Bedroom layout planner

How to measure your bedroom

A tape measure, a pencil and a sketch of the room are enough. Measure twice: a bed frame that is 2 in too long for its wall won’t go in.

1. Room size. Measure wall to wall across the top of your sketch (the width), then the other way (the length), at floor level and past the baseboards.
2. Door. Note which wall it’s on, how far it starts from the corner (the left corner of the top or bottom wall, the top corner of a side wall) and how wide it is. The planner keeps a square as wide as the door clear for its swing.
3. Window and closet. Note where each one starts and how wide it is. Turn on the closet if yours has a door or opening you need to reach.
4. Furniture. Measure the bed frame’s outside size, with the headboard, then the desk and dresser you have or want. A mattress is smaller than its frame: a queen mattress is 60 × 80 in, a typical queen frame about 64 × 84 in.

How the planner finds a layout

It puts every piece against a wall in every position that makes sense (centered, at either end, beside the door or window), tries the combinations, and keeps the arrangements that pass three kinds of check. Then it ranks them, preferring the bed centered on its wall; set “What matters most” to put the desk closest to the window or to keep the middle of the room open.

1. Fit. Every piece sits inside the room, against a wall, without touching another piece or the door’s swing.
2. Use. There’s room beside the bed and past its foot, room to pull out the desk chair, and room to open the dresser drawers and stand in front of them.
3. Move. A walking path from the door reaches every bed side you need, the foot of the bed, the desk and the dresser, at your walkway width. The planner checks it on a 2 in grid.

If nothing passes, it draws the closest attempt with the tight spots in red, then tests single changes that would work: a narrower desk, a shallower dresser, a smaller bed, leaving a piece out, or one open side of the bed instead of two. Each one is checked again before it is shown.

The numbers behind each check

Pick the setting before you solve. Standard is the one most layout guides use; Roomy suits a main bedroom you want to move around freely; Minimum shows what nearly fits.

You also choose whether both sides of the bed must stay open or one is enough: a twin or a guest bed often goes against a wall.

Starting sizes

Mattress sizes from Sleep Foundation’s size chart; each frame is the mattress plus about 4 in each way. Frames vary a lot, so enter your own if you know it. The desk starts at 48 × 24 in and the dresser at 32 × 18 in; change both to match yours.

Start from a measured layout

Every plan on BedroomMetrics, 16 so far, the ones that pass every check first and the smallest room first. Each one opens in the planner with the room filled in.

• 8 × 10 ft · Queen bed · passes every check

  Room size for a queen bedOpen in the planner

• 8 × 10 ft · Twin bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  Bedroom layout ideasOpen in the planner

• 9 × 10 ft · Full bed · passes every check

  9×10 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 9 × 10 ft · Twin bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  9×10 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 9 × 11 ft · Full bed, dresser · passes every check

  9×11 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 10 × 10 ft · Queen bed · passes every check

  10×10 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 10 × 11 ft · Queen bed, dresser · passes every check

  10×11 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 10 × 12 ft · Queen bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  10×12 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 11 × 11 ft · Queen bed, dresser · passes every check

  11×11 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 11 × 12 ft · Queen bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  11×12 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 11 × 12 ft · King bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  11×12 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 12 × 12 ft · King bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  12×12 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 12 × 12 ft · Queen bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  12×12 bedroom layoutsOpen in the planner

• 12 × 14 ft · King bed, dresser · passes every check

  Master bedroom sizeOpen in the planner

• 13 × 14 ft · California king bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  Master bedroom sizeOpen in the planner

• 14 × 16 ft · King bed, desk and dresser · passes every check

  Master bedroom sizeOpen in the planner

What the planner doesn’t check

It plans the floor: the bed, desk, dresser and the space to use and walk past them. It doesn’t see which way your door hinges (it keeps a square clear on the side you entered), outlets, radiators, vents or window sill heights, and it treats each piece as a rectangle. It also doesn’t check building code: a bedroom needs an emergency escape window and a minimum floor area under the codes most US towns use, and the minimum bedroom size page explains both. Measure your real room before you buy.