Under-Bed Storage: How Much Clearance You Need

October 21, 2026

Three clearance bands cover almost everything: 15 cm for flat boxes, shoe trays and low baskets; 22 cm for lidded plastic bins and duvet bags; 30 cm for a full suitcase, a folded air mattress, or a drawer on wheels. Below 12 cm, nothing but a dust ruffle belongs there — and dust ruffle is the honest answer.

Shop the pieces in this guide

Solid Wood Bed Frame, 160 × 190 cm, Black — view product

2-Seater Sofa, Wooden Legs, 130 cm, Brown — Sofa Bed Frame 2-in-1, 2-Seater Sofa & Double Bed, 90 × 190 cm — view product

Solid Wood Bed Frame, with Storage, 140 × 190 cm, Black — Solid Wood Bed Frame with Headboard & Slats, 140 × 190 cm — view product

What fits at each height

Clearance	Fits	Does not fit	Typical use
10–14 cm	Shoe trays, flat zip bags, 8 cm document boxes	Anything rigid with a lid	Slippers, off-season shoes
15–19 cm	15 cm storage boxes, rolled towels, kids' books	A standard 20 L bin (22 cm)	Shoes, toys, small bedding
20–24 cm	22 cm lidded bins, vacuum bags laid flat, 18 L crates	A packed suitcase (28–32 cm)	Duvets, seasonal clothing
25–29 cm	Wheeled under-bed drawers, 25 cm crates, boot boxes	Hard-shell cabin case	Bedding, off-season coats
30–35 cm	Cabin and medium suitcases, air mattress, 45 L bin	A large check-in case (35–40 cm)	Travel storage, guest bedding
40 cm+	Full drawer units on castors, storage ottoman	—	Small-room full storage

Measure the real number

Clearance is not "bed height minus floor". Four things eat it:

The side rail. On a solid wood frame the rail is 8–14 cm deep and hangs lower than the slats. Measure floor to the bottom of the side rail, at three points along the bed.
Centre support legs. On a 160 cm frame there is usually a fifth leg at the middle of the head and foot rails, or a centre beam at 20–25 cm. That blocks sliding a long box through.
Castors and glides. A bed on 5 cm wheels has 5 cm less clearance than the same bed sitting on the frame.
Floor unevenness. A 2 mm dip under a 190 cm frame does not matter, but an old timber floor can drop 8–10 mm across the room, which is enough to jam a snug box.

Practical rule: measure the lowest point, then subtract 3 cm for the box to slide in without scraping.

Measuring a bed you already own

Use a rigid tape, not a soft one, and take the measurement at the highest point of the floor under the bed:

Measure floor to the underside of the side rail at the head end, the middle and the foot end. Take the smallest.
Check the centre: slide the tape under the middle of the frame. If a centre beam sits at 22 cm, boxes taller than 19 cm will not pass through.
Measure the gap between the legs — that is your box length limit, typically 120–160 cm on a 190 cm frame.
Add the mattress: a 25 cm mattress on a 30 cm frame puts the sleeping surface at 55 cm, which is the comfortable range for most adults. Do not raise the frame to gain storage without checking this.

Dust, damp and ventilation

The under-bed zone is the dustiest 30 cm in a bedroom, and it is also where condensation forms on a cold floor. Two rules:

Lidded, not open. An open basket under a bed collects a visible dust layer in 6–8 weeks. A lidded bin with a gasket stays clean for a year.
Fabric breathes, plastic does not. Store wool and down in cotton bags inside a lidded bin, never sealed in vacuum plastic for more than a season — compression damages the loft of down and traps moisture against wool.

Leave 2–3 cm between the top of the box and the frame, and pull everything out twice a year. Beds on solid platform bases trap more moisture than slatted frames, which is why slats are worth having even when nobody sees them.

For frame sizes and how much floor a bed takes, the bed frame size guide covers the footprints; the small room layout guide handles the 3 m bedroom case.