Dressing room design: turning a spare room into a proper suite

A walk-in wardrobe stores clothes. A dressing room is a room you use: there is somewhere to sit, somewhere to lay things out, a proper mirror and enough light to see colour accurately. The distinction matters because it changes the amount of free floor area you need to protect.

As a rule, if you cannot leave at least 1.2 metres of clear floor in front of the main run plus space for a stool or island, design it as a wardrobe and keep the dressing function in the bedroom.

Split the room into three zones: hanging, folded and accessories. Hanging goes on the longest uninterrupted wall. Folded storage - drawers and shelves - goes where the ceiling is lowest or the wall is broken by a window. Accessories, jewellery and watches belong in shallow, lined drawers near the mirror.

Keep everyday items between 700 and 1,700 millimetres from the floor, the band you can reach without stretching or crouching. Push seasonal and rarely used items above and below that band.

An island works in rooms over about 2.8 metres wide, leaving 900 to 1,000 millimetres of circulation on all sides. It gives you a folding surface, shallow drawers for accessories and often a place to sit at one end. Below that width, a wall-mounted dressing table or a pull-out valet shelf does the same job without blocking the room.

Cap an island in something you will not mind resting jewellery on: honed stone, a leather-topped panel or a lacquered timber surface all work. Add a discreet socket for hairdryers and chargers.

You need one full-length mirror, positioned so you can step back from it, and ideally a second angled mirror or a mirrored door to see the back of an outfit. Light the mirror from both sides at face height rather than from directly overhead, which casts hard shadows.

Overall lighting should be warm white with high colour rendering so fabric colours read true. Layer it: general ceiling light, interior wardrobe lighting on door contacts, and a task light at the mirror on its own switch.

A useful starting split is sixty per cent hanging, thirty per cent drawers and shelves, ten per cent shoes and accessories, then adjust to your own wardrobe. Someone with mostly suits and coats needs more long hanging; someone with mostly knitwear needs far more drawer volume.

Build in slack. Leave one bay flexible with adjustable shelves and a removable rail, because what you own in five years will not be what you own now.

Dressing rooms are small, so they can carry a stronger finish than the bedroom: a deeper paint colour, a timber veneer, fluted glass, or a fabric-lined back panel. Because the room is enclosed, the effect feels intimate rather than overwhelming.

Keep the floor soft underfoot - carpet or timber with a rug - and the ironmongery consistent with the rest of the suite. Small, restrained handles usually look better than statement pulls in a tight space.

Ventilate the room, especially if it is internal. Provide a socket for a steamer and one at island height. Decide where laundry goes before installation, because a basket added later always ends up in the doorway.

If the dressing room adjoins an en suite, control moisture: a solid door, a well-sealed threshold and good extraction in the bathroom stop damp air reaching your clothes.

Indicatively, a bespoke dressing room in London runs £12,000-£35,000 depending on room size, whether an island is included, the door and glazing specification and the level of internal fitting. Simpler open-fronted schemes sit below that range.

Allow three weeks for design and survey, six to ten weeks in the workshop, and one week on site including electrical second fix and adjustment.