How to Lay Out a Bedroom

A bedroom is hired for sleep, and its design quality is measurable in how fast the room winds you down. The bed gets the commanding position — headboard on a solid wall, door visible, window light not hitting the pillow — and everything added after that is audited against the one job: a chair that collects clothes is storage failing, a desk facing the bed is tomorrow staring at tonight, a screen is a decision about what the room is for.

Walk both sides of a shared bed: 60cm minimum per side, 75cm to open a drawer while standing there. The bed end wants 90cm to the wall or wardrobe — less, and dressing happens in the hall. Bedside surfaces land level with the mattress top, ±5cm. Wardrobe doors and drawers need their full arc plus a standing human: 110cm in front of a hinged run.

The pieces that earn their floor in a bedroom: the bed, largest the walls honestly allow; two reachable bedside surfaces with two reachable lights; one wardrobe run that closes completely; a rug that lands under the first standing step; curtains that actually darken the room. Position the first before the second exists — each anchor constrains the next, and reversing the order is how rooms end up designed around their least important piece.

The bed under the window because the walls "didn’t work" — light on the pillow, a cold draft at the head, and curtains that can never be generous. Mirrored wardrobe doors facing the bed, doubling every 3am shadow. A laundry chair, which is a floor pile with legs. Overhead light as the only light — bedtime under an interrogation lamp.