Moving Hacks: How to Measure Furniture

If you want a guaranteed way to save yourself time, stress, and a lot of frustration on moving day, measure your furniture. There are two reasons this is important. First, you want to make sure everything you have fits in your new place – this isn’t necessarily always the case, especially with small NYC apartments! Second, having measurements gives you the information you need to know if your furniture needs to be disassembled before you move it.

There are two ways to approach measuring your furniture. You can go old school and use a tape measure – make sure you get one that’s at least ten feet long – or you can use one of the many measuring apps available for your phone. The nice thing about using the tape measure is that it’s easy to carry around while you’re getting ready for your move, and you won’t be tempted to look at Facebook while you’re using it. The nice thing about using an app to measure your furniture is you might not have a tape measure.

Moving Hack: How to Measure Furniture

For every piece of furniture, you want to record the furniture’s height, width, and depth.

The height refers to how tall your furniture is. Measure to the highest point from the ground.

The width refers to how wide your furniture is, measured from side to side. For example, for a couch, you measure the distance from one couch arm to the other couch arm. Measure at the widest point.

The depth refers to how wide your furniture is, measured from front to back. Looking at the couch, you measure the depth from the front of the cushions to the back of the couch. Again, measure at the widest point.

Other Measurements You Want to Know

In addition to measuring your furniture, you’ll want to measure the doorways in your home as well as any hallways, elevator doors, staircases, and entranceway doors. It’s also very helpful to have this information about your new address. These measurements will help you identify and plan for any potential concerns ahead of time.