How do I move furniture by myself?

November 9, 2007 12:57 PM

How do I move furniture by myself, today, across a new wood floor?

I have a chest of drawers and a TV cabinet I would like to move from one room into another. The room they're moving into has brand new wood floors that I don't want to scratch up too badly. I could wait to do it tomorrow, when I won't have to do it by myself, but I'd really like to do it now while the kid's at school and the baby's napping. I'm a fairly strong woman, and tall, but both pieces are a bit bulky. I don't want to go to the store to get any supplies. I have blankets, towels, a skateboard, baby strollers, cornmeal...

Any suggestions?

posted by The corpse in the library to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

I have used towels and/or pieces of cardboard to move big items by myself with success multiple times.
posted by MasonDixon at 1:00 PM on November 9, 2007

There are these little Teflon disks sold in hardware stores everywhere. You just get 4, slip one under each corner, and moving is a breeze. I think they may even be called furniture moving disks or something like that.
posted by jasper411 at 1:01 PM on November 9, 2007

Really, a short trip to the store and 5 bucks worth of magic squares will make your life so, so much easier. Those things can make even pianos glide.
posted by dead_ at 1:02 PM on November 9, 2007

Best answer: Oh. Lift up a corner slide towel/cardboard underneath and slide across the floor.
posted by MasonDixon at 1:02 PM on November 9, 2007

Mason Dixon has it. I have also used spare pieces of carpet, carpet-side down.

If you want to spend money, this is a product that works (but not better than cardboard or towels or carpet.
posted by minervous at 1:03 PM on November 9, 2007

upside down bath mats also work wonders.

careful buying 'furniture moving discs' - i've seen plastic ones that should only be used on carpet as they'll still scuff the floor.
posted by noloveforned at 1:05 PM on November 9, 2007

Best answer: Easiest way would be to put a thick folded blanket underneath the furniture pieces. Something kind of slippery like polar fleece or wool would probably be easiest. What you do is fold it so that it's slightly larger than the piece of furniture. One by one, tilt the corners of the furniture so that you can kind of kick/place the blanket under the feet of the chest/cabinet until it's completely underneath. Once it's under completely, you should be able to easily slide it across the room. (Of course, you'd want to try to move it just a little bit to make sure before doing a giant shove and realising the blanket wasn't folded thickly enough.)

When you finally have the pieces moved to their new homes, do the reverse and lift each corner of the furniture, removing the blanket from underneath.

Word of advice, remove the shelves/drawers before moving it and it will be a lot lighter. You should also tie down any cabinet doors so they're not swinging open into doorways or squashing fingers. Also, make sure you measure those doorways/spaces before doing any actual moves. It will save time and smashed knuckles. Good luck!
posted by dancinglamb at 1:05 PM on November 9, 2007

Yes, spread out a blanket , spread towels over that. Take everything out of the chest drawers, then stack the drawers somewhere. rock the chest onto its side, ease it down on the blanket, and pull the blanket by the corners. If things start to slip, stop and readjust.

If the skateboard will center easily under the chest, rock the chest up and roll the skateboard into the middle, proceeding as before.
posted by exlotuseater at 1:05 PM on November 9, 2007

The furniture moving disks have worked well for me. You do need to be certain they are clean--if they have grit or debris on the surface, they will scuff the floor. The disks (I have one set from the "As Seen on TV" Store and are called "moving men" and one set from the Bed Bath and Beyond) are amazing. The furniture just glides like it's on highly-greased wheels. I have found the towel/blanket method to be awkward and cumbersome, requiring constant adjusting and lots of tugging and pulling to get things to move.
posted by crush-onastick at 1:10 PM on November 9, 2007

Response by poster: Done! Fleece blankets, elbow grease, and the furniture is back in place. Is this a record for fastest-solved AskMe? (And would anyone like to come over and help me re-jury-rig my Tivo?)
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:11 PM on November 9, 2007

Safest solution: wait until you can get friends involved.

The teflon discs (the ones designed for hardwood, not carpet) do work very well, but only when they're brand new; as soon as they get scratched up, they get less useful.

Also, they occasionally slip off, and if you don't notice, *scratch!*

So they work well, but use caution, and if you notice what you think is a scratch in the first few inches, STOP.
posted by davejay at 1:43 PM on November 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

For next time...

Socks on the legs.
posted by Jandasmo at 1:49 PM on November 9, 2007

small carpet scraps, with the carpet side down / backing side up, under each corner.
posted by amtho at 2:10 PM on November 9, 2007

Darn - wish I'd seen this earlier! I would have come over to help in exchange for an autograph on a copy of "Booty"!
posted by vito90 at 6:17 PM on November 9, 2007