When it comes to moving, what is your absolute favorite thing about the experience? Obviously, deadlifting furniture and cramming awkward chairs through tight corridors, said no one ever. Hiring a moving crew can have some advantages and disadvantages, but raw success doesn’t come to those that sit around watching burly, tattooed types scuff up your newly painted walls even after dismantling every piece of sit-ware that you own. Mobile Attic is all about doing things yourself; the tool for the every-person. In that spirit, I have compiled a list of pointers that will make furniture moving a little less painful for you and your house. You rarely think about it before, but there is a certain technique for everything. Esoteric gems passed down from secret moving societies, sometimes guarding the knowledge with every fiber of their luxury sofa. Straight from the moving mystics to your computer screen. After talking it up so much, you are probably expecting something mind-blowing, but it’s mostly common knowledge. The trick is to get your mind oriented toward solutions, and you will have a convenient and stress-free experience!
Keep safety in mind!
You need to perfect your moving form. You could always stand in front of a mirror, doing squats for hours as you build up the muscles necessary to move your loveseat across the house. I respect your personal drive (it will take you far in life), but this sort of commitment isn’t necessary. I’m not going to give you cliche advice like ‘lift with your knees’ or whatever, but I will say that mindfulness is a great tool here. Lifting and moving furniture can pose a significant hazard to your health in the short and long term, so it will be worth a few extra minutes to really understand your surroundings and how it is effecting your body. See how the lifting and the moving is adding stress to various parts and always be prepared to take a break when you feel things start to get overwhelming. It is a little like overeating when you are hungry: you really really want to finish moving, so you dive in and start shifting things around like a maniac. You realize a little too late that your stomach hurts and the restaurant bill is going to take three paychecks to clear off your name (metaphors are my strong suit).
Think about tools!
If you ask nicely, I’m sure anyone would loan a furniture dolly to you. Fortunately, we can send one out to you with the portable storage container, if you wanted to go that route. Tools are what put us on top of the animal kingdom! It would be foolish to dismiss their power because of some moving day arrogance. Take every opportunity you can to load furniture on sliders and push those things as far as you can. Measuring often will save you from having to figure out how you are going to move things from room to room; you can also make adjustments to the door or frame (or the furniture itself) with these measurements. If you decide to buy one of those weird shoulder strap things, I certainly won’t judge you, but I can’t say the same thing for your neighbors. Make sure that you have hard edges covered with blankets or towels so that you aren’t scraping black marks down the walls. I don’t think you can convince the new residents that it is abstract or conceptual.
Think about technique!
Along with having the perfect tools and the perfect mind, you want to have the form to go with it all. There is one trick that I stumbled on through my research that seemed so simple, yet so revolutionary that I’m baffled it isn’t taught in middle school. That secret is friendship. No that’s totally a joke, though it would probably be in your best interest to get some friends over with the promise of carbonated, sugary drinks and tomato-slathered pies. It’ll save you the anxiety of having to deal with the move single-handedly, unless you are into that kind of thing. Self-motivation is rad! Anyway, the technique I was referring to his ‘hooking.’ It’s when you take a chair or other ‘L’ shaped piece of furniture. You place the bottom part of the ‘L’ through the doorway and move it away from the opening while simultaneously pushing it toward the adjacent, wall-equipped door. This resembles a hooking motion and is THE premier technique to get cumbersome pieces of furniture through doorways. No more fighting with door hinges or crow-barring the molding. This is one of those things that can send you off into a rage on moving day; hopefully, you are one step closer to a stress free move.
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