Buying furniture or decor is fueled by need (you need a couch to sit on that doesn’t hurt your back) or want (I want another mounted deer head). You plan ahead to buy stuff you need, whereas wants are often impulsive—you find the perfect headboard when you’re out browsing an antique store. To ensure you don’t impulse-buy a curtain rod too long for your windows or a rug that looks like a postage stamp in your living room, keep the measurements of all your rooms, counters, windows, empty spaces, and even prints and posters in your phone.
Keeping measurements in your phone (in Evernote or the Notes app or wherever you save info) makes it so you can snag that flea market coffee table with confidence it’s going to be the right length for your couch. See a pair of perfect curtains marked half off, but concerned your windows are too big? Consult your measurements. See an online deal for an Instant Pot or fancy blender online, but can’t run home from work to measure the depth of your countertops? Consult your measurements. Convinced you finally found the perfect frame for your oddly shaped Yugoslavian punk poster, but aren’t totally sure because of its aforementioned odd size? You know what to do.
I’m sure you’re already making a list of things you should measure in your head, but just in case you’re not, here is one you can work from:
Width, height, and depth of cabinets, cupboards, and closets
Dimensions of drawers, for contact paper, dividers, and organizers
Width and depth of shelves, especially kitchen shelves
Dimensions of photos, prints, and posters you need to hang
Dimensions of your current couch, or a place you would like to put a couch, should you suddenly find the couch of your dreams
Size of your mattress—not just whether it’s a king or a queen, but how tall it is, as some mattresses are very thicc these days, and require special sheets.
Empty spaces and corners you would like hang or wedge something in
Windows, including how far they are from the floor
The amount of floor you might like to see covered by a rug some day
The dimensions of your fridge, to determine if you could in fact brine a whole brisket in there
The dimensions of rooms in your home
These are all the dimensions I could think of, looking around my own 600-square-foot space, but perhaps those of you with houses have even more. What dimensions and measurements do you think should be added to this list?