Furniture layout planner online

ApaPlan team · Updated October 14, 2026

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A furniture layout planner lets you test a room before you buy anything: will the sofa fit, will the wardrobe doors open, is there still a path to the window? ApaPlan is a free room planner that runs in your browser. Draw the room to your measurements, place items from the catalog and see the result in 3D straight away. No sign-up is needed to start — your guest project is kept in this browser. Sign in with Google or email to save it to an account and open it on another device.

The planner works on a computer, tablet or phone without installing an app. On a touch screen you move and rotate furniture with your finger, and number fields are there for exact sizes.

How to arrange furniture online, step by step

1. Draw your room with dimensions or import a floor plan image. Check wall lengths, doors, windows and sill height.
2. Open the catalog: it has more than 2,500 3D models of furniture, bathroom fixtures, appliances, lighting and decor. Use search or browse by section.
3. Drag an item onto the plan. Furniture snaps to walls and nearby objects, so a wardrobe sits flush against the wall without manual nudging.
4. Select the item and set width, depth and height from the product you plan to buy. Change its colour if needed.
5. Start with the large pieces — bed, sofa, wardrobes, kitchen units — then add tables, chairs, lighting and decor.
6. Check walkways and door and drawer clearances in 2D, then switch to 3D and the Walk mode.
7. Keep an alternative in a copy of the project (“Duplicate with furniture”) to compare layouts side by side.

Furniture layout rules: walkways and clearances

Items that fit on the plan when closed may get in the way when used. That is why you plan how people move first, and furniture second. The table lists common ergonomic guidelines for living spaces. They are not building codes: check them against your habits, height and the actual furniture you choose.

A simple check: switch to 3D, choose Walk and go from the entrance to the window, the bed and the wardrobe. If you have to step around a table corner or squeeze between an armchair and the wall, widen the walkway.

Arranging furniture in rooms of different shapes

Long, narrow room

The classic mistake is lining everything up along one long wall, which turns the room into a corridor. Divide it across into two or three zones, such as sleeping and working. A shelving unit placed perpendicular to the wall, or a rug laid across the room, makes it feel shorter. Place the bed with its headboard on the short wall, or across the room if the width allows, and check that a 60–70 cm walkway remains.

Square room

A square room works well with a central arrangement: sofa, armchairs and coffee table gather around the middle while storage goes to the walls. Do not push every piece to the perimeter — you get an empty spot in the middle and zones that drift apart. Decide on the focal point first: the TV, a window or a fireplace.

Walk-through room

Draw a straight line between the doors on the plan: that is a corridor you must keep clear. Put furniture in the “pockets” on either side of the line. Position the sofa so the route passes beside the seating area rather than behind it. Check that the doors clear the furniture when they open; in ApaPlan you can flip the door swing.

Small room under 12 m² (about 130 sq ft)

In a small room every centimetre matters. Choose a 140 cm bed instead of 160 cm if one person sleeps there, a sliding wardrobe instead of hinged doors, wall-hung units and tall storage up to the ceiling. A sofa bed or a bed with drawers replaces a separate chest. In 3D, check that a tall wardrobe does not block the window or loom over the entrance.

Studio apartment

In a studio, furniture also divides the space into zones. Separate the kitchen, sleeping area and seating so the bed is not visible from the front door. Open shelving divides zones while letting light through, and a sofa with its back to the kitchen works as a low partition. See a ready example in the studio apartment floor plan.

Room planner for every room

Each room has its own constraints. These guides include ready plans that open in the editor:

• bedroom planner — bed, wardrobe and access to the sleeping area;
• kitchen planner — the work triangle, kitchen runs and the dining area;
• kids' room planner — sleep, study, storage and play space;
• living room planner — sofa, TV area and the route through the room;
• home office planner — a desk near the window, light and space behind the chair;
• bathroom planner — fixtures with real dimensions and access to the bath and basin.

IKEA and other brands with real dimensions

Many items in the ApaPlan catalog are real products with the manufacturer's dimensions — for example IKEA furniture and Roca bathroom fixtures. They include PAX wardrobes 100 cm wide and 60 cm deep, KALLAX shelving units 77 × 147 cm, MALM beds and HEMNES washstands. A model on the plan takes up exactly the space listed for the product, so the “will it fit” test is honest.

You can rotate any item to the angle you need and change its dimensions and colour. That helps when a store sells the same model in several sizes: compare them in your room instead of in a spec table.

If your exact piece is not in the catalog, choose a similar item and set its real width, depth and height. The look will be approximate, but the footprint will be correct. Before buying, check dimensions against the current product page: manufacturers sometimes change them.

Worked example: furniture in a 12 m² room

Consider an illustrative 4 × 3 metre room with a 2 × 1.6 metre bed, a wardrobe 0.6 metres deep and a desk. If the bed and wardrobe face each other across the three-metre side, the gap between closed items is 3 − 1.6 − 0.6 = 0.8 metres. Now check open drawers, wardrobe doors, space for a person and access to the bed. With hinged doors 50 cm wide, only 30 cm remains free — a sliding wardrobe or turning the bed is the better choice.

3D furniture layout

A top-down plan shows whether furniture fits, not how it feels. The ApaPlan 3D view shows heights: a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe, a tall headboard, wall cabinets in the kitchen, a pendant over the table. Walk mode puts you inside the room at eye level, so it is easier to notice that a bookcase blocks daylight or that half the sofa cannot see the TV. Changes made in 3D appear on the plan instantly, and vice versa.

Common furniture layout mistakes

• Pushing everything to the walls “to save space” — the middle stays empty and zones do not read.
• Blocking the route to a window or balcony you use every day.
• Forgetting radiators: a wardrobe or sofa in front of one reduces heating.
• Placing a bed directly opposite the door or under a window without checking access.
• Buying furniture by room area instead of the length of a specific wall.
• Covering sockets and switches because their positions were not marked.

Room planner app or browser tool?

You do not need to install a separate furniture planner app: ApaPlan runs in the browser on any device. To compare it with other tools, see the Planner 5D and room planner alternatives guide. If your floor plan is not ready yet, start with a floor plan with dimensions, then choose colours and finishes in 3D interior design.

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