Six Common Household Items to Pad Furniture

If you plan to move by yourself and don't want to invest in the heavy padded blankets that professional movers use to wrap your furniture, there are common household items that can be used in their place. This is a way to not have to pack up the items themselves and protect your furnishings without investing in extra supplies.

1. Patio Furniture Cushions. This is an item that is often overlooked as a useful source when padding and wrapping furniture for moving. They are thick and supply great cushioning for night table tops. You can also place them in between upright items to prevent them from bumping one another.
2. Table Cloths and Place Mats. While place mats are small, they can be used to cover smaller pieces of furniture and then completely covered with table clothes.
3. Bed Linens, Blankets and Duvets. Your bed linens are large so save them for large pieces of furniture such as dressers, desks and tables. Always double up for extra padding.
4. Living Room Sofa and Chair Cushions. You can use them just as you use the patio furniture cushions. See the cautionary measures below for additional information.
5. Draperies, Curtains, Area Rugs and Carpets. Again, the larger the textile the bigger the area you can cover when wrapping and packing up your furnishings.
6. Bathroom and Beach Toweling and Chaise Covers. These naturally soft textiles (typically terry cloth) are great for wrapping furniture and other items such as: over sized platters, vases and odd shaped glassware.

Cautionary Measures
You want to be careful that you don't:

1. Tape directly onto the furniture when covering with padding.
2. Let the zippered part of cushions rest next to fine furniture finishes. They can scratch.
3. Allow your good linens and seat cushions get soiled. Cover with plastic when in doubt.

You can slip sofa and patio cushions into large, clean garbage bags to keep them clean and avoid scratching the surfaces of furniture. Pillow cases are also good to envelope items such as small drawers. You can also cover the backs of chairs to keep the upholstery fabric from getting dirty and keep them from having lint and other nubby materials stick to the material.

Paper and Plastic Products Tip
For packing up boxes you can crumple up newspaper and fill light weight plastic garbage bags and tie the handles together. These padded bags give great cushioning to fragile and delicate items. We also welcome your suggestions and invite you to share your tips on Facebook. Nationwide Relocation Services Reviews come in handy when you're preparing to move, but you can leave your own comments about our moving services as well.

Blog written by Deborah Desser-Herchan, Nationwide Relocation Services correspondent.