Velvet Strand Design · Dublin
How to Plan a Fitted WardrobeInternal layouts, standard sizes and what fits where
Almost every wardrobe conversation starts with the doors. It should start with what goes behind them. Get the internal layout right and the doors take care of themselves, because the bay widths are set by what has to hang inside them.
Start here
A fitted wardrobe is planned from three clear heights. Long hanging for coats and dresses needs roughly 1,400 to 1,600mm of clear space under the rail. Short hanging for shirts, jackets and folded trousers needs roughly 1,000 to 1,100mm, which is why two short rails stack neatly into the space one long rail would use. Shelving fills whatever is left.
Work out how much of each you actually need, and the bay widths follow. Everything after that, the doors, the paint colour, the handles, is a finish decision rather than a planning one.
The numbers
The dimensions most joiners work to
These are the figures a Dublin joinery workshop plans around before a survey. They are not rules, and your room will adjust them, but a layout that ignores them tends to come back as a wardrobe that does not hold what it was meant to hold.
| Element | Typical allowance | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Long hanging | 1,400 to 1,600mm clear under the rail | Coats, dresses, long garments |
| Short hanging | 1,000 to 1,100mm clear, per rail | Shirts, jackets, folded trousers |
| Double hanging | Two short rails in about 2,100 to 2,200mm | Twice the shirt and jacket capacity of one long bay |
| Internal depth | 550 to 600mm | A hanger sits square without pressing on the door |
| Shelf spacing | 300 to 350mm | Folded jumpers, bags, bed linen |
| Drawer bank | 450 to 900mm wide | Smaller items that do not hang or fold well on a shelf |
| Bay width | 500 to 1,000mm | Wider than about a metre and the rail begins to sag |
| Top boxes | Whatever is left above 2,200mm | Suitcases, seasonal storage |
Every one of these is confirmed against your actual room at survey. Floors slope, ceilings drop and skirting runs are rarely square, and the final setting out is drawn from measurements taken on site rather than from a plan.
Plan it yourself
Wardrobe layout planner
Put in the opening you have to fill and roughly what you need to store. This works out a sensible bay split using the allowances in the table above, so you can walk into a design conversation already knowing what your run will take.
This is a planning aid, not a quotation or a manufacturing drawing. It uses the standard allowances above and does not know about your chimney breast, your radiator or your floor level. We confirm everything at survey.
Which kind
Fitted, walk-in or freestanding
Fitted, built into the room
Built to the wall, floor and ceiling you actually have, so there is no dust gap on top and no wasted strip at the side. This is where a made-to-measure wardrobe earns its cost, because the awkward parts of the room become storage rather than problems.
Walk-in dressing room
Needs enough floor to stand and turn in front of the hanging, so plan on roughly a metre of clear space in front of any run. Below that it stops being a dressing room and becomes a corridor you keep clothes in.
Freestanding furniture
Moves with you, and suits a rented home or a room you are not ready to commit to. It also loses the top and side space a fitted run would have used, which in a small Dublin bedroom is usually the space that mattered.
If you already know a fitted run is what you want, our bespoke wardrobes in Dublin page covers how we design, make and fit them, and bespoke joinery covers the wider workshop.
The details
Four decisions people leave too late
- Door swing. A hinged door needs clearance in front of it. In a narrow room, sliding doors buy back that floor but cost you the ability to open the whole run at once.
- Lighting. Wiring for internal lighting is straightforward before the carcasses go in and disruptive afterwards. Decide at design stage even if you fit it later.
- What sits on top. Running to the ceiling removes the dust shelf and adds real storage. Stopping short leaves a gap that never gets used and always gets seen.
- Skirting and coving. Existing mouldings have to be either scribed around or removed. It is a small decision that changes how built-in the finished run looks.
From the workshop
Fitted wardrobes we have made
Every run here was drawn to one room, made in our own workshop and fitted to the wall, floor and ceiling it had to sit against.
Common questions
Fitted wardrobe FAQs
What is the standard depth of a fitted wardrobe?
How much hanging space do I need?
How wide should each wardrobe bay be?
Should a fitted wardrobe go to the ceiling?
How much floor space does a walk-in wardrobe need?
Are fitted wardrobes worth it in a small bedroom?
Bring us the room, not the wardrobe
Send through the dimensions of the space, a photograph and a rough idea of what has to go in it. We design, make and fit wardrobes and joinery for Dublin homes from our own workshop, and we will tell you honestly what the room will take before anything is drawn.
