What Size Storage Unit for a 1-Bedroom Apartment?

By Nosson Dubin, owner · Last updated October 7, 2026

The lease is ending, or the move is a few weeks off, and a one-bedroom apartment's worth of things needs a place to wait. What size storage unit for a 1 bedroom apartment comes down to the floor your things will cover, and the worked list below, a one-bedroom with its refrigerator, washer and dryer, comes to about 113 square feet, which fits a 10x15 with a path to the back.

A 10x13 holds the same list with no path, as the tighter option.

We're a family-owned business renting storage units in Rockport, Texas. The method here works for any one-bedroom, and it takes an evening with a tape measure and a sheet of paper. There's a real calm in knowing the size before moving day, instead of finding out with the truck at the door.

Turning a one-bedroom into square feet

Floor is the number to plan with. The big pieces sit on the floor and keep it, and the boxes go up from there, so the size you need is the floor your furniture covers plus the floor your box stacks cover.

Go room by room. In the bedroom, a queen mattress laid flat is about 33 square feet by Sealy's mattress size guide, which gives a queen as 60 inches wide and 80 long. The bed frame comes apart into rails and a headboard that stand against a wall, and a dresser 5 feet wide and 2 deep adds 10.

The mattress stays flat with its floor to itself. Sealy's storage advice is to store a mattress as flat as possible with little to nothing stacked on top.

The living room comes down mostly to the sofa. La-Z-Boy's Kennedy Sofa, as one example, measures 77 inches wide and 38 inches deep, about 20 square feet. A coffee table with its legs off stands on edge, and the lamps and the side-table things go in boxes.

The kitchen and dining area is small in floor and large in boxes. A table with its legs off stands on edge, the chairs stack in pairs, and the dishes go in small, heavy boxes.

If the appliances are yours, add them. Whirlpool's refrigerator size guide puts standard refrigerators between 24 and 40 inches wide and 28 and 37 inches deep, so one 33 inches wide and 34 deep covers about 8 square feet. Whirlpool's laundry sizing guide puts a side-by-side washer and dryer at about 54 inches wide and 32 to 34 deep, about 13 square feet for the pair.

Count the boxes last. Pack one room completely, count its boxes, and use that count for the rooms that are left. Boxes 18 inches on a side cover 2.25 square feet a stack, so 25 boxes stacked four high make seven stacks and cover about 16 square feet.

A worked one-bedroom list

Here's one one-bedroom apartment, worked through. Swap in your own pieces and measurements.

Add a refrigerator and a washer and dryer, about 21 square feet together, and the whole home comes to about 113. That fits a 10x15 with a 2-foot path to the back, which leaves 120 after the path. A 10x13's 130 holds it with no path, the tighter fit. Our post on how big a 10x15 and a 10x20 are goes through the 10x15.

The furniture and boxes alone come to about 92 square feet, before the appliances.

What pushes a one-bedroom list up

A few pieces add floor faster than you'd expect. An armchair about 3 feet square adds 9 square feet. A desk 4 feet by 2 adds 8, and a bookcase stands against a wall with its shelves wrapped beside it.

A bike takes more floor than its weight suggests, so measure it from wheel to wheel and across the handlebars, and plan about 6 square feet for one standing along a wall. A balcony set of a small table and two chairs adds a few more.

Put an armchair, a desk and a bike on the worked list, and the whole home, appliances included, goes from about 113 to about 136. That's past a 10x13's 130 and inside a 10x15's 150 with no path.

Is a 10x10 enough for a 1-bedroom apartment?

No. With its appliances, the worked one-bedroom comes to about 113 square feet, past a 10x10's 100, and a 10x15 holds it with a path to the back. A 10x10 holds a studio apartment, appliances included, or the furniture of a room or two. Our Size Guide gives a 10x10 as 100 square feet, about the floor area of a small bedroom.

If there's a second bedroom, our post on what size storage unit you need for a 2-bedroom works through that list.

A one-bedroom list grows quickly, too. An armchair adds about 9 square feet, a desk about 8 and a bike about 6, and a 2-foot path takes 2 square feet of floor for every foot of the unit's length, 30 in a 10x15. Our post on how big a 10x10 is goes deeper into that size, and the 10x10 page is where to rent one.

The sizes around a one-bedroom, side by side

A 10x15 is 150 square feet, and its length leaves room for the whole one-bedroom and a 2-foot path. A 10x13, at 130, holds the same list with no path, packed in from the back.

Picture the loaded 10x15 from the back: the refrigerator and the washer and dryer against the back wall, the queen mattress flat across the width in front of them, then the sofa, the dresser and the boxes toward the door, everything set against one long wall with a 2-foot path down the other.

What size storage unit for a studio apartment

A studio apartment, appliances included, fits a 10x10, which is 100 square feet. For a dorm room, our post on student storage works through a 5x10.

Here's how one studio might add up: a full mattress, which Sealy gives as 54 inches by 75, at about 28 square feet; a small dresser 3 feet by 1 1/2 at about 4 1/2; two chairs stacked at about 2; and 20 boxes stacked four high in five stacks at about 11. That's about 46 square feet of furniture and boxes.

Add a refrigerator at about 8 and a washer and dryer at about 13, and the whole studio comes to about 67, inside a 10x10's 100. With a sofa at about 20 as well, it's about 87, still a 10x10 with no path.

What is the smallest storage unit you can rent?

Our smallest size, the 5x5, is 25 square feet, about the size of a large closet, with room for boxes and a few small things. The Size Guide covers all 13 sizes we rent, with what fits in each, from that 5x5 to a 15x20.

A 5x5 suits a load that's mostly boxes, the overflow from a closet, or the things you'd like close at hand while the rest of a move sits elsewhere. A one-bedroom's furniture needs more floor than that. The Size Guide's cards for the 5x5 and the 5x10 go through what fits in each, and our post on 5x5 and 5x10 storage units works through both.

If a small unit holds part of a move while the rest goes elsewhere, keep a list for each, so you know which unit every box went to.

Is a 5x10 or 10x5 storage unit better?

A 5x10 and a 10x5 have the same 50 square feet, so neither holds more than the other. The difference is which wall the door is on, and that decides how easy it is to reach things.

A unit with the door on the 10-foot side is wide and shallow, so most of what's inside is near the door. A unit with the door on the 5-foot side is narrow and deep, so the things at the back sit behind the things at the front.

For a load that goes in once and comes out once, either shape works. If you'll be coming back for things, wide and shallow is easier, and in a narrow, deep unit the things you'll want go in last, nearest the door. When a listing says 5x10, ask which wall the door is on. Our post on 5x5 and 5x10 storage units covers how big each one is.

If you run a short-term rental, list the spare linens, the guest supplies and any bikes you swap between guests the same way, and the floor total tells you whether a 5x10 is enough.

Apartment square feet and storage square feet

An apartment's square footage doesn't tell you the storage size. A 650-square-foot one-bedroom and a 900-square-foot one-bedroom can need the same unit if the furniture is the same, because what a unit holds is your furniture and your boxes.

Count the pieces instead. Make the list and the sketch, and the size follows from them.

Height and stacking in a smaller unit

In a 10x10 or a 5x10, height does more of the work, because the floor runs out sooner. Boxes and totes stack, and the furniture keeps its floor.

Stack with the heaviest boxes at the bottom and the lightest on top, and keep each stack straight. NIOSH's guidelines for manual material handling give 51 pounds as the most to lift with two hands under ideal conditions and suggest putting fewer items in a container to make it lighter, so books and dishes go in small boxes.

Measure your tallest pieces, the headboard, the bookcase and the dresser, and check them against the unit's door and ceiling when you arrive.

Sketching it before you rent

A sketch on graph paper turns the list into a size. Let each square stand for a foot, and draw a 10x13 and a 10x15 on the same sheet. Cut each big piece out of paper at the same scale, appliances included, and move the shapes around inside the 10x15 first.

If you'll need a path, draw a strip 2 squares wide from the door to the back, and keep it clear. If the shapes fit with the path you want, that's your size. If you'd rather go tighter and skip the path, try the 10x13.

Totes count the same way as boxes. Sterilite's 27-gallon Industrial Tote measures 28 1/2 inches long and 19 5/8 inches wide on the outside, and 12 of them fit across a 5x10's floor in a single layer, 24 across a 10x10's and 30 across a 10x13's.

Loading a one-bedroom into a unit

Load the back wall first with the things you'll want least, and work toward the door. The mattress goes flat along one side, the sofa and dresser against the walls, and the boxes in stacks in front of them.

Pack the truck the opposite way round, so the things for the back of the unit come off first. Keep the boxes you'll want during the stay for last on the truck and first in front of the door.

Label each box on its top and two sides, and keep a list of what's in each on your phone. Our post on how to pack for storage covers boxes and labels, and the one on how to store furniture covers each piece. If you're moving to Rockport, our post on moving storage covers the move itself.

Food, gas cans and propane tanks are never stored with us, and anything with a fuel tank needs our written permission before it goes in.

Before you rent

1. Make the list room by room, with every big piece measured.
2. Count the boxes as stacks, by packing one room first.
3. Sketch the 10x15 and the 10x13, and decide whether you want a path.
4. Decide what kind of unit your things need; our post on climate-controlled storage goes through which belongings need it.
5. Ask about the minimum term before you sign, wherever you rent.
6. Line up a hand truck, a few furniture blankets and some help for the day.

Our storage units are rented on a lease that continues month to month once its minimum term is met, and the rental carries on from one month to the next until it's ended in writing. Every one of our units is at ground level, and the buildings have ramps at their entrances, so the hand truck goes from the truck to the back wall without a step.

Renting a unit for a one-bedroom in Rockport

Rockport sits between Aransas Bay and Copano Bay, and 298 of our 558 units are climate-controlled. Our eleven single-level buildings went up between 2017 and 2025.

You'll have your own gate code, and you can get in from 5 AM until 10 every night, seven days a week. If you rent online, your gate code is emailed to you after you finish, and it works right away.

Siyata Storage is at 825 W Market Street. Some older listings show 835 — that is a separate private building next door, not us. Directions are on our Contact page.

The rate for every size we have open is on our price list. Emilio answers the phone 8 AM–5 PM Monday–Saturday, and we respond to every message during those hours.

Tell us what you're storing and we'll help you pick a size. Call 361-200-1492, 8 AM to 5 PM Monday to Saturday. Hablamos español.