Measure Before You Fall in Love With a Piece

A piece can look modest in a large showroom and enormous in your home. A few minutes with a tape measure will save you from most of the surprises.

Measure the room

Note the length and width of the room, then mark where the doors swing, where the windows sit and where the radiators, vents and outlets are. Sketch it out, even roughly. Bring the sketch and a few phone photos when you shop.

Leave room to move

Furniture needs breathing space as much as it needs to fit. As a rough guide:

• Allow about 90 cm for the main routes through a room.
• Leave about 40 cm between a sofa and a coffee table, so you can reach it and still pass.
• Leave about 90 cm around a dining table, so chairs can pull out.

Check the height too

It is easy to measure the floor and forget the walls. Look at window sills, shelves and art, and at how the height of a headboard or cabinet will sit against them.

Measure the way in

Follow the route from the street to the room: every doorway, hallway, staircase and turn. If you live in a building, include the elevator, and check whether it needs to be booked for a delivery.

Try it on the floor

Before you commit, mark the outline of the piece on the floor with painter's tape and live with it for a day or two. Walk around it. If you keep stepping over the tape, you have your answer.