Many first-time furniture shoppers find the experience overwhelming. There are so many options to pick from, and you may feel it’s impossible to choose what will look best in your space.

The best way to narrow down your options is to know the size of your rooms and what pieces will or won’t fit. Keep reading to learn how to measure your space before furniture shopping.

Measure the Journey

Ignoring planning is one of the many mistakes shoppers need to avoid when furniture shopping. This is especially critical to avoid for the journey your furniture will take to get it from the store to its designated spot.

Start measuring at the beginning. Are you planning to drive the furniture home yourself? If so, measure the dimensions of the space within your vehicle. Leave at least an inch on each side so that you’ll be able to appropriately pad the furniture and tie anything down as necessary.

Even if you’re planning for delivery, you need to measure the doorways and staircases separating where the delivery van will park and the room you want the furniture in.

Measure height, width, and the space around any corners that you or the delivery workers will need to navigate.

Measure the Destination

Where do you plan to put your furniture? This is the most important measurement you’ll take because if you have a spot in mind and buy furniture for that spot without measuring, you may waste your money buying something too big or too small.

If the room already has furniture, measure the available space between those furniture pieces where you want to put the new piece. If the room is empty, measure the entire room and then break it into sections so that you know how many furnishings can fit in the room as a whole and within functional sections.

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For example, if you’re measuring a bedroom to add a bed and a desk, measure the entire room and then split the room in half. Write down how much space is in each half, including how much space doors take up when opened. That way, you know how much functional space is available for the desk and bed.

Measure the Other Pieces

You may be shopping for furniture after already bringing a few pieces into your home or apartment. If so, you must measure how much space these pieces take up and how much space is in the room.

You should do this before furniture shopping to ensure that everything will fit together. You’ll probably have to move these pieces out of the way when you bring the new furniture in.

But you’ll have better peace of mind knowing that you’ve already measured everything and that once all the pieces are in place, they’ll fit together well.

Now you know how to measure your space before furniture shopping by measuring the journey the furniture will take, the end destination you have in mind, and any adjacent furniture that may affect your plan.

Once you’ve taken and written down all these measurements, you can confidently shop for the furniture that will turn your house or apartment into a home.