How to Measure Your Home Before Buying Furniture: A Step-by-Step Guide

Short answer: you do not need a laser measure to measure for furniture. A tape measure, pen and paper and your phone are enough. Measure the four walls of the room and the ceiling height, sketch roughly where the doors, windows and radiators are; then do the most critical part: measure the route the furniture will take into the home — the building entrance, the lift car and its door, the stair turn, and the flat and room doors. Fifteen minutes of this work prevents almost every problem caused by wrong measurements.

Three things you need to measure

• A tape measure: at least 5 metres, with a metal blade. A tailor's tape stretches.
• Paper and pen: you are going to sketch; measurements are not kept in your head.
• Your phone: for photographs of the sketch and the room; it makes things much easier in the showroom.

Is a laser measure essential? No; a taut tape measure is just as accurate.

Eight things to measure at home

Measuring a room is not just "how wide, how long"; what decides where the furniture goes is the obstacles on the walls:

• 1. Wall lengths: all four walls, corner to corner, separately.
• 2. Ceiling height: decisive for a tall wardrobe.
• 3. Door width and height: the clear opening between the frames.
• 4. Window sill height and position: how many cm from the floor to the sill, and where on the wall.
• 5. Radiator: width, height and position. If it is blocked the room will not heat.
• 6. Socket and switch positions: with their height from the floor.
• 7. Columns, recesses, projections: width and depth, alcove size, boiler cupboard.
• 8. Which way the door opens: the area the leaf sweeps must stay clear.

How to measure a wall: at three points

Walls are not as straight as they look; the same wall can be 372 cm at the floor and 375 cm in the middle.

• Measure every wall near the floor, at waist height and near the ceiling; use the smallest.
• Skirting board allowance: the skirting projects 1-2 cm; a wardrobe with a flat back does not sit fully against the wall.
• Plaster and floor allowance: if the plaster and flooring are not yet done, the walls will come in 2-3 cm.
• Leave 2-3 cm on every side; furniture that fits to the millimetre does not fit at installation.

How to draw a simple sketch

• Draw the room as a rectangle seen from above; if there is a column or recess, draw it in. Write each wall's length outside it.
• Show the door with a quarter-circle arc; the arc shows which way it opens. Mark the window with a double line and write its width and distance from the corner.
• Mark the radiator, sockets and switches and write their heights. In a corner write the ceiling height and the clear width of the room door, then photograph it.

The really critical measurement: the route into the home

Where people buying at a distance most often come unstuck is not the room but the carrying route; an empty room means nothing if the item will not go round the stair turn:

• Building entrance door: clear width and height with the leaf open.
• Lift: the car's internal width × depth × height and the clear width of the door. The door is usually narrower than the car; the door is what decides.
• Stair landing: not the steps, but the free space at the turn.
• Flat door: clear width, the space left with the leaf open, and the threshold.
• Room door and corridor: turning in a narrow corridor is harder than going straight through.

The answer to "will this item get through here", in a table, is in our guide on will furniture fit through the door and the lift.

The measurement list to take to the showroom

Copy this table onto your phone and fill it in; with it in hand the seller can show you the right product straight away:

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

Six most common measuring mistakes

• 1. Measuring the door with its leaf. The leaf takes 4-5 cm; the measurement is the clear opening.
• 2. Forgetting the skirting board. The wardrobe comes 2 cm forward; across several pieces the difference adds up.
• 3. Measuring a wall at one point. Use the smallest of three measurements.
• 4. Forgetting the door opening allowance. A hinged leaf opens forwards; if there is no room, sliding doors are needed — the difference is in our wardrobe dimensions article.
• 5. Skipping the carrying route. The mistake that costs most.
• 6. Forgetting the walking route. 60-70 cm of walkway must remain between pieces.

You have the measurements — what next?

• Bedroom: how many m² a room should be, bedroom set dimensions, bed sizes. If the room is narrow, how to fit a set into a small room. Models: bedroom category.
• Teen room: as the bed, desk and wardrobe all go into one room the margins are tighter; the dimension tables are in teen room dimensions and choices.
• Living room: sofa set dimensions, coffee table dimensions, TV unit height, living room rug size. Products: living room category.
• Dining room: for how many the table should seat and the space around it, dining table dimensions; the sets are in the dining room category.

If there is anything you are unsure of, send a photograph of your sketch to the Selishome team.