Bedroom Storage Audit Preparation Checklist

Take everything that hangs out of the wardrobe, sort it into long items and short items, and note roughly how much rail each group needs.

Two rail figures let a designer stack short hanging in two tiers and give the long items their own run, which changes the whole layout.

Note which garments genuinely need full-height hanging, since assuming that everything does wastes the space beneath the rail entirely.

Most wardrobes lose a large part of their volume to air below short garments hung on a long rail.

Write down what is currently hanging that has not been worn for a long time, and decide whether it stays before the storage is designed.

Designing around clothes that are on their way out builds the wrong wardrobe permanently.

Consider whether two people share this hanging space and whether they want it divided or pooled, and record what each of them says.

Disagreement here surfaces at the fitting stage unless it is written down while the brief is being made.

Note whether anything hanging is kept in a cover or carrier, because those take noticeably more rail than the garment alone.

Garment covers take far more rail than the item inside them, which is why a rail measured by garments still fills up.

Open every drawer in the room in turn and note which are overfull, which are half empty and what each one actually holds.

Half-empty drawers usually mean the wrong depth or the wrong position rather than surplus space.

Write down which items are folded because there is no rail left rather than because folding suits them.

This distinction changes the balance between hanging and drawer space in a new design.

Consider which drawers are opened daily and which are opened rarely, since that decides what belongs at a comfortable height.

Frequency of use is a better guide to position than the size of what is being stored.

Note the bulkiest thing you keep folded, such as heavy knitwear, and whether the drawers you have now suit it at all.

One deep item sets the drawer depth for a whole run, so it is worth naming rather than leaving to the design.

Write down whether anything currently in a drawer would be better on an open shelf where it can be seen at a glance.

Count the pairs of shoes actually kept in this room and note which are worn often, which are seasonal and which are still boxed.

Shoe storage is either designed in from the start or ends up as a pile inside the wardrobe door.

Note the tallest and bulkiest items you have to store, such as boots, a suit carrier or a large bag, and where each lives now.

These are the items that make an evenly divided wardrobe fail, and they are easiest to allow for before anything is drawn.

Write down whether belts, jewellery, watches or ties need anything other than a shelf, and how you would want to be able to see them.

Small items disappear at the back of a shelf, and how you want to see them changes the fitting completely.

Consider whether sports equipment, an instrument or luggage is stored in this bedroom, and whether it genuinely belongs here.

Bulky items unrelated to clothing distort a wardrobe design and often belong somewhere else entirely.

Note anything kept in the bedroom purely because no other room would take it, and decide where it should really live.

Storage designed around items that are here by accident is storage designed around the wrong room.

Count the complete sets of bedding kept in this room and note which are in regular use, which are spare and which have not been used at all.

Sets in use and sets never used need different treatment, and only counting them separates the two.

Write down where spare duvets and pillows are kept, since bulky bedding is the item most often left out of a wardrobe design.

Duvets need a large clear volume, which is a different requirement from shelving and has to be asked for.

Consider whether clothing is rotated in and out of this room with the seasons, and write down where the out-of-season half is kept.

Note whether anything stored here has to stay dry, and raise any sign of moisture rather than designing storage around it.

Storing textiles against a wall showing moisture is how the problem is discovered much later and much worse.

Any sign of damp or condensation is for a suitably qualified professional to investigate before storage is built against that wall.

Write down what is kept under the bed today and whether that is storage the household wants to carry on using.

Note where worn-but-not-dirty clothes actually end up in this room, whether that is a chair, a door, a rail or the end of the bed.

This pile is a fixed feature of most bedrooms, and a design that ignores it simply relocates the problem.

Consider whether that habit deserves a proper place, such as hooks or a bench, rather than being designed out and reappearing anyway.

Write down where the laundry basket sits and whether it is where clothes are taken off or somewhere else entirely.

A basket in the wrong place is why clothes stay on the floor, and moving it takes nothing but attention.

Note what is kept on top of the chest of drawers and whether any of it wants a drawer, a tray or somewhere out of sight.

Consider what sits on the windowsill and the bedside table, since those surfaces show exactly what the room has no home for.

Overflow surfaces are the most reliable evidence of what the storage brief is missing.

Note the gap between the top of the wardrobe and the ceiling, and what is currently stored up there gathering dust.

That gap is usually the largest unused volume in a bedroom and the least pleasant place to reach into.

Write down whether anything is reachable only with a chair or a step, and whether that suits how often the item is needed.

Anything out of easy reach becomes long-term storage regardless of what the design intended it for.

Consider whether the space behind the door, in a chimney recess or in an awkward corner is doing anything at all.

Note the depth of any alcove and ask the joiner whether it suits hanging or only shelving, rather than assuming it will take a wardrobe.

Alcove depth is what decides between hanging and shelving, and getting it wrong makes fitted storage unusable.

Write down whether a loft hatch, an eaves cupboard or a boarded roof space is being counted on to absorb the overflow.

Whether a roof space can be used for storage at all is for a suitably qualified professional to establish for your property.

Note which wall could take full-height storage without blocking a window, a heat emitter or the route to the bed.

Naming the wall first shows what the room gives up, which is a different conversation from what the storage gains.

Write down which way the bedroom door swings and how far it opens, since that often rules out one wall on its own.

Door swing is the constraint most frequently discovered after a wardrobe has already been ordered.

Consider whether hinged or sliding doors suit the space in front of the storage, and note how much floor is left when a door is open.

Hinged doors need floor in front of them and sliding doors take depth from inside; the room usually decides which.

Note whether full-height storage would darken the room or block light from the window, and stand where the bed is to judge it.

Write down what would have to move to make room for new storage, including a heat emitter, a socket or a switch.

Anything needing a trade to attend changes the order of work and should be known before a design is made.

Whether a heat emitter, socket or switch can be moved is for suitably qualified heating and electrical professionals to establish.

Put the rail lengths, drawer counts, shelf needs and shoe numbers into one document rather than describing it as a lot of clothes.

A joiner can design against quantities; nobody can design against the feeling that there is not enough space.

Decide and record what will leave the house before anything is designed, and act on that decision before ordering.

Storage designed around what you intend to keep is smaller and easier to live with than storage sized for everything currently in the room.

Note which items must be visible and which must be hidden, since that changes the doors and the fronts more than the sizes do.

Consider repeating the count once the seasons have turned, so that items rotated out of the room are not missed by counting only once.

Write down which storage decisions must be settled before joinery is drawn and which can wait until it is being fitted.

Decisions arriving after drawings are the most common reason joinery has to be altered or remade.

Ask the joiner directly what they need from you and when, rather than assuming the order in which decisions can be made.