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Measuring for New Furniture?

Entry Options

  1. Determine which doors offer the easiest access. 
  2. Consider garage or patio doors that may offer more clearance.

Doorways

  1. Measure the height from the floor to the top of the doorway.
  2. Measure between the narrowest parts of the doorway’s width.
  3. Measure the amount of room from the doorway to the nearest opposite wall in the hallway.
  4. Note tight hallway corners (especially when doors open into a hall that immediately turns left or right).
  5. Take into account any handrails, doorknobs or trim that cannot be removed.
  6. Consider removing a door from its hinges to let a tight fit squeeze by. 
  7. If removing a door still isn’t enough, consider tilting the piece on its side or holding it at an angle. Can the piece be broken down disassembling into smaller parts?

Stairways

  1. Measure between the narrowest points of the stairway (likely from handrail to handrail or handrail to wall).
  2. Measure your stairway ceiling height from the bottom step to the ceiling, from any landings to the ceiling and from the top step to the ceiling. 
  3. Measure the width and depth of any landings. If the stairway leads into a wall instead of an open space, measure the distance from the stairs to the wall.

Remove Obstacles

  1. Remove unnecessary items like kids’ toys, pet gear, knick-knacks, etc. from the route ahead of time.
  2. Take special care around wall art, decorative items and any light fixtures.
  3. Note fire extinguishers, sprinklers, and angled or low ceilings.

Sofas and Chairs

For sofas and chairs measure the height at the tallest part of the frame. Removable feet could provide you with a few extra inches of clearance. Measure the width at the sofa’s widest point, typically the arms. Measure the depth from the front most point to the back most point. On very tight entryways sofas often fit through best at an angle. Measure your sofa’s diagonal depth by using a straight edge to create a line between the highest point on the back of the sofa frame (not including pillows) and the front of the arm. Then measure from the bottom rear corner of the sofa up to the point that bisects the straight edge. In order for a sofa to fit, either the depth, width or diagonal depth must be less than the door width. 

 

Dressers, Cabinets and Bookshelves

Measure the depth and the diagonal height of the pieces at their widest points. In order to fit, a dresser’s diagonal height must be less than the entryway clearance or doorway height. And the dresser’s depth must be smaller than the doorway width.