In a classic Friends episode, Ross convinces Chandler and Rachel to help him move his new couch up a few flights of stairs in lieu of paying the delivery charge. A hand drawn sketch and a few “pivots” later and, of course, the couch is stuck in mid-rounding-the-corner. When moving your own furniture, what is the best way of getting around those tight corners with a couch or a large piece of furniture?
After polling a few people and researching what expert movers have to say, here are a few tips that you can use on Moving Day. And if all else fails, a window, balcony and just buying chairs may be your answer. Of course there is always paying that delivery charge.
(Title image via Friends Season 5, Episode 16)
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This episode always cracked me up. "PIV-OT" hahaha
"PIV-OT" is what we call out whenever moving furniture - whether we have to pivot or not!
Ugh. We had to do this with my old sofa. Thankfully the ceilings in the building are high, so we turned it on it's end at the corners and did end-over-end all the way up to the 4th floor.
hire local frat boys.
they are smart enough to figure it out,
and desperate enough for beer money to
do it cheap.
OMG my best friend and I ALWAYS crack up when we see a couch! haha! well played APT, well played.
That ep was hilarious!
turn the couch up on its end, so that it's on one of the arm sides, and move it that way. i moved a sofa and a loveseat up two flights of stairs, and it was way easier to get it around a turn in the staircase and in the door without a lot of finagling.
Also be sure to face the seated section towards the banister. If you have to make a turn around a corner, having that extra room to move horizontally will really help. Think like an upside down "L".
The railing and banister will tuck neatly into the L < shape
That is the best episode. While moving, my friends and I would randomly scream "PIV-OOOOT" (whether needed or not) and it would lighten the sweaty, angry mood and have us laughing in seconds.
Ha! I'm glad that I'm not the only one shouting "pi-VOT!" even when pivoting is not called for.
Ugghhh. I just helped my boyfriend move a couch into his place and we had to take off the front door of his apartment. I kid you not.
The biggest tip that I have for ANY furniture move is to establish clear directional commands before you start a move. You and your partner should mentally label the "front, back, top and bottom" of the piece before you even touch it. This way when one person cries, "Now turn it towards the front" you'll be on the same page... which is a good thing when you're stuck in a stairwell and cannot see anything but the floor.
For anyone deprived of the PIV-OT, <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_PklVas9cA">here is the episode.
And here are the amazing bloopers ;)
I'm with BambiJo, PIVOT comes out every time a piece of furniture is moved, with out fail.
I am glad I am not the only one with a weakness for this episode, the pictures alone made me laugh.
and baba yaga, I once had the excellent good fortune to have a geometry major frat boy loading my moving van. I have never had a van loaded that well, or that quickly. he could visualize all of the shapes and how they would fit together perfectly.
My poor tufted back, vintage beauty lost it's leg during such a move. Ex & I finally got the sofa to the 4th floor only to realize it wouldn't fit through the door! So desperate, we forced it a little too hard and the carved leg broke. Sad, but the final damage was done by my puppy while I was vacationing. I now have an Ikea.