Furniture returns are dominated by size problems, and almost all of them come from measuring the wrong thing.

The Route In

The first and most commonly skipped. A piece that fits perfectly in a room is useless if it cannot get there.

Measure the front door, every internal doorway on the route, the narrowest point of the hall, and the turn on the stairs. Lifts have their own limits.

Flat-pack has an advantage here: check the carton dimensions rather than the assembled ones, since the boxes are what come through the door.

The Walkway

• Around thirty inches for a comfortable route past furniture
• More beside a bed, where you get in and out
• Enough for drawers to open fully without hitting anything
• Clearance for a door swing, which is substantial
• Space to stand in front of a piece and actually use it

Opening Clearance

A drawer needs its own depth again in front of the unit. A hinged door needs a quarter circle of its own width.

This is where a piece that technically fits becomes unusable: a chest in an alcove whose drawers hit the opposite wall, or a vanity whose chair cannot pull out.

Manufacturers stating individual drawer dimensions alongside the unit size, of the kind at thexixini.com, make that calculation possible before ordering.

The Diagonal

The one that catches people out with tall pieces.

A cabinet assembled flat has to be tilted upright, and during that rotation it needs clearance equal to its diagonal rather than its height.

A tall unit in a room with a standard ceiling may not clear, particularly under a light fitting. Assembling it standing, or in the middle of the room, is the workaround.

Mark It Out

The technique that removes all doubt. Masking tape on the floor in the actual footprint, and a stack of boxes at the actual height.

Ten minutes with tape tells you what no measurement on paper does: whether the room still works with it there.

Check the Wall

Skirting boards, radiators, sockets and pipe boxing all prevent furniture sitting flush.

Skirting is the usual one: a unit pushed back sits an inch or two proud, which matters in a tight space and matters for anchoring.

Floors Are Not Level

Particularly in older homes. A tall unit on an uneven floor rocks and its doors will not line up.

Adjustable feet handle it; shims work otherwise. A rocking tall unit is a stability problem as well as an annoyance.

Write It Down

Doorway widths, ceiling height, alcove dimensions. Recorded once, every future purchase is a check rather than a guess.