When moving cross country, shipping furniture can quickly become a huge burden. A great way to make sure that you are not wasting money when shipping particular items is to check their strength.

Create a list of all the furniture items listed according to size from small to large and then cross off those that might not survive the move.

Where small items can be just dumped into a cardboard box, the big items require more care and customized boxes. Before you start packing, measure the dimensions of the bigger furniture items to get accurate sized boxes. The measurement should include the furniture’s height, depth, and width, along with diagonal dimensions for items that might have any protruding parts.

Following are brief tips on how to pack different furniture items:

Bedroom Furniture

·        Box Spring and Mattress

Box springs and mattresses get damaged quite easily if they are not packed properly. There’s a simple way to pack both of them together and reduce the cost:

• Buy a shipping box and a mattress bag
• Slide the spring box and the mattress into the bag and seal the edges with packing tape
• Put the bag in the shipping box and secure it tightly with packing tape

·        Footboard and Headboard

The remaining parts of a bed set can be packed in a blanket. Here’s how to do it:

• Unscrew all the nuts and bolts from the headboard and footboard, and keep them in a ziplock bag
• Wrap both boards in a moving blanket
• Secure the blankets with plastic stretch wrap
• Tape all the corners to prevent the boards from sliding out

Let’s move on to other items that have legs such as the dining table, bench, and sofa.

Lounge

·        Bench and Table

To prevent any damage to these types of furniture items, it is better to ship them in a crate. It might be a little costly but guarantees safe arrival at your destination:

• Buy a crate that is a tight fit for the furniture (free room for slip and slide can cause damage to the corners)
• Slip on a sock on each leg of the bench and a trouser on the table leg
• Warp the legs in bubble wrap
• Place cushions and pillows on the seats to create padding
• Wrap the furniture in moving blankets and then secure the blankets with plastic wrap
• Tape the furniture from top to bottom
• Lift the furniture and place it in the crate
• Screw the top from all corners

Note: If the legs of the table or bench can be removed, then you can easily pack the furniture in just moving blankets and plastic wrap.

Delicate furniture pieces such as a grandfather clock or glass shelves must be padded with Styrofoam blocks so that the glass can be prevented from shattering. Other than that, most of the items can be wrapped in moving blankets and plastic wrap.