How To Pack Your Living Room Properly

The living room is usually the room where you will require the most assistance from professional furniture movers. Large items such as sofas, armchairs, TV cabinets and bookshelves are usually too heavy to consider moving on your own, but you’ll still need to ensure that all your furniture is ready to be loaded onto the truck, and has been protected adequately for the move. Below, we’ve put together some handy tips and hints for the best way to pack your living room so that your local furniture movers can be in and out in no time.

• Sofas – In the living room, furniture poses the biggest problem when it comes to packing for a move. The best way to prepare your sofa is to separate sectionals (if possible) into their individual components. This will make it easier for furniture moving companies to fit items through doorways and onto the truck. If you do separate items, make sure you keep all hardware (such as screws, bolts etc.) together in a clearly labeled zip lock bag, and store the bag somewhere safe so that it isn’t lost during the move. The best way to prepare sofa sections for the move (and this applies to all upholstered furniture) is to shrink wrap items to protect against spills, stains or scratches during the move. Most professional furniture moving services will offer to shrink wrap your furniture for you, but you should always enquire prior to the move to ensure this is covered.

• TV cabinet – If your TV cabinet has glass doors, you may wish to remove these first and wrap them in bubble wrap or tissue paper. If the doors aren’t glass, or if you can’t remove them, it’s a good idea to secure them with masking tape. Even though the doors are sealed, you should remove all items from your TV cabinet before the move. Pack items into a separate (labeled) box to ensure they remain safe during the move. Once your TV cabinet is empty, wrap it in sheets or shrink wrap to protect against scratches, dirt or dust.

• Artwork/framed photographs – Photographs, artwork and mirrors are a great place to start your living room packing, as these are items you can easily live without for a few days. As a precautionary measure, you can use tape to tape an “X” across glass surfaces such as large photo frames or mirrors. If the glass does unfortunately happen to shatter during the move, it will at least be held in place by the tape. Masking tape is the best option to use as it does not result in a sticky residue being left behind on the glass. (NOTE: If you do experience stickiness once you take the tape off, you can try gently cleaning the glass with glass cleaner or rubbing alcohol). Once tape is applied, wrap items in bubble wrap or tissue paper (towels or sheets can also be used to reduce moving costs), and place in a suitably sized box for moving. You may want to put some more bubble wrap or paper inside the box to prevent fragile items from moving around or bumping against each other. Tape box closed, and mark “fragile”.

• Coffee tables – Coffee and end tables are relatively straightforward to pack. Firstly, make sure that you remove all items from the drawers, and place in a labeled box. If you have several large coffee table books, remember that these are quite heavy and it may be best to split them across several boxes to reduce weight. Just make sure each box is labeled appropriately. For small coffee tables and end tables, you may want to pack them as they are. For larger coffee tables, it may take up less space on the truck if you disassemble and wrap the separate pieces individually. Make sure you store any screws or other hardware in a zip lock bag. It’s usually a good idea to keep this bag in the same box you put the contents of the drawers. Make sure you wrap each component (or each entire table) in a moving blanket or paper. If you are dealing with glass items, wrap in paper/sheets first, then use bubble wrap on the outside for additional protection.

Congratulations – you’ve packed your living room! Your home will definitely start feeling empty once your living room is packed; it’s amazing how bare things will look as soon as you remove your artwork from the walls!