How do I move a heavy sofa by myself?

Honestly, you usually shouldn't — but if you must, remove the legs, slide it onto a furniture dolly or a set of furniture sliders, and roll rather than carry. Sliders under the feet let you push a heavy piece across the floor with far less force. For stairs or any real distance, get a second person; a sofa is an awkward, back-straining shape to handle solo.

Should I take furniture apart before moving it?

Yes, wherever it's designed to come apart. Disassembled beds, tables, and sectionals are lighter, easier to maneuver through doorways, and much less likely to crack at the joints. Bag and label the hardware, tape it to the piece, and photograph the process so reassembly is straightforward.

How do I protect furniture finishes during a move?

Wrap each piece in a moving blanket and secure it with stretch wrap before it leaves the room. Never apply tape directly to wood, leather, or upholstery — tape the blanket or the stretch wrap instead. Pad corners and arms, and carry glass and stone tops upright, never flat.

Is it cheaper to move furniture or buy new?

It depends on the piece. Quality solid-wood and well-built upholstered pieces are usually worth moving. Inexpensive flat-pack items that may not survive a second disassembly are often cheaper to replace than to transport, especially on a long move priced by weight or volume.

What's the best way to move a mattress?

Slide it into a mattress bag to keep it clean and dry, then carry it on edge — it's far easier to handle vertically through doorways and stairs. In the truck, stand it on its long edge against a wall and brace it so it can't flop forward onto other items.

Moving Furniture: A Stress-Free Guide (Packing, Protecting, and Lifting)

Move furniture without dents, scratches, or a sore back. A room-by-room guide to disassembly, wrapping, lifting, and protecting big pieces on moving day.

Most furniture damage on moving day comes from three avoidable mistakes: lifting before disassembling, wrapping too late, and forcing a piece through a doorway it was never going to clear. Get those three right and the rest is mostly patience. This guide walks you through preparing each piece, protecting finishes and fabric, lifting without hurting yourself, and getting big items through tight spaces in one piece.

Start two weeks out, not the night before

The calmest moves are the ones where the heavy thinking happened early. About two weeks ahead, walk your home and make a quick inventory of the large pieces: sofas, beds, dressers, dining tables, bookcases, and anything with glass or stone. For each, note whether it comes apart, whether you still have the assembly hardware, and roughly how heavy it is.

This is also when you decide what actually makes the trip. Moving is expensive per pound and per cubic foot, so a wobbly particleboard shelf or a sofa you've outgrown may cost more to move than it's worth keeping. Be honest now — it's far easier to sell or donate before the truck arrives than to haul something across town you'll replace anyway.

Gather supplies in the same window so you're not improvising at 7 a.m. on moving day:

Moving blankets or furniture pads — the single most important supply for protecting finishes.
Stretch wrap (plastic film) — holds blankets in place and keeps drawers and doors shut.
Bubble wrap and cardboard — for glass, mirrors, stone tops, and sharp corners.
Felt-tip markers and zip-top bags — for labeling and corralling hardware.
A furniture dolly and lifting straps — your back's best friends.
Painter's tape — gentle on finishes; never use packing tape directly on wood or upholstery.

Disassemble what comes apart

A piece in parts is lighter, easier to carry, and far less likely to get stuck or stressed at the joints. As a rule, take apart anything you can.

Beds: Remove the mattress, then take the frame down to headboard, footboard, rails, and slats. Bed frames almost never survive being dragged whole through a hallway.
Tables: Unscrew the legs from dining and coffee tables. A tabletop carried flat is stable; a fully assembled table is a wide, leg-snagging hazard.
Sofas and sectionals: Remove the legs and feet, and separate modular sections. Sectionals are designed to come apart for exactly this reason.
Dressers and cabinets: Remove drawers to lighten the body and prevent them sliding open mid-lift. Keep clothes inside lightweight drawers if it speeds packing, but empty heavy ones.
Shelving: Take out adjustable shelves so they don't slide and shatter or scratch.

The hardware is what people lose, so treat it carefully. Put each piece's screws, bolts, and Allen keys in a labeled zip-top bag, then tape that bag to the underside of the furniture it belongs to — never to a finished surface where the tape can lift the coating. Snap a quick photo of each piece before and during disassembly; reassembly is much faster when you can see how it went together. If you bought your pieces recently, the original assembly instructions are usually downloadable from the retailer, which is a quiet argument for buying from a brand whose product pages stay live.

Wrap and protect before anything moves

Wrap pieces where they stand, before they go anywhere near a doorway. Finishes get scratched in the carry, not in the truck.

Material	How to protect it	Watch out for
Solid wood / veneer	Moving blanket, secured with stretch wrap	Never tape directly to the finish
Upholstery (fabric)	Stretch wrap over the whole piece; blanket on arms and feet	Plastic can trap moisture on long, hot moves — vent it
Leather	Moving blanket only; avoid direct plastic	Plastic sweats and can mark leather
Glass / mirror	Cardboard both faces, then bubble wrap; mark "FRAGILE"	Always carry vertically, never flat
Stone / marble tops	Bubble wrap, cardboard edges, carry on edge	Heavy and brittle — two-person job, always upright
Drawers / doors	Stretch wrap around the body to hold them shut	Tape on the body, not the front face

For corners and arms — the parts that take the hits — add a folded blanket or cardboard pad under the wrap. Wrap legs and feet individually if they're removable but you've chosen to leave them on.

Lift without hurting yourself

Furniture is heavy in awkward ways, and a strained back can derail an entire move. The fundamentals matter more than strength.

Lift with your legs, not your back. Squat, keep the load close to your body, and stand up through your legs with a straight spine.
Use straps and a dolly. Lifting straps shift weight onto large muscle groups and free your hands. A dolly turns a brutal carry into a roll — strap the piece on and tip it back.
Communicate. Decide who leads, agree on "lift," "down," and "stop," and never walk backward down stairs blind.
High-low on stairs. The person below carries less weight and steers; the person above controls the descent.
Know your limit. Anything genuinely too heavy or too awkward for your crew is a job for professional movers. A medical bill costs more than a moving service.

Get big pieces through tight spaces

This is where furniture gets stuck. Measure the path first. The diagonal depth of a sofa (from the top of the back frame to the front of the arm) is usually the real bottleneck, not its full height or length, because large pieces are angled and pivoted through doors. Our guide to measuring for furniture delivery walks through every checkpoint — doorways, hallway turns, stairwells, and elevators — and the numbers are identical whether something is coming in or going out.

If a piece won't clear, your options in order of ease: remove the legs and feet, take the door off its hinges for a couple of extra inches, separate a modular sectional into sections, or try an alternate route like a patio door or ground-floor window. Forcing it is how frames crack and walls get gouged.

Loading the truck so nothing shifts

Load heaviest and largest first — sofas, dressers, the disassembled bed frame — standing them upright against the walls of the truck to save floor space. Strap each row to the truck's tie-down rails before adding the next. Fill gaps with boxes and soft goods so nothing can slide or topple in transit. Put fragile items (mirrors, glass tops, lamps) on top or wedged upright between soft pieces, never flat under weight. Mattresses travel best on edge, against a wall, in a mattress bag.

The short version

Plan two weeks out, and decide early what's worth moving at all. Disassemble everything that comes apart, bagging and taping the hardware to each piece. Wrap finishes in moving blankets and stretch wrap before anything moves — never tape directly on wood, leather, or fabric. Lift with your legs, use straps and a dolly, and measure your path before you start so big pieces clear doorways and stairs. Load heavy and upright, strap each row, and your furniture should arrive exactly as it left.

Settling in and realizing a piece didn't survive the years? Refresh the room with something built to last in our sofa collection — and measure your new home's delivery path with our furniture delivery measuring guide before it arrives.