Type your bedroom's size, show where the door and windows are, and pick your bed. You get the three best spots for it, drawn in your room, and a check of the spot you drag it to — each with the reason in plain words.
The best spot for your bed
Move the queen bed against the wall on your left as you come in.8 of 10 checks pass there · where it stands now: 7 of 10
Quick answer: in feng shui the best bed placement is the commanding position: the headboard against a solid wall, across the room from the door, where you can see the door from your pillow without lying in line with it. Type your bedroom above and the checker draws it, marks the three best spots for your bed and says why, in plain words.
How to use the feng shui bed placement checker
- Type the room’s width and length in feet (12 ft 6 in works) or, with the m button, in meters. The drawing is the room seen from above: the top wall is the one at the top of the drawing.
- Show the door: which wall it is in, near which end, and which way it opens. Left and right are as you stand inside the room, facing the door.
- Add the windows (up to two) and pick your bed: twin, full, queen or king.
- The answer is the best spot the checker found, with how many checks pass there and where the bed stands now. The numbered outlines on the drawing are the three best spots; Put it here moves the bed onto one.
- Drag the bed with a mouse or a finger, or use the turn and arrow buttons, and every check runs again where you let go. The pillow end is the head of the bed. Copy link keeps the room and the bed’s spot.
What the checker looks at
Each check gives one of three words, always beside its icon: Good, Tip (a small thing, often fine as it is) or Worth changing. Each one says why and, if the bed could do better, what to move.
| Check | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Sees the door | Can you see the door from the pillow without turning your head all the way round? |
| Out of the door’s path | Is the bed outside the straight band that runs from the door into the room, as wide as the door? |
| Feet not toward the door | Does the foot of the bed point at a wall rather than straight out of the doorway? |
| Something solid behind | Is the headboard against a wall, not floating in the room or under a window? |
| Across from the door | Is the bed on the far side of the room from the door: the commanding position? |
| Door and window | Is the door lined up with a window straight across the room? |
| The door opens freely | Does the door swing all the way without hitting the bed? |
| Room to walk | Are there 2 feet free along one long side of the bed and 30 inches clear through the door? |
The spots are measured, not guessed: the room, the door’s swing and the bed are drawn to scale, and the checker tries the bed against every wall, both ways round, before it picks the three where the most checks pass.
Three rooms, checked
A 12 × 11 ft room, the door in the middle of the bottom wall, a queen bed against the top wall. It looks like the classic layout, but the bed sits right in the door’s path with its foot pointing out of the doorway: 7 of 10 checks pass. The best spot moves it against the wall on your left as you come in, head to the wall: 8 of 10 pass, and the only tips left are that it is still near the door and a corner touches the door’s path. In a room this size that is about as good as it gets, and the checker says so rather than inventing a perfect spot.
A 10 × 10 ft room, the door at the top end of the right wall, a window in the top wall, a full bed. With the bed’s head on the wall across from the door, its foot points at the door: 7 of 10. Sliding it along that wall, away from the door’s line, gets every check to pass: 10 of 10.
A 14 × 12 ft room, the door at the right end of the bottom wall, windows in the top and left walls, a king bed against the top wall. The bed is already in the commanding position: 9 of 10. The one tip is the window behind the headboard. A solid headboard and heavy curtains answer it if the bed can’t go anywhere else.
Bed under the window, or facing the door?
These are the two questions people ask most, and the checker treats them differently. A bed facing the door (the foot pointing straight out of the doorway) is worth changing: it puts you in the line of the door, where people walk in and air moves through. A headboard under a window is only a tip: a window behind your head can feel draughty and less sheltered, and a solid headboard with lined curtains is the usual answer when the room leaves no other wall.
Common mistakes
- Centring the bed on the wall opposite the door. It feels right, but in most bedrooms that wall is exactly where the door’s path ends. Sliding the bed a foot or two to one side often fixes two checks at once.
- Measuring to the baseboard instead of the wall. The checker leaves room for the wall itself; type the room’s size wall to wall.
- Forgetting the door’s swing. A bed that the door hits as it opens fails a check no matter how well it faces the room.
- Treating every tip as a problem. Feng shui is a set of layout habits, not rules you can fail. A tip you can’t fix in your room is fine to live with.
Feng shui bed placement: questions people ask
What is the best feng shui bed placement?
The commanding position: the headboard against a solid wall, on the far side of the room from the door, where you can see the door from bed without lying in line with it. The checker shows which spot in your own room comes closest.
Can my bed face the door in feng shui?
Seeing the door is good; pointing the foot of the bed straight out of the doorway is the one to avoid. Turn the bed so its foot faces a wall, or move it to the side of the door’s path.
Is a bed under a window bad feng shui?
It is a tip, not a must. A solid headboard and heavy curtains give the head of the bed the shelter a wall would.
What is the commanding position?
Across the room from the door, where you can see it without being in line with it. It is the spot traditionally given to the bed, the desk and the stove.
What if no spot passes every check?
Then the room is the limit, not your layout. The checker shows the spots where the most checks pass and what each remaining tip means, so you can choose which one matters to you.
Does it work in meters?
Yes. Press m and type the room in meters (3.6) or centimeters (360 cm); the link you copy keeps the room the same either way.
Can a mirror face my bed?
Feng shui keeps a mirror from facing the bed: many people find seeing themselves move in it at night unsettling. The feng shui mirror placement checker draws your bedroom and shows which walls keep it clear.
Does it check the rest of the room?
This page checks the bed. To draw the whole room, with the dresser, the desk and the rug, use the free 2D room planner.
Read next
- Coastal bedroom layout: the bed, the light and a chair by the window
- Small bedroom ideas to make the most of the space
- Studio apartment layout
- A master bedroom with an arched floor mirror
- Living room furniture arrangement ideas
Ready for the rest of the room? Draw your whole room in the free 2D planner: walls, doors, windows and every piece of furniture to scale.
About these checks: they are layout suggestions from a centuries-old design tradition, written in our own words and the same checks our room-planner app uses. They are not predictions, and nothing on this page promises an outcome. A comfortable, safe room comes first: keep a clear way to the door and to a window you could open in an emergency.