The average London second bedroom is under 3 metres by 3 metres, and a freestanding wardrobe takes a third of it. Fitted furniture solves small rooms by using the two dimensions freestanding furniture cannot: height, and the odd corners a standard box will not fit. These are the twelve ideas our designers reach for most, with what they cost including VAT and installation.
Small-room principles
- Go to the ceiling: the top 400mm of a wall is free storage.
- Choose doors that do not swing: sliding or handleless push-to-open.
- Use mirror to double the apparent room.
- Build storage where furniture already is: over and beside the bed.
- Keep one finish and one colour, close to the walls, so the run recedes.
1. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall
The single biggest gain. A run that meets the ceiling and both side walls holds around 30% more than a freestanding wardrobe on the same wall and has no dust-gathering top. Top boxes take the seasonal clothes and suitcases that otherwise live under the bed.
2. Sliding doors
With less than 600mm between wardrobe and bed, hinged doors will not open fully. Sliding doors need no swing space at all, so the wardrobe can sit 300mm from the bed. Sliding wardrobes start from £900 per metre, or £1,020 per metre with mirror doors. See sliding wardrobes.
3. A mirror door
One mirror door, or a mirror band at eye height, makes a small room read twice its depth and reflects the window. Tinted bronze mirror does it more gently. The mirror guide weighs it up.
4. Over-bed storage
When the bed takes the only long wall, build over it: wardrobes either side, cabinets bridging above, bedsides built into the towers. The bed wall becomes the storage wall and the rest of the room stays clear. From £900 per metre. See over-bed wardrobes and the over-bed guide.
5. Shallow-depth runs
A standard wardrobe is 600mm deep. Where a room cannot spare that, a 450mm run still takes hanging on face-on rails, folded clothes and shoes, and saves 150mm across the whole wall.
6. Alcoves either side of a chimney breast
Two alcoves hold two wardrobes and lose no floor at all, because the space is already recessed. Templated individually, they read as a pair; the breast between takes a shelf, a TV or a dressing table. See the alcove guide.
7. Handleless doors
Push-to-open or J-pull doors remove handles that catch on passers-by in a narrow room and make the run read as a wall. Pair them with super-matt to avoid fingerprints.
8. A colour close to the walls
Match the wardrobe to the wall colour and it disappears; the room reads as its full size. Save the contrast for a lit niche or the handles.
9. Built-in bedsides and a desk
A tower with a bedside niche cut into it, or a short run that ends in a desk under the window, replaces two pieces of freestanding furniture with none. Whole-bedroom sets add bedsides from £690 and a dressing table from £1,450 to the wardrobe wall.
10. Interior lighting
A lit interior lets you see the back of a deep bay without the ceiling light, and a lit niche gives a small room a focal point. Around £100 per light.
11. Under the window and around the door
A window seat with drawers beneath, or shallow cupboards over the bedroom door, use space no freestanding piece can reach. See window seating.
12. The loft room version
In a loft, the low knee wall is drawers and shoe storage, the full-height section is hanging, and the doors follow the slope. From £900 per metre. See the loft guide.
What a small-bedroom wardrobe costs
A compact two-door fitted wardrobe about one metre wide starts from around £900 at Level 3 of our price guide; sliding, loft and over-bed wardrobes are priced on the same per-metre basis from £900 per metre. All prices include VAT and installation. See the price guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best wardrobe for a small bedroom?
A floor-to-ceiling fitted run with sliding doors and at least one mirror panel, in a colour close to the walls. It holds around 30% more than a freestanding wardrobe, needs no swing space and makes the room read larger.
How deep should a wardrobe be in a small room?
600mm is standard. Where the room cannot spare it, a 450mm run still takes face-on hanging, folded clothes and shoes and saves 150mm across the wall.
Can you fit a wardrobe in a box room?
Yes. A box room usually takes a floor-to-ceiling sliding run on one wall or an over-bed arrangement, both made to the exact dimensions so no space is lost to gaps.
How much does a small fitted wardrobe cost?
A compact two-door wardrobe about one metre wide starts from around £900 including VAT and installation, and a two-metre run from £1,800. Sliding wardrobes start from £900 per metre, or £1,020 per metre with mirror doors.
Explore Metro
Ready to see what your room could hold?
Book a free home design visit. A Metro designer measures the room, brings full-size door and finish samples, and returns a 3D design with an itemised, fixed price within two to three days. No deposit is taken at the visit and there is no obligation. Or see every door style at our Wembley showroom, next to the workshop that makes them.
