The Master Bedroom Specification Checklist

This is the room's visual anchor and the first surface you see when you enter. A bare painted wall behind a bed is an unfinished room regardless of how good the rest of the furniture is. The minimum treatment is a paint accent with considered colour — but the optimal treatment for a master bedroom is a full-width panel in fabric, fluted MDF, plywood with veneer, or stone cladding. The wall should be specified at the same time as the bed, not retrofitted after the furniture arrives.

Master bedroom lighting requires ambient (ceiling), task (bedside), and accent (display or cove) layers. Bedside reading lights should be mounted at 700mm above the mattress surface, not at headboard height or above it. Wall-mounted swing-arm lights are more functional than table lamps because they free up the entire bedside surface for use. All circuits in the master bedroom should be dimmable — the ability to take the room from bright morning light to dim evening is the single most impactful functional specification in the room.

The most common spatial error in master bedrooms is the wardrobe door conflicting with the bed access path. The minimum is 900mm of clear floor space in front of any wardrobe door — 1050mm for full-overlay swing doors. In rooms where this is tight, specify sliding doors. In walk-in wardrobes, the minimum aisle width is 900mm for single-user access and 1050mm for comfortable use by two people simultaneously. This dimension should be resolved on the floor plan, not discovered when the furniture arrives on site.

Key Takeaways

• →The headboard wall is the most important design surface in the room — invest in it
• →Bedside lighting must be dimmable and positioned at 700mm from mattress level
• →Wardrobe doors should not obstruct the bed access pathway (minimum 900mm clearance)
• →Blackout curtains on all windows — not blackout lining on regular curtains

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