In a small bedroom, put the head of the bed against the longest wall with no door or window in it, and keep 75 cm clear along each side you need to walk. A double bed (135 cm) then needs a room 285 cm wide to sit centred. Below that, push one side against the wall.
This guide works through small bedroom layouts with the numbers that decide them: bed sizes from the National Bed Federation, the 75 cm clearances that the Building Regulations use for accessible homes, and the 40 cm bedside table that both those regulations and our own measurements point to. Every room size below is simple arithmetic on those published figures, so you can redo it with a tape measure in your own room.
Updated 11 October 2026 by Serge.
The numbers that decide a small bedroom layout
Three published figures do most of the work.
The bed. UK bed sizes, as listed by the National Bed Federation: a single is 90 × 190 cm, a small double 120 × 190 cm, a double 135 × 190 cm, a king 150 × 200 cm and a super king 180 × 200 cm. Those are mattress sizes; a bed frame or a headboard can add to them, so measure the frame you own or the one you are about to buy.
The space beside it. Approved Document M, the part of the Building Regulations on access, sets out what an accessible and adaptable home needs (category M4(2)). Every bedroom has a clear route at least 750 mm wide from the door to the window. The main double bedroom has a clear zone of 750 mm along both sides and the foot of the bed; other double bedrooms need it along one side and the foot; single bedrooms along one side. These rules only bind new homes whose planning permission asks for them, but 75 cm is a sound working figure for any room, because it is the width the regulations treat as enough for a wide range of people to reach and use the bed.
The room. The nationally described space standard, which councils in England can apply to new homes, asks for a double bedroom of at least 11.5 m², with one double bedroom at least 2.75 m wide and any other at least 2.55 m wide. A single bedroom is at least 7.5 m² and 2.15 m wide. The government is clear that it is not a building regulation and has no other legal use, so treat it as a benchmark, not a test your room has to pass.
Room width needed, by bed size
Add the bed width to the clear space you want beside it. With 75 cm on each side, or with one side pushed against the wall and 75 cm on the other:
| Bed | Size | Centred, 75 cm each side | One side to the wall | Length with 75 cm at the foot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 90 × 190 cm | 240 cm | 165 cm | 265 cm |
| Small double | 120 × 190 cm | 270 cm | 195 cm | 265 cm |
| Double | 135 × 190 cm | 285 cm | 210 cm | 265 cm |
| King | 150 × 200 cm | 300 cm | 225 cm | 275 cm |
| Super king | 180 × 200 cm | 330 cm | 255 cm | 275 cm |
Set those against the space standard. In a 2.75 m room, a centred double leaves 70 cm on each side, 5 cm short of 75; a king leaves 62.5 cm. In a 2.55 m second bedroom, a centred double leaves 60 cm a side and a small double 67.5 cm. So a double bedroom built to the minimum width works with the bed centred, but the walkways are tight, and that is before radiators and skirting.
Five small bedroom layouts that work
1. Centred on the wall opposite the door
The default for a main bedroom, and the best one when the width allows it: both sleepers get their own side, each with a bedside table, and nobody climbs over anybody. It needs the bed width plus 150 cm for two 75 cm walkways, so 285 cm for a double and 300 cm for a king. Choose the wall opposite the door if you can, so the door does not open onto the side of the bed.
2. One side against the wall
When the room is narrower than the bed plus 150 cm, push one long side of the bed against the wall. A double then needs 210 cm of width for a 75 cm walkway on the open side, and a 240 cm room leaves 105 cm: enough for a bedside table at the head and a comfortable path. The cost is real. Whoever sleeps on the wall side climbs over the other to get out, and there is room for only one bedside table. For a guest room or a single sleeper that is a small price; for a couple who get up at different times, consider a narrower bed first.
3. Across the short wall, so a wardrobe fits at the foot
Which way round the bed goes decides what fits at its foot. With the head on a short wall, the bed runs down the length of the room and leaves the most floor beyond it. The furniture schedule in Approved Document M uses a double wardrobe 600 mm deep. A wardrobe facing the foot of a double bed, with 75 cm clear between them, needs 190 + 75 + 60 = 325 cm of room length; for a king, 335 cm. If the room is shorter than that in both directions, the wardrobe goes on a side wall, and the walkway on that side has to be measured from the wardrobe front, not from the wall. Hinged doors also need their own width to swing open. Sliding doors do not.
4. Head under the window, only if no other wall works
Sometimes the only unbroken wall is the one with the window in it. A bed there can work, but you lose the clear route to the window that the access rules ask for, the curtains or blind sit behind the headboard, and if the radiator is under the window, the bed covers it. Try every other wall first, and if the window wins, use a low headboard and a blind you can reach from the side.
5. In the corner, for a single bed
A single bed in a corner uses two walls and leaves the whole remaining floor open, which is why it suits box rooms and children's rooms. The access rules only ask for clear space along one side of a single bed, so the corner costs nothing against them. Our guide to box room ideas works through that arithmetic for the smallest bedrooms.
Bedside tables in a small bedroom
The furniture schedule in Approved Document M allows for two bedside tables of 400 × 400 mm in every double bedroom. That 40 cm matches the median width of the 262 bedside tables we recorded for our height study, where half sit between 36 and 45 cm wide. The same document allows bedside furniture inside the 750 mm zone, so a table at the head of the bed does not count against your walkway: you walk past it, not through it.
What decides the table is the strip between the bed and the wall. Measure it at its narrowest point, skirting and radiator valves included, and take off 2 cm so the table goes in without scraping:
| Strip beside the bed | What fits |
|---|---|
| Under 22 cm | Too narrow for any table we sell. A small shelf or a wall light instead: see bedside table alternatives. |
| 22 to 31 cm | A 20 cm bedside table. Our wall-mounted tables start at 30 cm, so they need 32 cm. |
| 32 to 41 cm | A table 30 to 36 cm wide, on legs or wall-mounted; the narrow ones are together in narrow bedside tables. |
| 42 cm and over | A standard 40 cm table, and from 47 cm a 45 cm one with more top space. |
In the centred layout above, a 75 cm strip takes a 40 cm table with 33 cm to spare beside it. In a 2.55 m room the strip is 60 cm and the same table still fits. With one side against the wall, the table goes on the open side; the wall side has no room for one. If the two sides of the bed differ, the tables can too: what matters is that their tops sit within about 5 cm of the mattress. The size checker works out the width, the depth and the height from three numbers.
Doors, windows and radiators
A door sweeps a quarter circle as wide as its leaf. Internal doors in the UK come in standard leaf widths that include 686, 762 and 838 mm, so mark the arc on the floor before you place anything near the door: a bedside table or a wardrobe inside it means a door that will not open fully. The access rules also ask for a 750 mm route from the door to the window, which is a useful check in any small bedroom. If you cannot walk to the window without edging sideways, something is in the wrong place.
Radiators are the other fixed point. A bed or a bedside table pressed against one blocks the warm air it gives off, and a radiator under the window makes that wall a poor choice for the bed. Where a radiator, a socket or the skirting takes the floor beside the bed, a wall-mounted bedside table keeps that floor clear.
Small double or double?
A small double is 120 cm wide, 15 cm narrower than a double, and the National Bed Federation describes it as suited to guest rooms and smaller bedrooms. Two people in a small double get 60 cm each, against 67.5 cm in a double and 75 cm in a king. That 15 cm can be the difference between a bedside table and none: in a 240 cm room with the bed against the wall, a small double leaves 120 cm on the open side instead of 105 cm. For a bed that is mostly used by one person, or by guests, it is worth it. For two people who share it every night, look for those 15 cm somewhere else first.
Questions
What is the best layout for a small bedroom?
Head of the bed against the longest wall with no door or window, 75 cm clear along each side you use, and the wardrobe where it still leaves 75 cm in front of it. If the room is narrower than the bed plus 150 cm, push one side against the wall.
How much space do you need around a bed?
About 75 cm along each side you walk and at the foot. That is the clear zone Approved Document M uses for accessible homes: both sides and the foot for the main double bedroom, one side and the foot for other doubles, one side for a single.
Can a double bed fit in a small bedroom?
A 135 cm double fits a room 210 cm wide with one side against the wall and 75 cm on the other. To centre it with 75 cm on both sides, the room needs to be 285 cm wide. The length needs 265 cm for 75 cm at the foot.
Can two adults sleep in a small double bed?
They can: a small double is 120 cm wide, so each person has 60 cm. That is 7.5 cm less each than a double and 15 cm less each than a king.
Should a bed go under a window?
Only if no other wall works. It blocks the route to the window, puts the curtains behind the headboard and, if the radiator is under the window, covers it.
What size bedside table for a small bedroom?
Whatever the strip beside the bed allows, less 2 cm. A standard bedside table is about 40 cm wide; under 42 cm of strip, look at narrow bedside tables from 20 cm wide, or a wall-mounted one from 30 cm.
Sources
Bed sizes: National Bed Federation, Bed sizes UK. Clear access zones and furniture schedule: Approved Document M, volume 1, paragraph 2.25 and appendix D. Room sizes: Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard. Door sizes: Designing Buildings Wiki. Bedside table widths: the published sizes of 262 tables we recorded. For storage in the same small room, see small bedroom storage ideas, and for what to put beside the bed, bedside table ideas.