3x3 bedroom layout: where the double bed and the wardrobe go

A 3 × 3 m bedroom is 9 m². It is a common size for the second bedroom in a UK house and for the only bedroom in many flats. A double bed fits. The real question is what else fits beside it, and where it goes.

Below are four plans drawn to scale. We checked every one: nothing overlaps, every door opens fully and every walkway stays clear. Each bed is drawn 10 cm wider and 15 cm longer than its mattress, to allow for a frame and a headboard. A divan is usually the size of its mattress (Silentnight), so with one you gain a few centimetres. For other bedroom sizes and bed placement, see our small bedroom layouts, and for rooms narrower than 3 m, our box room layouts.

The numbers every plan uses

One sum explains most 3 × 3 m bedrooms. A double bed on a frame is about 205 cm long, so it leaves 300 − 205 = 95 cm at its foot. A full-depth wardrobe takes 58 cm of that and leaves 37 cm: not enough to open its doors, or to walk past. Across the room, the bed takes 145 cm and leaves 155 cm to share between its two sides. So the wardrobe has to stand beside the bed, not at its foot.

Plan 1: double bed, wardrobe beside the headboard

This is the plan to try first in most 3 × 3 m rooms. Slide the bed 27.5 cm off centre, so it leaves 50 cm on one side and 105 cm on the other. A 100 cm wardrobe then fits in the corner beside the headboard, in the wider strip. Its two 50 cm doors swing into that strip and stop 5 cm short of the bed.

The 50 cm side is the tight side. It is under Which?'s 76 cm, but inside the 45–60 cm designers accept for a path that one person uses, and a narrow bedside table fits in the corner. The bed stands 37 cm from the radiator under the window, clear of HOFOR's 20 cm. You come in along the 95 cm strip at the foot of the bed and reach the wardrobe up the 105 cm side.

The trade-off: the wardrobe stands where a second bedside table would go. A wall light and a small shelf beside the headboard do the same job, without taking floor.

Plan 2: bed against the wall, with a wardrobe and a desk

Push the double into a corner, with its long side against the wall, and all 155 cm of spare width sits on one side. That fits a full-depth wardrobe facing the bed across 300 − 145 − 58 = 97 cm, and a 50 cm deep desk under the window.

The desk chair, pulled out to sit on, leaves 55 cm to the bed. The door opens in the middle of the bottom wall, straight into the 105 cm gap between the bed and the desk, and 95 cm stays clear at the foot of the bed. A small bedside table fits beside the headboard, 7 cm clear of the wardrobe doors when they are fully open.

The trade-off: one side of the bed is against the wall, so one person climbs in from the other side. This plan suits one person, a guest room, or a bedroom you also work in.

Plan 3: centred bed, two bedside tables, a shallow wardrobe

If you want the bed centred, with a bedside table on each side, a full-depth wardrobe has nowhere to go. A shallow one does. IKEA's PAX frames come 35 cm deep as well as 58 cm. On the wall facing the bed, a 35 cm wardrobe leaves 300 − 205 − 35 = 60 cm at the foot of the bed.

That 60 cm is the top of the 45–60 cm range for a tight path, and enough for the 50 cm doors to open with 10 cm to spare. Each side of the bed keeps 77.5 cm, and the bed stands 64.5 cm from the radiator. Check that the rails and drawers inside suit a shallow frame before you buy.

The 230 × 160 cm rug runs across the lower part of the bed, 42.5 cm past each side, and stops 4 cm before the door's swing. The wardrobe doors pass over its last 5 cm, so a flat-woven rug suits this spot.

Plan 4: a king-size bed

A king is 15 cm wider and 10 cm longer than a double. Centred in a 3 × 3 m room on a frame, it leaves 70 cm each side and 85 cm at the foot. Both are a little short of Which?'s 76 cm but wider than a tight path, so the room works as a bedroom and very little else.

No wardrobe or chest of drawers fits: even a 45 cm deep chest at the foot would leave 85 − 45 = 40 cm. Storage goes under the bed instead, in an ottoman base or a frame with drawers, and clothes go in a cupboard elsewhere.

Which beds fit a 3 × 3 m bedroom

How we worked it out, in cm: each side, centred = (300 − bed width) ÷ 2. At the foot = 300 − bed length. Beside a wardrobe = 300 − bed width − 58, with the bed against the opposite wall as in Plan 2. Put your own room's width in place of 300 and the same sums work for your room.

Is 3 × 3 m a double bedroom? Not on paper. England's nationally described space standard asks for at least 11.5 m² for a double bedroom and 7.5 m² for a single, so a 9 m² room counts as a single. The standard sets minimum sizes for new homes. It says nothing about the bed you can fit, and the table shows a double fits.

The rug and the TV

Rug. IKEA suggests about 50 cm of rug beside the bed, and Emily Henderson at least 60 cm on three sides. In a 3 m room, a 160 × 230 cm rug turned across a double shows (230 − 145) ÷ 2 = 42.5 cm each side, and leaves 35 cm of bare floor to each wall, inside the 30–45 cm designers use. A 200 × 290 cm rug would leave 5 cm to the walls, so it is too big. With a king, the 160 × 230 cm rug shows 35 cm each side, and two runners, one each side, are the other choice.

TV. Sitting up against the headboard, your eyes are roughly 35 cm from the wall (our estimate). A TV on the facing wall is then about 260 cm away. By THX's 40° and the SMPTE 30° figure (1.2–1.6 times the diagonal), that distance suits a 63–85 in screen. In one Japanese lab study, people chose to sit about 260 cm from a 50 in screen. A 43 or 50 in TV is smaller than either cinema rule asks for, and close to what people chose in that study. Our TV height and distance calculator works out the height from where you sit up in bed.

Five mistakes in 3 × 3 m bedrooms

• A full wardrobe at the foot of the bed. In a 3 m room it leaves 37 cm, and the doors cannot open. Put it beside the bed or choose a 35 cm one.
• Measuring the mattress, not the frame. Many frames are a little wider and longer than the mattress (Silentnight), and a tall or curved headboard adds more. Use the frame's own size.
• Furniture in the door's swing. A 762 mm door sweeps a quarter circle about 76 cm deep. A bedside table or chest inside it stops the door halfway.
• A bed pushed against the radiator. HOFOR advises at least 20 cm between a radiator and furniture. In Plan 1 the bed is 37 cm away.
• A rug that hides under the bed. If almost none of it shows beside the bed, it does nothing for the room. Turn it across the bed so 40 cm or more shows each side.

Everything on this page is about moving furniture, so all of it is renter-safe. For the rest of a rented room, see how to decorate a rented flat without painting.

Try these plans on your own walls

Real 3 × 3 m rooms are never quite square, and the radiator and window are never quite where a plan puts them. Snuug, the iPhone room app, rebuilds your own bedroom in 3D from one walk round it, to within about 3% of its real size in our tests of ten homes. Paste a shop link and see the bed you like in your room, slide it in 5 cm steps and watch the space beside it, and paint the wall behind the headboard before you buy a tin. Our team checks every room by hand before it reaches you, and your first room is free.

Questions

Can a double bed fit in a 3x3 room?

Yes. A UK double mattress is 135 × 190 cm, and on a frame you should allow about 145 × 205 cm. Centred on one wall of a 3 × 3 m room, it leaves 77.5 cm each side and 95 cm at the foot. Which? suggests at least 76 cm around a bed, so it passes, just.

Is a 3m x 3m bedroom a double bedroom?

Not on paper. England's nationally described space standard asks for at least 11.5 m² for a double bedroom, and 3 × 3 m is 9 m², above the 7.5 m² for a single. It is a planning standard for new homes. In practice a double bed fits, as the plans on this page show.

Can you fit a king size bed in a 3x3 m room?

Yes, with less room to move. A king is 150 × 200 cm, about 160 × 215 cm on a frame. Centred, it leaves 70 cm each side and 85 cm at the foot, and no room for a full-depth wardrobe. A super king leaves 55 cm each side, which is a tight squeeze.

Where should the wardrobe go in a small bedroom?

Beside the bed, not at its foot. A standard wardrobe is about 58–60 cm deep, so at the foot of a double in a 3 m room it leaves 37 cm, too little to open the doors. Put it in the corner beside the headboard, on the wall facing the bed's long side, or choose a 35 cm deep one.

How much space do you need around a bed?

Which? suggests at least 76 cm (2 ft 6 in) between the sides and foot of the bed and the nearest wall or furniture. In new accessible homes, Approved Document M asks for 750 mm beside and at the foot of the bed. Designers accept 45–60 cm for a path only one person uses.

What size rug for a double bed in a small bedroom?

In a 3 × 3 m room, a 160 × 230 cm rug turned across the bed. It shows 42.5 cm each side of a double and leaves 35 cm of bare floor to the walls. IKEA suggests about 50 cm beside the bed, so it is a little under, but a 200 × 290 cm rug would run almost wall to wall.

Editorial notes

Written by the Snuug team and checked on 1 November 2026. A number with no source beside it is a designers' rule of thumb, not a study.

1. Which? (Galliers, 8 May 2026), UK bed sizes: bed and mattress size guide (mattress sizes; at least 2 ft 6 in, 76 cm, around the bed)
2. Silentnight, Mattress and bed size guide (UK sizes in cm and ft; many frames are slightly wider and longer than the mattress; checked 31 Oct 2026)
3. Department for Communities and Local Government (27 Mar 2015, amended 19 May 2016), Technical housing standards: nationally described space standard (bedroom areas and widths)
4. HM Government, Approved Document M, Volume 1, 2015 with 2016 amendments (750 mm beside and at the foot of the bed; clear door openings)
5. IKEA UK, What sizes is PAX available in? (frames 50, 75 and 100 cm wide; 35 or 58 cm deep; checked 31 Oct 2026)
6. Emily Henderson, Living room rules to know (walkways 30–36 in; 18–24 in for a tight path). The page refused our fetch; figures from search summaries, checked 15 Oct 2026
7. IKEA UK, How to choose the right rug size (about 50 cm of rug beside a bed; checked 31 Oct 2026)
8. Emily Henderson, Choosing the right rug size for every room (at least 24 in, 60 cm, on three sides of a bed; checked 15 Oct 2026)
9. Livingetc (Wolfe, 22 Aug 2025), The two-thirds rule (12–18 in of floor between rug and wall)
10. Howarth Timber (Green, 14 Sep 2026), UK door sizes (762 mm is the most common internal door in England and Wales)
11. HOFOR (1 Jan 2021), Let the heat spread throughout the room (at least 20 cm from a radiator)
12. Wikipedia, Optimum HDTV viewing distance (SMPTE 30°, THX 40° to 28°; checked 31 Oct 2026)
13. Journal of the ITE of Japan 65 (2011), preferred viewing distance of HD LCD TVs (we read the abstract only)