Bedroom Wardrobe Planning Checklist

Write down whether you expect this wardrobe to stay with the room permanently or to move with you, since that single answer separates fitted work from furniture.

Owners often describe fitted joinery and then talk about taking it with them, which cannot be reconciled later.

Look at the wall you have in mind and note whether it is straight and unbroken, or whether it steps around a chimney breast, a bulkhead or a stair enclosure.

Broken walls are where fitted work earns its keep, and where freestanding furniture leaves gaps nobody wanted.

Consider what happens if the bed position changes later on, and note whether a fitted run would rule that rearrangement out completely.

Fitted joinery fixes the layout of the whole room, not just the wall it stands against.

List what would need making good if freestanding furniture were ever taken out, including flooring, skirting and paintwork behind it.

Note any alcove or recess the wardrobe might sit into, and write down the awkward part of it rather than the convenient part.

Recesses are rarely square, and it is the out-of-square end that decides how the job has to be built.

Ask what a maker would need from you before they could draw either option, and note which of those things you can supply now.

Knowing what is wanted up front stops the first conversation being spent on questions you could have answered at home.

Mark the depth of the wardrobe on the floor with tape and stand in the room looking at what is left, rather than judging it from a plan.

Width is easy to picture and depth is not, and depth is what takes the walking route away.

How deep a wardrobe needs to be for the way you hang clothes is for the maker to confirm, not something to fix from a sketch.

Note everything the chosen wall currently holds, including switches, sockets, an emitter, a doorway, a window reveal or a pipe boxing.

Each of these turns into a question for somebody, and finding them now avoids a change of plan mid-build.

Consider whether the wardrobe would cover part of a window reveal or shade the far side of the room, and note when in the day that would show.

A full-height run beside a window can take noticeably more light out of a room than owners expect.

Write down whether the run stops short of a corner, and decide what happens in the gap left behind before somebody fills it with a bin and a suitcase.

Dead ends beside joinery collect things permanently unless the gap is either closed or given a purpose.

Note what the run would look like from the doorway, since a tall unbroken face seen end-on can make a small bedroom feel considerably narrower.

Consider whether the run has to stop short for the bedroom door, and record how far that door travels before it would touch the joinery.

Note how much clear floor is left in front of the wall once the bed is in position, and ask whether a hinged front could open fully in it.

The clash between a hinged front and a bed is the single most common regret in a fitted bedroom.

What any front needs to open properly is for the maker or supplier to state for the arrangement they are proposing.

Weigh sliding fronts against hinged ones honestly, and record that a sliding arrangement always keeps part of the interior covered.

Sliding saves the floor in front and changes how you find things, which is a trade rather than an upgrade.

Write down whether anyone has to open this wardrobe while somebody else is asleep, and ask the maker what makes a front open and close quietly.

Catches, runners and soft closing are specified at drawing stage, and quiet operation has to be asked for.

Note where handles would sit and whether anyone squeezing between the bed and the wardrobe would catch clothing or a hip on them.

In a narrow bedroom the handle projection is part of the walking route, not a detail.

Consider whether any front is meant to carry a mirror, and put the weight and fixing question to the maker rather than assuming any front will take one.

Whether a front can carry a mirror, and how it would be fixed, is for the maker and the mirror supplier to confirm.

Note whether a child or someone with limited strength uses this wardrobe daily, and how much effort each type of front takes to move.

Sight along the wall from one end at eye level and note whether it bows, leans or steps, then say so at the first conversation rather than hoping it will not matter.

Makers plan for out-of-square walls when told about them and improvise when they are not.

Note whether the ceiling looks level across the length of the run, and ask how the top would be closed off if it is not.

The line where joinery meets an uneven ceiling is what people notice most in a finished bedroom.

Decide and record whether the wardrobe runs to the ceiling or stops below it, and what would then happen to the space on top.

A gap above becomes either a shelf for suitcases or a ledge for dust, and it is worth choosing which.

Write down whether skirting, architrave or coving would be removed, cut into or scribed around, and ask who makes that decision.

This is settled on site by whoever is holding the saw unless it has been agreed in advance.

Consider whether the floor falls along the run, and ask what packing or scribing at the base would be involved if it does.

Note anything on that wall that the wardrobe would enclose, such as a vent, a control, a socket or a stop valve, and raise each one separately.

Enclosing something that later needs reaching turns a small job into taking a wardrobe apart.

Whether any control, vent, valve or electrical point may be enclosed is for the relevant qualified professional to advise on.

Ask whether the flooring runs under the wardrobe or stops at its face, and record the answer before either the floor or the wardrobe is ordered.

This affects what happens if the wardrobe is ever removed, and it cannot be revisited afterwards.

Note who decorates the wall behind the run and when, since painting that wall after fitting is usually impossible.

It is a small task in the right order and an unfixable regret in the wrong one.

Consider whether any power or light inside the joinery is wanted, and ask when a cable would have to be in place relative to the fitting.

Any power or lighting inside joinery is work for a suitably qualified electrical professional, who will confirm what applies locally.

Write down which trades need to be in this room before the wardrobe arrives, and ask who is coordinating the order between them.

Where several people are involved, the sequencing question usually belongs to nobody until an owner asks it.

Ask what state the room has to be in on fitting day, who clears it and where the contents are meant to go meanwhile.

Note where the people who use this bedroom will sleep while the work is happening, and whether the bed can even stay in the house.

A bed with nowhere to go is the practical problem that decides how the work is staged.

Note whether the wall behind is an outside wall or backs onto an unheated space, and raise that before the wardrobe is drawn.

How a wardrobe is built against such a wall is a question for the maker rather than something to discover from stored clothes.

Whether this wall raises any issue for enclosed joinery is for a suitably qualified professional to establish for your property.

Write down whether this room has ever shown moisture on the glass or a mark in a corner, and mention it before any joinery is planned.

The cause of damp or condensation is for a suitably qualified professional to investigate rather than something to build over.

Consider whether clothes kept in this room have ever smelled musty after a season put away, and say so rather than treating it as ordinary.

It is a symptom worth raising early, when it can still influence how the wardrobe is built.

Ask what the maker normally does at the back and base of a wardrobe on a wall like this one, and record the answer in their words.

Approaches differ between makers, so this is a question to ask rather than an assumption to carry.

Note whether washing is ever dried in this bedroom, and say so honestly rather than assuming the habit will stop once the room is finished.

Moisture put into a bedroom ends up in the enclosed spaces as much as in the air.

Consider whether the run would sit above, beside or across the heat emitter, and ask what that would mean for both the joinery and the heating.

A run that would sit over or against an emitter has to be put to a suitably qualified heating professional before it is drawn.

Ask how the wardrobe arrives, whether in finished sections or built in place, and what the route through the house has to allow for.

Sections that will not turn on a stair are a known problem with a known answer, if the question is asked first.

Access requirements for delivered sections are for the maker and supplier to confirm for what they are actually building.

Note what would happen if a section does not fit the room as measured, and ask who resolves that and how.

Write down what remains adjustable after fitting, such as fronts that can be realigned, and how you would go about asking for it.

Joinery settles slightly once it is in use, and knowing what can be tweaked keeps a small fault from becoming permanent.

Ask what you will be given at the end, including care information and the names of any parts that might need replacing later.

Matching a runner or a handle later is far easier when the paperwork was collected on the day.

Note who to contact if a front drops or a runner stops moving smoothly, and write it down while somebody is still on site.

Adjustments and repairs to fitted joinery belong with the maker or a suitable trade rather than being forced by hand.

Walk the finished run once in daylight and again with the room lights on, and write down anything you would raise before the maker leaves.

Alignment and finish read completely differently under electric light, and only one of those visits usually happens.