Before you lift a finger: plan and gather your kit

The most common cause of scratched sideboards and chipped corners is not careless driving — it is a rushed pack-up on the morning of the move. Give yourself a fortnight where you can, and work through the house room by room. As you go, note which items are heavy, awkward or fragile, and decide which pieces you will dismantle.

• Moving blankets (also called furniture pads) — the workhorse of any removal. Thick, quilted blankets absorb knocks and can be reused for years.
• Bubble wrap — best for delicate edges, glass, mirrors and anything with a glossy finish.
• Cardboard corner protectors — cheap, and they do more for your furniture than almost anything else. Fit them to every exposed corner of tables, chests and wardrobes.
• Stretch or shrink wrap — excellent for holding drawers shut, keeping blankets in place and bundling legs together.
• Felt pads, masking tape and a marker — masking tape will not pull the varnish off the way duct tape can. Label everything.
• A trolley or sack barrow, plus a couple of straps — save your back and keep loads steady.

Keep a small “first night” box with scissors, tape, a screwdriver and a torch, so you are not hunting for tools when you finally arrive.

Dismantle and wrap, in that order

Anything that comes apart should come apart. Remove legs from tables, take the doors off wardrobes, and detach mirrors from dressing tables. Pop screws, bolts and fixings into a small bag, tape the bag to the item it belongs to, and write the room name on it. Flat-pack furniture is far weaker than it looks once the joints are loosened, so lift it by the frame, never by a shelf or a drawer front.

Once an item is dismantled, wrap it. A single moving blanket laid over a table top and taped at the underside is usually enough to stop scuffs. For anything with a high-gloss, lacquered or veneered finish, put a layer of bubble wrap underneath the blanket — bubble side facing inwards — so the plastic cannot rub against the wood. Wrap table and chair legs individually, and tape the bundle so the wrap does not unravel mid-carry.

Protect corners and delicate details

Corners take the hits. Fit a cardboard corner protector to each one, then tape it in place. If the corner is also decorative — a carved cabriole leg, a bevelled glass edge, a picture frame — add a layer of bubble wrap first. Mirrors and glass tabletops should have a criss-cross of masking tape applied to the glass itself, then be wrapped in bubble wrap and sandwiched between two sheets of stiff cardboard.

Soft furnishings need less fuss but still deserve attention. Mattresses should go into a proper mattress bag so they stay dry and clean, and settees and armchairs benefit from a blanket over the arms and back. Tie cushions, bedding and curtains into bin bags or vacuum bags and stack them where they will cushion harder items rather than being crushed.

Loading the van without the dents

Loading is where most damage is done, and it is nearly always caused by speed. Empty the room first, then carry each item to the van along a route you have already walked and checked — think about doorframes, banisters, narrow halls and the step at the front door. Where possible, two people lift together: one takes the weight, the other steers. Never drag furniture across a floor, and never lift a heavy piece by a drawer handle or a decorative rail.

• Load the heaviest items first, low down and over the axle, standing upright where possible.
• Keep wardrobes and tall cabinets upright; laying them flat can twist the frame.
• Put mattresses and settees against the van walls to cushion hard-edged items.
• Leave a small gap between wrapped pieces — a layer of cardboard or a spare blanket stops them rubbing together on bends.
• Do not stack anything on top of a wrapped table top or a glass panel.

Strap everything down — then check it again

Loose loads slide, and a sliding wardrobe will find every scratch it can. Use ratchet or cam straps to pin tall items to the van’s internal rails or tie-down points, and run a strap over the top of stacked boxes to hold them as one block. Pad the strap wherever it touches a finished surface: a folded cloth under the buckle prevents a dented edge.

Once loaded, walk around the van and push the load gently with your hand. Nothing should move more than a centimetre or two. Re-check the straps after the first ten minutes of driving and again at any stop, because loads settle as the van vibrates. At the other end, reverse the process: unstrap, unload the light items first, and set heavy furniture down on a blanket or a sheet of cardboard rather than directly on the floor.

A final sweep before you hand back the keys

Do a last walk-through with your labelled bags and a torch. Check behind doors, on top of wardrobes and under beds for fixings, felt pads, remote controls and stray screws. Photograph the inside of the van so you have a record if anything does turn up damaged. With blankets, bubble wrap, corner protectors and a properly strapped load, most removals pass without a single mark — and the pieces you love arrive looking exactly as they left.