9 Crucial Tips for Packing and Moving Delicate Furniture

Here Are a Few Tips to Help You Make Sure Your Most Fragile Furniture Make the Trip in One Piece

Seeing as furniture is so heavy, it is sometimes easy to overlook the fact that it can also be delicate. Whether it’s an ornate stool, an antique cabinet or just a desk with lots of moving parts, moving your furniture can sometimes be just as susceptible to damage as any electrical device, so you need to be careful with how you go about moving it to your new apartment.

In this post, we’ll look at some of the things you can do to ensure that your glass tables and delicate couches arrive at your destination in one piece.

1: Carry High and Low

One of the first things you need to do to ensure that when moving furniture is to make sure you are able to carry it without dropping it. Try to carry your items high and low: tip the item backward at an angle and have your friend carry the top while you carry the bottom part of the furniture. Whether you’re holding a dresser, filing cabinet or shelving unit, doing so at a diagonal angle will help balance the piece of furniture and make transportation down the stairs a whole lot easier.

2: Don’t Do it Alone

With that in mind, you also need to ensure that there is always at least one other person on hand to help you when moving furniture. If you hire movers, they should send at least two people together to handle the job.

3: Don’t Force It!

Struggling to fit your couch in through the doorway? You could always try pushing harder but that would likely cause damage, possibly tearing fabric or breaking off handles. Better to remove the glass from a large window (which is easier than it sounds), or even to take the door off its hinges. Make space for your items, don’t force them.

4: Plan for the Van

The same goes for fitting delicate furniture into the van before the move: don’t force it in when there isn’t adequate space. This is a quick way to scratch, snap or tear items – so make two trips if necessary.

Professional furniture movers can help with this since they’ll properly know how to place the furniture inside the van so that it isn’t harmed. If you’re trying to do things on your own, pad the ends of the van with boxes or even use a mattress to protect particularly fragile surfaces. Don’t forget to seal furniture in place too (with zip ties for instance) to prevent them from sliding around.

5: Wrap and Pad

Whether you use bubble wrap, plastic wrap or several duvets and masking tape, wrapping your furniture is highly important. It’s incredibly easy for surfaces on cabinets and sideboards to get scratched otherwise, so keep them covered. Better yet, try and make sure your wrapping equipment is waterproof if there’s any chance the items might be heading outside in the rain.

Equally important is to pad your furniture and especially the corners of wooden items. You can do this by using Styrofoam or soft items like pillows and quilts. This way, you won’t scratch off the paint or the finish when you rest one corner on the ground. You can even use flat pack boxes to get the job done.

6: Secure All Doors and Draws

If a drawer slides out or door swings open when the van heads around a corner, then it may be game over. This is another reason to wrap, as it will keep everything shut properly. In some cases, you may want to remove drawers and doors entirely or secure them properly in order to guarantee your moved furniture remains in tact.

7: Disassemble Your Moving Furniture

Wherever possible, it is preferable that you completely disassemble your furniture before moving. Flat pack items can be completely taken apart and even placed in the original boxes if you kept them.

8: Don’t Lose Pieces

One more important tip if you do disassemble your items, is to make sure that all screws and other pieces are stored somewhere sensible where they won’t go missing.

9: Use the Pros

The very best way to make sure your delicate furniture survives relocation though is to leave it to the experts. Use professionals for furniture moving and they will take every precaution while calling on a wealth of experience. DIY is fine up to a point but not if it is going to lead to your items getting damaged.

Follow these tips, take your time and have patience. If you are careful to do things properly and to get help where necessary, it can save heartache and expenses later down the line.