Luxury Dressing Room Design: Space, Light and Daily Routines

Long garments, folded clothes, shoes and smaller accessories need different storage. Distinguish everyday pieces from occasional ones and items you keep elsewhere.

Approximate categories and quantities are enough to begin the conversation. They help the designer distribute hanging space, shelves and drawers, with room for the collection to change.

Think about an ordinary morning. Two people getting ready together need space to pass and reach their belongings. Different waking times affect lighting and the connection with the bedroom. Help with clothing or packing also belongs in the brief.

AD’s longstanding work with private families has made these details part of the residential conversation. Understanding the household gives the room a useful starting point.

A wardrobe looks different in use. Draw its doors and drawers open, then place a person at the mirror and another reaching their clothes. Keep the route to the bathroom or bedroom visible. This shows which part of the room remains comfortable while two people get ready.

A bench and an island answer different needs. A bench offers somewhere to sit while dressing and can leave the storage in the surrounding wardrobes. An island can add drawers and a surface for setting out accessories, but its drawers and the occupied seat need space of their own. Compare those two arrangements on the same plan rather than adding an island because the room is called a dressing room.

In AD’s Cambodia dressing-room design, glazed wardrobes line both sides, an upholstered bench occupies the centre and a tall window closes the view. The bench gives that composition a place to pause while the wardrobes frame the route. For a similar arrangement, study the ends of the bench and the doors facing it with people in place. The window, a full-length mirror and the route out each need their own clear position.

Use the collection to develop the cabinetry. The actual long garments, folded pieces and accessories can inform the proposed bays and drawers; the maker then confirms dimensions and fittings. In a shared room, personal storage areas can make the arrangement easier to use without dividing it into unrelated interiors.

A useful result is a room where someone can choose clothes, sit, use the mirror and move to the next space comfortably. The joinery and central furniture should support that sequence.

Glazed wardrobes make clothing and objects part of the room’s composition. Closed fronts give a quieter appearance. A combination can leave selected pieces visible while containing the rest.

Consider the room on an ordinary day, with partly filled shelves and things waiting to be put away. It should remain comfortable when the wardrobe is in use.

Handle positions, adjustable shelves and drawer interiors need to work with the cabinetry. Discuss these with the maker. Specialist storage or security requirements should be established with the relevant adviser before they enter the joinery design.

The dressing-room design for the Private Villa in Cambodia arranges glazed wardrobes along both sides and an upholstered bench in the centre. A tall window brings daylight to the far end, with lighting inside the cabinetry.

The bench gives the room a place to pause. The wardrobes frame the route towards the window, while stone underfoot connects the composition with the wider residence.

AD’s role was interior architecture, material design and bespoke furniture. The dressing room forms part of a broader residential design with living, dining and private leisure spaces.

Look at the light from the places where you use the room. Inside a wardrobe, it needs to help you see the garments and shelves. At the mirror, it needs to work with the person standing there. A fitting that lights the floor well may answer neither of those needs.

Try the proposed arrangement with clothing as well as finish samples. Open a cabinet, take out a jacket and look at it where you would get dressed. Check how the cabinet light, daylight and mirror lighting work together, and what is reflected in the glazed doors. These are more useful tests than judging each fitting on a ceiling plan alone.

The designer and lighting specialist can assess positions against the actual cabinetry and materials. A timber lining, a pale fabric and a glazed front each change what you see within the same bay; review them as one composition.

Controls should follow the way the room is used. An early morning may need a different setting from housekeeping. Allow access to service integrated fittings within the joinery details.

AD’ can develop the arrangement and bespoke details from that brief. Before manufacture, drawings, samples and maker information should reflect the same decisions.