Bedroom layout planner: arrange your bedroom furniture in 3D

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ApaPlan is a free online bedroom layout planner: draw your room with real dimensions, place a bed, wardrobe and nightstands from a catalog of real products, and check every walkway in 2D and 3D. No sign-up is needed — the editor opens in your browser, and the example below opens in one click.

Bedroom clearances that make a layout work

A bedroom can look fine on paper and still be awkward every morning. Before choosing a bed size, check that the space around it works. These are the distances most designers start from:

The wardrobe row matters most: a 60 cm (2 ft) deep wardrobe with 50 cm doors needs roughly a metre of free floor in front of it, or the doors will hit the bed. Sliding doors remove that problem and are the usual fix in narrow rooms.

Bedroom layout ideas by room shape

Bed centred on the longest solid wall

The classic layout: headboard against the wall with no window, nightstands on both sides, wardrobe on the wall facing the bed or beside the door. It gives two people equal access and works in most rectangular rooms from about 3 × 3.5 m (10 × 11 ft 6 in).

Bed against the window wall

Useful when the window sits on the only wall long enough for the bed. Leave 10–15 cm (4–6 in) between headboard and radiator, keep curtains clear of the pillows and check that the window can still open.

Bed in the corner

Saves a full 60–75 cm (2–2 ft 6 in) strip of floor. It is a good small bedroom layout for a single or for a guest room, but one person has to climb over the other in a double, and making the bed is harder.

Long, narrow room

Place the bed across the room near the far end and use the strip by the door for a wardrobe or a desk. Avoid putting the bed lengthways along one wall: it creates a corridor that cannot be used for anything.

Choosing a bed size for your room

Mattress names differ between countries, so plan in centimetres or inches rather than names. A 140 × 200 cm European double is close to a US full (137 × 191 cm, 54 × 75 in); a 160 × 200 cm bed is close to a US queen (152 × 203 cm, 60 × 80 in); a UK king is 150 × 200 cm. Add 5–15 cm (2–6 in) for the bed frame and a few more for a padded headboard.

A quick check: room width minus bed width should leave at least 120–150 cm (4–5 ft) in total for both sides. In a 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) wide room, a 160 cm bed leaves 80 cm (2 ft 7 in) on each side — comfortable. A 180 cm bed leaves 70 cm each side, which still works if the nightstands are slim. Many IKEA beds and wardrobes are in the ApaPlan catalog with their actual outer dimensions, so you can test a specific frame instead of guessing.

Small bedroom layout tips

• Let the bed decide first. Place it, then see what space is left for storage. In rooms under about 9 m² (100 sq ft) a 140 cm bed is often a better trade than a queen.
• Swap hinged doors for sliding ones. A sliding wardrobe needs only 60–70 cm (2 ft–2 ft 4 in) in front instead of the door swing.
• Use wall-mounted shelves as nightstands. They free floor space and make the room look larger in 3D.
• Store under the bed. A bed with drawers needs about 50 cm (20 in) of clear floor beside it to open them.
• Check the door swing. A door opening into the room claims about 0.8 × 0.8 m (2 ft 7 in square) of floor that cannot hold furniture.

Bedroom layout mistakes to avoid

• Measuring the wall but forgetting skirting boards, radiators and window sills that stick out 5–15 cm.
• Putting the bed where the door opens straight onto it, or where the door hits the bed frame.
• Blocking a radiator or the only socket with a wardrobe.
• Choosing furniture by catalog photos instead of outer dimensions: the overall depth of a bed with headboard is often 10–20 cm (4–8 in) more than the mattress.
• Forgetting a place for a laundry basket, a chair or an open suitcase.

For the general approach to measuring a room and placing furniture, see the furniture layout guide.

How to plan your bedroom in ApaPlan

Start from the example above with “Open this plan in the editor”, or draw your own walls. Set exact wall lengths, add the door and window, and flip the door swing so it matches reality. Then open the catalog — more than 2,500 3D models, including beds, wardrobes, lighting and decor — and drop furniture into the room. Objects snap to walls and to each other, and you can change width and depth, rotate them or recolour them.

Switch to 3D to see heights and proportions, or walk through the room in first-person mode to check what you see from the door. Try wall colours and floor textures from the material library. When the plan is ready, download a renovation PDF with the plans, room areas and finish schedule. Planning a child’s room next? See the kids room layout planner; for a work corner in the bedroom, the home office planner has desk clearances.

How to do it in ApaPlan

1. Open the planner. Open the example bedroom in the editor or start a new project. No account is needed to begin.
2. Set the room size. Draw or adjust the walls, enter exact lengths and add the door and window in their real positions.
3. Place the bed first. Choose a bed from the catalog, set its real width and depth and place it on the wall you chose.
4. Add storage and nightstands. Add a wardrobe, drawers and bedside tables; check that doors and drawers open without hitting the bed.
5. Check in 3D. Switch to the 3D view or first-person walkthrough, try colours and materials, then save or download the PDF.

Open this plan in the editor

Frequently asked questions

See also