Most of the packing damage I have seen on antiques did not come from a dropped box. It came from the wrong material touching the wrong surface. Bubble wrap was closest, so it went straight onto a French-polished table. Stretch wrap was closest, so it went around a velvet chair. Pressed against an old finish or a fine fabric for a few hours, the handiest material in the house can do more harm than a careless lift.
Cotton against the wood, foam under the gilt, tissue inside the roll. The first layer decides how a piece arrives.
So when people ask me how to pack antique furniture, art and textiles for a move, I tell them to sort by material, not by room. What is the surface made of, what does it hate, and what is the one thing that should touch it first? Answer that and the rest is padding. Here is how I would pack the pieces I care about, one material at a time.
The first layer is the one that matters
A good pack does two jobs, and they need two different materials. The inner layer protects the surface. It has to be clean, soft, inert and, for most old things, breathable. The outer layer protects against knocks: quilted blankets, foam, board, a crate. Trouble starts when one material is asked to do both jobs. Bubble wrap is a perfectly good outer layer. It is a poor first layer on almost anything antique.
Before the packing starts, put together a small kit:
- Clean cotton sheeting, or old cotton bedsheets washed without fabric softener
- Acid-free tissue paper, and plenty of it
- Glassine, the smooth, translucent paper art handlers lay against paintings
- Closed-cell foam in sheets and corner blocks
- Quilted moving blankets and soft cotton webbing
- Small bags and a marker for hardware
Antique wood: cotton first, always
French polish, the shellac finish on most good eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture, is thin, luminous and much softer than people expect. Put plastic directly against a French-polished walnut top and two things can go wrong. The plastic traps moisture against the finish, which can leave a cloudy white bloom, and with any warmth the pattern of the wrap can print into the polish. Neither is a quick fix. Both usually mean a restorer.
So wood gets cotton sheeting first, folded neatly at the corners like a parcel, then blankets over that. If stretch wrap is needed to hold the blankets in place, it goes around the blankets and never touches the wood. Waxed and oiled pieces get the same treatment. Painted furniture does too, with one change: if the paint is crackled or lifting, use acid-free tissue against it instead of fabric, because loose flakes catch on a weave.
Veneer needs a little extra thought. It is not a lesser surface, and I will always argue that wood veneer deserves more credit than it gets. But the edges and the crossbanding are where a dragged blanket catches. Pad those edges with foam strips before the blanket goes on, so nothing slides across them.
Hardware and joinery: remove, then brace
Brass pulls, bail handles, key escutcheons that unscrew, finials and loose shelves all come off before anything is wrapped. Left on, a brass bail handle swings with every bump and taps the same spot on a polished drawer front for the whole drive. Wrap each piece in acid-free tissue, bag it, and label the bag with the piece and the drawer it came from. Then tape the bag to an unfinished surface, inside a drawer or on the back of the case. Tape on an old finish is how old finishes come off.
Old joints want the opposite of what most people do. The instinct is to ratchet a strap as tight as it will go. On a chair with aging mortise and tenon joints, or a table whose legs have loosened over a century, a hard strap keeps constant pressure on exactly the joints you are worried about, and road vibration finishes the job. Brace instead of squeezing. Support the frame so it cannot rack from side to side, let padded blocks take the load, and use soft webbing that holds the piece still without crushing it. Table leaves come out and travel flat in their own padded sleeve. Emptied drawers can stay in, held shut with a cotton tie around the case rather than tape.
Gilt, mirrors and frames
I want a little gilt in every room, and it is the material I worry about most in a move. Water gilding is a breath of gold leaf over gesso, and it does not forgive rubbing. My gilt Federal-style convex mirror, with all its plaster work, would never be wrapped tight in anything that could shift against it. Closed-cell foam corners hold the wrapping off the carving, and the box or crate is built around those corners so the frame floats instead of resting on its ornament. Anything under glass gets an X of low-tack painter's tape across the glass first, so a crack stays a crack.
Paintings: glassine on the face, a crate around the rest
I came up as a painter, so this is the part I am fussiest about. A stretched canvas slackens and tightens as temperature and humidity change, and a cardboard carton does nothing to stop the corner of a side table from punching through it. For any painting you would be heartbroken to lose, a crate built to the frame's measurements is money well spent.
The face of the painting gets a sheet of glassine first. It is smooth and does not shed fibers, so it will not cling to or scuff a sound, fully cured varnish the way bubble wrap or newsprint can. Never use it, or anything else, against paint that is flaking, tacky or newly finished. Those paintings belong with a conservator or a fine art handler, not in a moving box. After the glassine, foam corners hold the frame away from the sides of the crate. That is the floating method art handlers use: the painting never touches the outside of its packaging, so a knock on the crate does not travel straight into the canvas.
Sculpture follows the same logic. Bronze, marble and ceramic go into rigid boxes with foam cut to the shape of the piece, so the thin parts, a hand, a handle, a fluted rim, are supported instead of hanging in space. Handle old bronze with clean cotton gloves, because the oils in skin can mark a patina.
Textiles: roll, cushion, never compress
Textiles are where people relax, because fabric seems unbreakable. It is not. Silk splits along folds, velvet crushes and holds the mark, and embroidery wears wherever it rubs against something hard.
- Draperies and heavy woven fabrics. Roll them around a tube wrapped in acid-free tissue, using an archival tube for anything old, and interleave tissue as you roll. Rolling spreads the stress. Folding puts it all on one line.
- Embroidered and beaded pieces. Roll with the embroidery facing out and a layer of tissue over it, so the raised work is never pressed into itself.
- Velvet and silk upholstery. Cotton sheeting first, then a quilted blanket held with soft webbing. No straps cinched across the seat, and nothing stacked on top.
- Silk cushions and pillows. Their own boxes, packed loosely. Never use them as filler to wedge other things in place.
I design rugs at Kevin Francis Design, and the rule I would hold any packer to for a rug holds for every textile in the house: roll it, do not fold it, and do not seal it in plastic for longer than the walk from the door to the van. It matters at the other end, too. The fun of a new house is layering patterns and textures all over again, and that is hard to do with a stack of creased, crushed fabric.
Cornish lanes and sea air change the plan
Where you are going changes how you pack, and Cornwall is a good example. Single-track lanes between high hedges, granite cottages with doorways cut for another century, steep approaches and salt in the air most of the year. A tall linen press may not make the turn on a cottage stair, so the cornice comes off if it is designed to and the case is wrapped as separate pieces. A long run of winding lanes means hours of vibration, which is exactly when soft bracing earns its keep. And damp sea air finds unfinished wood backs and bronze hardware first, which is one more reason the hardware travels bagged and the plastic comes off the day the furniture arrives.
If your move starts or ends in the far southwest, talk to a removal firm in Cornwall about all of this at the survey, not on the morning of the move. Tell them which pieces are French-polished, gilded or glued, which ones you want crated, and which ones you would rather carry yourself. A crew that works those lanes every week will know which properties need a smaller vehicle and which approaches need a longer carry, and your packing plan should be built around that.
Unpack in the order you packed
Unwrapping is packing in reverse. Outer layers off first, then a pause, then the cotton or tissue. Open good pieces in the room where they will live, so each one is carried once rather than three times. Look at every polished top and gilt frame under a bright light before the crew leaves and before you sign anything, and photograph anything that looks wrong.
And then use the furniture. I have never believed in decorating like a museum. Old things look better with new things next to them, and the whole point of packing a piece of Regency furniture this carefully is so it can go straight back to work in a room people actually live in.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use bubble wrap on antique furniture?
Not directly against the finish. Plastic can trap moisture and leave a cloudy bloom on shellac or French polish, and it can print into a soft finish when warm. Wrap the wood in clean cotton sheeting first, then use blankets or bubble wrap as the outer layer.
What should touch a painting when you pack it?
A sheet of glassine against a sound, fully cured surface, then foam corners that hold the frame off the sides of a box or crate. Paintings with flaking, tacky or new paint should be packed by a conservator or fine art handler.
How do you pack curtains and upholstery for a move?
Roll draperies and heavy fabrics around a tissue-wrapped tube with tissue between the layers, embroidery facing out. Wrap upholstered seating in cotton sheeting and a quilted blanket held with soft webbing, and never stack anything on top.
Should you remove hardware from antique furniture before moving?
Yes. Take off pulls, bail handles and loose shelves, wrap each piece in acid-free tissue, and bag and label it by drawer. Tape the bag to an unfinished surface, never to the polished front.
