Guide
How to pack furniture, a couch and a mattress
Furniture doesn't go in boxes, and that's why it's what arrives scratched. Packing a piece of furniture means giving it a skin that can take the door frames, the banister and the moving truck.
Updated October 1, 2026
What you'll need
- Moving blankets or old blankets — nothing protects better
- Stretch wrap, to hold the blankets in place and keep doors and drawers shut
- Corrugated cardboard, for tabletops, corners and mirrors
- A mattress bag, or an old sheet and stretch wrap
- Small zip-top bags, for screws and hardware
- Packing tape and a marker
Step by step
Empty it
Drawers, shelves and cabinets empty. A full piece of furniture weighs twice as much, and whatever is inside slides around loose.
Take apart what comes apart
Legs, shelves, glass doors, the headboard. The screws from each piece go in their own bag, taped to that same piece — never in one bag shared by everything.
Protect the corners and the tops
Folded cardboard on every corner and a sheet of cardboard over tabletops and glass. That's where furniture gets knocked.
Blankets first, stretch wrap second
Wrap the piece in moving blankets and hold them in place with stretch wrap. The wrap never goes directly against varnished wood or leather — with heat it sticks and leaves marks.
Close what opens
A turn of stretch wrap around the doors and drawers that stayed on, so they don't swing open halfway down the stairs.
What to use to pack furniture for moving
Three supplies do almost all the work: moving blankets to protect, stretch wrap to hold, and cardboard for the corners. Bubble wrap is good for glass and mirrors, but for a whole piece of furniture a blanket protects better and doesn’t slip.
If you don’t have enough moving blankets, the comforters and blankets from your own beds will do — and they have to make the trip anyway.
How to pack a couch for moving
- Take off the loose cushions and pack them separately, in large bags. The couch gets lighter and narrower.
- Unscrew the legs, if they come off. They’re what catches on door frames.
- Measure the doorway and the couch before you lift it. Many couches only fit through stood up on end, or without their legs.
- Wrap it in moving blankets and hold them in place with stretch wrap. On a fabric couch, the stretch wrap can go straight on the outside; on a leather one, always with a blanket underneath.
- Protect the corners and the arms with cardboard — they’re the first to hit something.
How to pack a mattress for moving
A mattress doesn’t break, but it gets dirty, tears and picks up moisture. The simplest answer is a mattress bag made for moving — a big bag of thick plastic that you seal with tape.
No bag? An old fitted sheet and a few turns of stretch wrap do the same job.
In the truck, the mattress travels on its side, standing against a wall, and doubles as a cushion for whatever is fragile: the TV, the pictures and the mirrors ride leaning against it. Don’t fold it unless the manufacturer says you can.
Disassembling furniture for moving — and what to leave in one piece
Take apart what was put together at home: beds, large wardrobes, tables with screw-on legs, tall bookcases. Take photos before and during — the photos are the assembly instructions you no longer have.
Don’t take apart anything glued or made of solid wood fitted together: antique dressers, chairs, sideboards. Those travel whole, empty and wrapped.
Glass doors, mirrors and stone tabletops
Take them off the furniture and pack them like pictures: paper, cardboard on the corners, bubble wrap, and always upright. A stone or glass top is never carried flat — it breaks in the middle under its own weight.
Mistakes to avoid
- Putting tape straight onto wood, varnish or leather. It takes the finish with it when it comes off.
- Moving furniture full to save on boxes. The hinges and the drawer bottoms can't take it.
- Putting all the screws in the same bag. That's how furniture gets put back together with screws left over.
- Wrapping a couch or a mattress that's still damp from cleaning. Sealed in plastic, it starts to smell.
- Dragging instead of lifting. It scratches the floor and the furniture's feet in one go.