The spacing rules that make a small room work

A room can feel crammed because of where things sit, not how much is in it. Designers work from a few simple distances. They’re rules of thumb, not laws, so if your room needs you to break one, break it.

Start with the way you walk

Before you place anything, trace the routes you use every day: door to sofa, bed to wardrobe, kitchen to table. Keep the main route about 75 to 90 cm wide. If furniture cuts across it, you’ll notice every day.

Sofa and coffee table

• Gap: about 35 to 45 cm between the sofa and the table. That’s close enough to reach a cup and wide enough for your knees.
• Length: a table about two thirds as long as the sofa usually looks right.
• Height: close to the height of the sofa’s seat, or slightly lower.

In a very small room, a pair of side tables or one round table can take the place of a long coffee table. A round table has no corners to walk into.

Rugs

A rug that’s too small makes a room look smaller. In a living room, the front legs of the sofa and chairs should at least sit on it. Under a coffee table, leave about 30 to 45 cm of rug showing around the table.

Under a dining table, the rug has to be big enough for the chairs to stay on it when they’re pulled out. Otherwise they catch on the edge.

Beds

Leave about 60 cm down each side you get out of. In a small bedroom, it’s often better to push one side against a wall and keep one good walkway than to have two narrow ones.

Wardrobes and anything with doors

Open the doors in your head before you buy. A wardrobe needs its door swing clear, and so does the bedroom door. If the swing doesn’t fit, look for sliding doors.

Dining tables

There’s no single right number here, because chairs differ. Pull a chair out as if you were getting up, then measure from the table’s edge to the back of the chair. Then check you can still get past it.

Try it before it arrives

Masking tape on the floor is the cheapest way to test any of this.