Use case
How to Check if Furniture Will Fit Before You Buy
The sofa arrives and doesn't fit through the door. The wardrobe blocks the window. The king-size bed leaves 30 cm of floor space on each side. These are avoidable problems — if you check the measurements before the furniture arrives, not after.
Why furniture fit fails: the usual reasons
Most furniture fit problems fall into one of three categories: the piece is too wide or too long for the wall it's going against; the piece won't pass through the door or around the stairwell to get into the room; or the piece fits but makes the room feel or function worse (blocking natural light, impeding circulation paths).
The third problem is harder to solve without visiting the space. The first two are purely dimensional — and can be solved with accurate measurements taken before purchase.
The critical measurements are: room length, room width, door opening width, door opening height, and any fixed obstacles (radiators, sockets, switches) that reduce usable wall space.
How to get the room dimensions
If you have access to the floor plan of the property — from a developer, from an estate agent, or from the property's technical documentation — upload it to MetricCanvas, calibrate against a known reference (a door opening is usually the safest), and measure every wall, recess, and alcove you might need.
If you only have a photo of the room, you can still get useful measurements. Take a photo with a door fully visible in frame (or any other object of known size), upload it to MetricCanvas, calibrate using that reference, and measure the visible walls.
If you are in the room, use a phone measurement app (LiDAR on newer iPhones works well) or the old-fashioned method: a tape measure. Write down every dimension that matters — including the height of any skirting boards or coving that might affect how flush a piece sits against the wall.
Check the furniture dimensions against the room
Most furniture retailers list external dimensions in product specs. The order is typically width × depth × height. Double-check which way the piece will be oriented — a sofa listed as 220 × 95 × 85 cm placed against a wall needs 220 cm of continuous wall length and 95 cm of floor depth clear from the wall.
Don't forget circulation space. Building norms and good ergonomics suggest: at least 90 cm to walk comfortably past a piece of furniture; at least 60 cm between the end of a bed and a wall to get dressed; at least 110 cm in front of a wardrobe to open the doors fully.
For fitted furniture (wardrobes, shelving, kitchen units), check the wall dimensions precisely. A 240 cm wardrobe with 3 cm wall variation across the length will either have an obvious gap or not fit at all.
Check the access route
A piece can fit perfectly in the room but not make it through the front door, up the stairs, or around a tight landing. Measure the narrowest point of the access route — this is usually the door opening width (the clear space between the door frame, not the overall wall opening) or the stairwell at a turn.
Standard interior door openings in European apartments are 80 cm clear. A double door is typically 160 cm. Sofas wider than about 75 cm in their narrowest cross-section may need to be tilted or partially disassembled to fit.
Some furniture manufacturers provide the 'pass-through dimensions' — the minimum doorway size needed. If this isn't listed, measure the piece in its most compact orientation (typically height × depth when tilted on its side) and compare against your door opening.
Measure from a property listing image
Buying before you visit? If the listing shows a floor plan, upload it to MetricCanvas and calibrate using the front door (standard 90 cm width in most new builds). You can then measure every room in the flat before booking a viewing — or before making an offer.
If the listing only shows room photos, use the door or any other visible reference as your scale. The measurements won't be as precise as from a floor plan, but they're usually accurate enough to rule out obvious mismatches (a 3 m sofa in a 2.8 m room) before you invest time visiting.
This is one of the most common ways people use MetricCanvas: checking furniture fit and spatial viability before committing to a purchase or a viewing.