Tips on Keeping Furniture’s Health When Moving

Antique dealer and Keno Auctions founder Leigh Keno is passionate about antique furniture. Together with his brother, and Joan Barzilay Freund, Leigh Keno co-authored Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture. The book tells each brother's stories about amazing discoveries which turned up across the globe. One chapter includes Leigh Keno's discovery and extreme care in shipping a unique Federal American desk and bookcase worth over $200,000 from Argentina to the United States. The piece contained over 40 fragile, painted glass panels, which, if broken, would have been a tragedy. The health of all fine furniture should be maintained since it may be of great value one day.

Aside from keeping oneself injury-free, maintaining the health of furniture is paramount when moving. Here are some tips for achieving that objective:

1. Take an inventory of all furniture. Figure out how much time is needed to prepare and pack pieces which need to be disassembled.

2. Check to insure that all items will fit through doorways, hallways, and stairways. Pieces that fit through doorways may not need to be disassembled.

3. Complete any disassembly carefully. Use of the right tools is important. Keep all the parts intact in one package. Putting codes on the parts may be of help during reassembly. Upholstered seating furniture should be wrapped in plastic so that it does not get soiled. 

4. Using blankets, pack the valuable and fragile pieces to secure them. Be sure not to use bubble-wrap to pad a fine piece of furniture until you have protected the entire item with fabric. The wrap leaves impressions in the varnish which are extremely difficult to remove, especially in hot weather. 

5. Heavy pieces should be loaded in the truck first. All marble tops should be carried and moved in a vertical position. Keeping them horizontal can lead to breakage.