure properly, in order.<\/p>\n
Measure at three heights: at skirting level, at roughly waist height, and near the ceiling. Walls in older UK properties are rarely parallel, and a gap that measures 120cm at the top may be 117cm at the bottom where the skirting board projects.<\/p>\n
Use the smallest of the three figures as your working width. Then subtract 2cm to 3cm as tolerance. A unit that fits with zero clearance is extremely difficult to position and impossible to adjust.<\/p>\n
If the wardrobe is going into an alcove, measure the alcove at those same three heights and also check that the two side walls are vertical. Hold a spirit level against each. A wall that leans inward at the top will stop a full height unit from sliding in even when the floor level measurement looks fine.<\/p>\n
Measure floor to ceiling at both ends of the wall, not just the middle. Floors settle and ceilings slope, particularly in loft conversions and upper floors of older houses.<\/p>\n
Then apply the tilt rule. An open wardrobe assembled flat on the floor has to be raised into position, and during that rotation the diagonal of the unit is longer than its height. The diagonal is calculated from the height and the depth. In practice, a unit 200cm tall and 50cm deep needs roughly 206cm of clearance to tilt upright.<\/p>\n
If your ceiling is 210cm, that works. If it is 203cm, you will need to assemble the unit standing up, which is possible but requires two people and more patience.<\/p>\n
Also account for coving, ceiling roses and sloping ceilings. Under a slope, measure at the exact point where the back of the unit will stand, since that is the constraining height.<\/p>\n
Open wardrobes are typically 40cm to 55cm deep. Standard hangers need around 50cm of internal depth for clothes to hang square, so shallower units usually use a front to back rail instead.<\/p>\n
Measure from the wall outward and mark the depth on the floor with masking tape. Then live with that tape for a day. It is the cheapest way to discover that a 55cm deep unit leaves an uncomfortable walkway past the bed.<\/p>\n
Allow a minimum walkway of 60cm anywhere you need to pass, and 75cm where you need to stand and dress. If the tape line eats into either, choose a shallower unit or reposition.<\/p>\n
Remember skirting boards. Most sit 1cm to 2cm proud of the wall, so a unit with a solid back will stand that distance forward. Some designs include a recess at the rear to accommodate this. If yours does not, add the skirting depth to your total.<\/p>\n
This is the measurement that causes the most problems, and it applies to assembled units rather than flat packed ones.<\/p>\n
Measure the narrowest point on the path from your front door to the bedroom. That is usually a stair turn, a doorway, or the gap at the top of a staircase. Check doorway width with the door open, and note that you can often gain 4cm to 5cm by lifting the door off its hinges.<\/p>\n
For stair turns, the constraint is the diagonal clearance, not the width. Measure from the inside corner of the turn to the opposite wall. If the longest side of your packaged unit exceeds that figure, it will not go round.<\/p>\n
Flat packed open wardrobes avoid this entirely, which is one of their practical advantages. The boxes are manageable and the unit is built in place.<\/p>\n
Listed dimensions are external unless stated otherwise. For an open wardrobe, the numbers that matter most for storage are internal: the usable shelf width, the hanging rail length, and the clear drop beneath the rail.<\/p>\n
Hanging drop is the specification to check for coats and dresses. A long coat needs around 130cm of clear drop, a suit jacket around 100cm, and shirts around 90cm. If a unit’s rail sits 150cm from the floor, everything works. If a shelf intrudes at 110cm, long garments will not hang.<\/p>\n
Shelf spacing matters too. Folded jumpers need roughly 30cm between shelves to stack comfortably. Anything tighter and you will be forcing items in, which is how shelves bow.<\/p>\n
Open wardrobes are lighter than closed ones, which makes them easier to move and more likely to tip. Every tall unit should be secured to the wall with the supplied bracket or strap.<\/p>\n
Know your wall type first. Solid masonry takes a standard plug and screw. Plasterboard on studs needs the fixing to land in a stud, which you can locate with a detector or by tapping for a change in sound. Plasterboard with no stud available needs a proper hollow wall anchor rated for the load, not a simple plastic plug.<\/p>\n
Do not skip this because the unit seems stable. Loaded with clothing and pulled at from the front, an unfixed tall wardrobe is genuinely dangerous, particularly around children.<\/p>\n
Place a spirit level on the floor where the unit will stand, checking both left to right and front to back. Older UK floors frequently slope by a centimetre or more across a two metre span.<\/p>\n
On an open wardrobe, an uneven floor shows up as shelves that appear to tilt and as a frame that racks slightly out of square. Many units include adjustable feet. If yours does not, thin packers under the low corner solve it in a few minutes.<\/p>\n
Check level again after loading the unit, since weight can settle it slightly on carpet.<\/p>\n
Write down: wall width at three heights, ceiling height at both ends, required depth marked on the floor, walkway remaining, narrowest point on the route in, skirting depth, and wall construction type. Seven figures, ten minutes, and almost every fitting problem disappears.<\/p>\n
Once you have those, comparing products becomes straightforward. Every listing in our modern wardrobes UK sale<\/a> range carries full external dimensions, and we list internal hanging measurements where the layout makes them relevant.<\/p>\n If the numbers rule out a full height unit, a lower open unit paired with separate hanging storage often solves the problem. Combinations using pieces from our clothes storage UK sale<\/a> range fit awkward spaces where a single wardrobe will not, and there are shallower options within shelving units UK sale<\/a> for very tight rooms. The full selection is at Furniture in Fashion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Masking tape is the most useful measuring tool most people never use. Mark the full footprint of the wardrobe on the floor, including the depth, and add a second line showing the door swing if the unit has hinged doors.<\/p>\n Then walk the room as you normally would. Get in and out of bed. Open the bedroom door. Reach the window and the radiator. If any of those movements now feels tight, the unit is too large for the position and no amount of clever internal layout will fix it.<\/p>\n For height, cut a length of string or use a broom handle marked at the unit’s height and hold it against the wall. Standing furniture is always taller in reality than it looks on a screen, and this check takes seconds.<\/p>\n If the wardrobe you want will not fit, there are three routes that usually solve it.<\/p>\n Go taller and narrower. A unit 60cm wide and 210cm tall holds a surprising amount and takes a third of the floor space of a wide low one.<\/p>\n Split the storage. Two smaller units in two different positions often fit where one large unit does not, and they can be placed either side of a chimney breast or window.<\/p>\n Change the door type. Sliding fronts or open shelving remove the swing requirement entirely, which frees up the walkway that a hinged door would otherwise consume. In genuinely tight bedrooms, this is usually the change that makes everything else work.<\/p>\n Around 50cm internally if you want clothes to hang square on standard hangers. Units shallower than 45cm usually need a front to back rail instead, which reduces capacity but keeps garments hanging properly.<\/p>\n More than the unit’s height, because the diagonal is longer. As a rough guide, allow around 6cm extra for a 200cm tall unit that is 50cm deep. If clearance is tight, assemble the unit in the upright position instead.<\/p>\n Yes. They are lighter than closed wardrobes and therefore easier to tip. Use the supplied bracket and match the fixing to your wall type, using a proper hollow wall anchor on plasterboard where no stud is available.<\/p>\n At least 60cm to pass comfortably and around 75cm where you need to stand and dress. Mark the depth on the floor with masking tape before ordering to test how the space feels.<\/p>\n External, unless the listing states otherwise. For storage planning, look for the internal rail length and the clear hanging drop, since these determine what actually fits inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost every wardrobe fitting problem comes down to a measurement that was never taken. This guide sets out the four that matter, in the order you should take them: wall width measured at three separate heights, ceiling height at both ends of the run, usable…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":68656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3334],"tags":[361,2799,5605,956],"class_list":["post-68655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guide-for-your-home","tag-bedroom-storage","tag-measuring-guide","tag-open-wardrobes","tag-small-spaces"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Testing the layout before you order<\/h3>\n
When the numbers do not work<\/h3>\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h3>\n
How deep should an open wardrobe be?<\/h3>\n
How much ceiling clearance do I need to tilt a wardrobe upright?<\/h3>\n
Do open wardrobes need to be fixed to the wall?<\/h3>\n
What walkway width should I leave in front of a wardrobe?<\/h3>\n
Are listed wardrobe dimensions internal or external?<\/h3>\n