Rooms feel wrong when the furniture fits but the gaps do not. This spacing checker compares the clearances in your living room, dining room or bedroom against the standard comfort figures designers use, and flags each gap as good, tight or too tight.
Furniture Clearance Calculator
Check the gaps around your furniture against standard comfort clearances, room by room.
Assumptions: all measurements are in inches, taken at the tightest point of each gap. These are widely used comfort standards, not building rules, so a tight score can still work in a small room if the layout feels fine in daily use. Wheelchair access needs wider clearances than the comfort figures used here.
How it works
- Pick a room scenario: living room, dining room or bedroom.
- Measure each gap listed, at its tightest point, in inches.
- Type the measurements in and watch the verdict next to each row update.
- Read the overall summary to see which gap to fix first if any score too tight.
Frequently asked questions
How much space should be between a sofa and a coffee table?
About 14 to 18 in is the sweet spot: close enough to put a drink down without leaning, far enough to walk past without turning sideways. Under 12 in feels cramped, and over 24 in feels disconnected.
How wide should a walkway be?
A main walkway feels comfortable at 36 in or more. Occasional paths behind furniture can work at 30 in, but anything under that starts to feel like squeezing through.
How much room do dining chairs need?
Allow 36 in from the table edge to the wall if people need to walk behind seated diners, and 24 in of table edge per person. With 24 to 35 in behind chairs, diners can slide out but nobody passes behind comfortably.