Moving is one of the most challenging events a person may experience in life. Having a local or interstate move requires a lot of time for planning and preparation. It also involves physical labour especially if you have a great number of valuable pieces of furniture like antiques.

Antique furniture comes in different forms, designs, and styles. Each has its own beauty and historical significance which adds to its overall value. It can be challenging to move these items since enough knowledge is needed on how to properly preserve and protect these precious items from possible damage. Here are a few tips that you can follow to have a safe move of antique furniture.

Make an Inventory

There are a lot of things you need to do during a move and one of the essential tasks is to make an inventory of all your valuable items. If you have a lot of precious antiques and you are planning to hire a removalist to help you with your move, making an inventory of the items and their current condition is a good thing to do. This way, it will be easier for you to check if your valuable possessions arrived safe and to assess for possible damages during the move.

Assessment of Antiques

After making an inventory, this is a great time to evaluate the antiques that you own. You need to decide whether you want to keep some items or sell them. If you think some of the antiques are not worthy of the effort, time, and money during a move, you can sell the items on a garage sale, pawn shops or online websites. Some people who collect antiques will be interested and that can be a great source of extra money. 

Get an Appraisal

Once you finish sorting your antiques, it is time to have your valuable possessions appraised. If you will just have a DIY move, it is not necessary, but this is essential if you are planning to hire a professional removalist. With this, you can easily know the precise value of the items which you need for your inventory and it will be easy for you to make any claims if something came up.

Purchase Proper Insurance

This is vital especially if you own a countless number of antique furniture. There are a lot of possible problems that may occur during transit – it could be damaged, lost or stolen. If you will hire trusted men that move to do the job, there is a little chance it can happen, but as they say - better safe than sorry.  Even if the items will not be replaced, at least you can be properly compensated for those valuable possessions.

Proper packing

It is important to properly pack all items, especially antique furniture. You can try to disassemble the furniture if possible, for an easier and faster move. But do not forget to assess your antique furniture since some are not fit for disassembly and others are too old to be taken apart and put back together again. For wrapping, please avoid direct contact with plastic wraps since they may trap moisture which can damage the items. Instead, you can use moving blankets or pads as an initial layer of protection.  Then, you can use those plastic wraps as second protection. Make sure to protect the surfaces and corners of your antique furniture.  

If you are going to hire a removalist like 2 men and a truck, you don’t need to worry so much about packing or wrapping your antiques since they have the knowledge and can help you secure those valuable items. 

Choose the right removalist

Getting help from trusted and professional removalists in your area is a great initiative for moving valuable antique furniture. You need to make sure to choose experienced and skilled removalists to properly pack your valuable belongings with the proper packing materials. Since they are knowledgeable and have enough strength how to pack and move these belongings, they are faster compared if you do it yourself. They know special techniques which make it easier to move but at the same time, there is a great assurance that your antique items are moved in a safe, damage-free manner.

Moving valuable antique furniture is never an easy job. But following these tips may help you be more prepared and can save you time, effort, and expenses. If you are looking for professional and reliable moving companies in Australia to help you move your antiques, Upmove is the best platform to use. It has a network of Australia's trusted men that move, may it be from large moving companies, interstate removalists or small and local removalists such men that move, making you feel secure and safe with your valuable possessions.