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How To: Rearrange Furniture
When There's Only One Of You

020409_rearranging.jpgYou know the feeling. It's 7, you've finished dinner, there's nothing good on tv, you've exhausted the internet, and suddenly you have the urge to rearrange your studio/bedroom/living room. But there's only one of you and some pretty heavy furniture. With enough motivation and stick-to-it-ness you can probably move anything with brute force. But there are some easier ways to get the job done with breaking your back or inviting murderous thoughts from your neighbors after moving furniture around all night:

 
 

Rearranging Furniture one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve a space and we've found it to be endlessly gratifying. But doing it alone can be daunting. Here's what's helped:

On Hardwood or Concrete Floors:
• Slip a square of felt under each leg of what you're moving and it should glide fairly effortlessly across the floor. If the floor is bumpy you might want to fold the felt over for an even thicker pad.
• Dishtowels can also work in a pinch.


On Carpet
• These furniture sliders make gliding furniture across carpet easier than you'd think. The hardest part is just getting them under each leg.

What have you used?


Related:
How To: Move a Couch around a tight corner
Tips for Rearranging Furniture

Image from Sam's Sydney Simplicity

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How To..., how to, rearrange, sliders, moving furniture

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Comments (24)

Blankets. I've slid a huge wardrobe from one room to another (wood floor) on a blanket.

posted by heymomo on February 4th 2009 at 9:10pm
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Socks and towels.

posted by LilyC on February 4th 2009 at 9:40pm
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I'm so glad there are people like me out there. . .

sigh. .

posted by ivegots on February 4th 2009 at 9:49pm
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Socks, with rubber bands tied around the top.

posted by jrochest on February 4th 2009 at 10:21pm
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To move furniture over rugs/carpet, I put a few paper plates under the furniture feet

posted by sierracreek on February 4th 2009 at 10:54pm
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I once moved a 250 bath tub from my truck into my house with the swivel method! Take a corner swivez forward, swivel opposite way etc.

posted by parrishnut on February 4th 2009 at 11:21pm
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i have a heavy, wood, queen size bed that i had to move across carpeting. i used a car jack to raise up each corner just enough to slip in furniture sliders. i was then able to move the bed without much effort. :)

posted by cyn in sf on February 4th 2009 at 11:31pm
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I re-arranged stuff last night! I've been wanting a new, tall nightstand that would double as extra storage but I didn't feel like spending ~$80 on a new piece. Last night I finally realized I could use my tall Ikea shelf that was holding 3 things in the kitchen.
The nice part is that it's only $15, so if I need it back in the kitchen I can just pick up another one... hopefully that won't be necessary.

posted by sparkle on February 4th 2009 at 11:32pm
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When I was in college, I de-lofted the bed in my dorm room (which was perched above the desk) solo. My roommate had gone home the night before, my parents wouldn't be there until the next day, and any of my friends who were still around were studying for finals. Five words: one corner at a time.

posted by Dean Tambling on February 5th 2009 at 12:03am
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You know how some people read a book late at night when they can't sleep? I always get the urge to move stuff. The people who live below me probably wouldn't be too happy so unfortunately I just have to lay there and imagine what it will look like when I do it in the morning.

posted by oakland on February 5th 2009 at 12:21am
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I have those "moving men" furniture gliders -- they really are a godsend. I have a bad back, but after I got these I was able to move an extremely heavy, large, awkward wooden armoire, huge heavy old bookcase and several other bulky furniture pieces easily. The only thing to watch out for is the potential to scratch hardwood floors.

posted by jplee on February 5th 2009 at 1:03am
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If you shuffle furniture often, it's worth getting an inexpensive furniture moving dolly:

http://www.bigmenstools.com/product.jhtm?id=300&tc=replacethistrackcode&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=nextag

They are about $25 at my local Home Depot. Heck, you can buy one, use it and return it if you need to. But I keep two of these around. I've moved HUGE furniture with them (with the help of another person for balancing).

posted by Forestdweller on February 5th 2009 at 2:40am
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thanks for the paperplate tip!!..have used the blanket/towel/corner by corners method..survival!!

posted by keeks on February 5th 2009 at 8:47am
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Dear oakland,

So I am not alone doing things like that, too.. When I tell my friends they say I am weird because I rearranged my books by color, changed furniture locations, always move things around etc...

Relief...

posted by New York Muhtari on February 5th 2009 at 10:02am
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Before moving: Google Sketch-Up.

posted by ECB on February 5th 2009 at 10:09am
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I use cardboard from my recycle bin to move the things that are on carpet.

posted by wendy-rae on February 5th 2009 at 11:32am
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My Dad has a huge 350 pound safe that was in his closed (which is like 5 feet by 3 feet) and the door is just an inch wider than the depth. We used the shimmy method (since only one person could be in the closed)and then a piece of cardboard to get it over the carpet lip to the bedroom. Worked wonders.

And I too am a "random" rearranger. I used to rearrange like every other month. Suprisingly I've only rearranged my living room 1 time in the past 2 years and the bedroom never!!

Uh oh...this post might have determined what I'm doing tonight before bed.....

posted by kambykitten on February 5th 2009 at 12:21pm
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Can anyone identify that table? It's hard to find a good oval table.

posted by TrueTex on February 5th 2009 at 1:06pm
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I use a bath mat to move drag stuff very easily around the hardwood floors in my apartment. Just flip the bath mat upside down, with the rubber part on top, and it kind of 'sticks' to the bottom of the furniture you are moving, while the other side of the mat has smooth fabric, and glides gently along the floor. Works perfectly more me every time.

posted by NancyInLA on February 5th 2009 at 2:43pm
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I like that bathmat idea. I have used the pivot method mostly, and towels sometimes. Carry something with my whole back a couple inches at a time also works on a lot of my furniture. I have an oak buffet I haven't moved more than a couple inches left or right since I moved in, so I finally bought some furniture gliders. Should have bought a bathmat. Who knew?

I wouldn't dream of moving furniture after a certain hour. It's bad enough I can't hover, I feel loud enough just walking or washing a dish.

posted by K T G on February 5th 2009 at 2:54pm
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TrueTex - according to the House Tour: Sam's Sydney Simplicity, linked in the article, it's Superellipse Table by Piet Hein and Bruno Mathsson.

http://www.dwr.com/product/super-elliptical-extension-table.do

I found a more expensive one:
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425929945/425726744/piet-hein-and-bruno-mathsson-table-super-ellipse-en-palissandre-de-rio.html

posted by K T G on February 5th 2009 at 3:00pm
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Gah, I JUST moved stuff XD Fortunately, neither piece was particularly heavy (...okay, the chest was MASSIVELY heavy, but thankfully I could just shove it straight across the tiles), and I'm only a little sweaty. (Hey, it's nearly forty degrees celsius here!)

posted by ryttu3k on February 6th 2009 at 12:05am
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Home Depot has a set of those plastic glides for moving furniture that come with little fleece socks for hardwood and other hard surface floors. Use them "nekked" for carpet, add the socks for hard floors. (I don't see why you couldnt put real (old) socks on the glides you already have for a similar result.) Glides are REALLY worth the investment!!

Just switched our front load washer and dryer around (they were installed with the doors hinged in the center so they opened into each other, making switching batches of laundry unnecessarily awkward.) I'm 4'11" and about 120 lbs. and the room is way too small for two people, so I swivel walked the dryer out by myself , did the same laterally with the washer (which was way heavier), then moved the dryer into position. The trickiest part was hopping up onto the dryer to get into and out of the space behind for hooking up the dryer vent hose... But now the laundry rooom finally makes sense!

posted by SherryBinNH on February 9th 2009 at 4:12pm
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KTG, thanks, I didn't notice any links. Too bad it's so expensive!

posted by TrueTex on February 14th 2009 at 10:18pm
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