The most common furniture mistake is not quality. It is size, either the piece is too big for the room, or it will not physically get into the room.
Both are entirely preventable in about twenty minutes.
Step 1: the tape test
Mark the full footprint on the floor with masking tape at the exact dimensions of the piece. For tall items, mark the height on the wall as well.
Then leave it for two days and live around it. Walk your normal routes. Sit where you normally sit. Open the doors and drawers that are nearby.
Almost everyone moves the tape once. Almost nobody moves it a second time. Two days of tape is the single highest-value thing in this article, and it costs nothing.
For a large piece, cardboard boxes stacked to the height give a better sense of bulk than tape alone, because furniture occupies volume rather than floor area.
Step 2: the route in
This is what ends deliveries. Measure the narrowest point on the path from the street to the room.
- Front door width and height.
- Every internal doorway on the route.
- Hallway width, and especially any corner the piece must turn.
- Stair width, and the headroom at any turn or landing.
- Lift internal dimensions and door width, including depth.
- Any low ceiling, beam or light fitting.
The diagonal matters more than the width. Furniture is manoeuvred on its side or its end, so the limiting dimension at a doorway is usually the diagonal of the opening, not its width. A doorway 32 inches wide and 80 inches tall has a diagonal of about 86 inches, which is why tall thin things pass through openings that look too small.
The hardest case is a right-angled turn in a narrow hall. If the corridor is narrower than the piece is long, it has to turn while tilted, and that needs ceiling height. Measure both.
If anything is close, ask whether the piece ships with the base detached. Most made-to-order tables do, and that usually solves it.
Step 3: clearances by room
Dining room. 36 inches from table edge to the nearest wall or furniture, so a chair can be pulled out and sat in. 42 to 48 inches if people walk behind seated diners. Full detail in the dining table guide.
Living room. 30 to 36 inches for a main walkway, 18 inches minimum for a secondary one. 14 to 18 inches between sofa and coffee table. No more than 8 feet between facing seats. See the layout guide.
Bedroom. 24 to 30 inches beside the bed. 36 inches in front of a wardrobe or chest to open it and stand there. 24 to 30 inches at the foot.
Hallway. 36 inches of clear passage after the furniture is in. Hall width minus 36 gives the deepest console the space can take, see console dimensions.
Home office. 36 inches behind the desk for the chair. 24 inches of clear knee height under the desk.
Bathroom. 30 inches in front of a vanity, 21 inches minimum clear in front of a toilet.
Step 4: the measurements people forget
- Baseboards. A piece pushed against a wall stands off by the baseboard depth, usually half to three-quarters of an inch. On a tight alcove fit this is the measurement that decides it.
- Radiators, pipes and sockets. A sideboard covering a socket makes it unusable, and one against a radiator blocks the heat and dries the timber unevenly.
- Door and drawer swing. A wardrobe needs its door depth clear in front, and a drawer needs its full extension.
- Window sills and window opening. A piece under a window must clear the sill and must not block a window that opens inward.
- Floor level. Older floors are rarely flat. A piece built square will rock on a floor that is not, and needs shimming.
- Wall squareness. Rooms are rarely exactly 90 degrees, which matters for anything built to fit a corner or an alcove.
Step 5: measuring for an alcove or a built-in fit
The rule: measure in three places and use the smallest.
Measure the width at the top, the middle and the bottom. Walls bow, and the narrowest point is the one the furniture has to pass.
Then subtract a tolerance, a quarter to half an inch total, or the piece will not go in. A unit built to the exact measurement of an alcove does not fit an alcove.
Check the diagonals too. If the two diagonals of the opening differ, the alcove is not square, and a square unit will show a tapering gap down one side.
How to write the measurements down
Always in the same order, width x depth x height, and always with the unit. Most measuring errors are transcription errors rather than measuring errors.
Photograph the space with the tape in place. When you are comparing options a week later, the photograph answers questions the numbers do not.
Keep it all in one note. You will need it again for the next piece, and the clearances above apply to every piece in that room, see the living room, bedroom and dining pieces for the dimensions we list on each.
The twenty-minute routine
- Tape the footprint. Leave it two days.
- Measure the route in, including doorway diagonals.
- Check the clearances for that room.
- Check baseboard, sockets, radiators, door swing.
- Measure any alcove in three places and take the smallest.
- Write it as W x D x H with units, and photograph the space.
Send us the measurements, or see the full online buying guide.
Common questions
How much clearance does a dining table need?
36 inches from the table edge to the nearest wall or furniture, so a chair can be pulled out and sat in. Allow 42 to 48 inches if people walk behind seated diners.
How much space should there be between a sofa and a coffee table?
14 to 18 inches, close enough to reach a cup without the table blocking the path out of the seat.
Will the furniture fit through my door?
Measure the diagonal, not just the width. A doorway 32 inches wide and 80 inches tall has a diagonal of about 86 inches, which is why tall thin things pass through openings that look too small.
How much space do you need beside a bed?
24 to 30 inches beside the bed, which is what it takes to get in and out and to open a nightstand drawer.