What should you measure first when downsizing?

Get the new home's floor plan or measure each room, then measure your large pieces and the doorways they must pass through.

How do you choose what furniture to keep?

Keep the pieces you use every day first, and favor furniture that does two jobs.

Downsizing? How Do You Decide Which Furniture Fits Your Next Home?

Q: Is there an easy way to test the layout?

Sketch the rooms on graph paper or tape the new room's outline on your current floor and set your furniture inside it.

Sherrene

4 days ago

2 min read

Two people unpacking cardboard moving boxes in a living room

How do you decide which furniture fits a smaller home? Measure the new rooms first, then choose pieces for how you will actually live there, not for the house you are leaving. Do that before moving day and you only pay to move what you will use.

I'm Sherrene Hagenbach-Winters, a Realtor® with eXp Realty Oregon, helping homeowners in Bend, Redmond and across Central Oregon sell a larger home and settle into one that fits the next chapter.

What should you measure first?

Ask for the floor plan of the new home, or measure each room at a showing or inspection. Note wall lengths, window and door locations, and closet sizes. Then measure your favorite pieces: the bed, sofa, dining table and anything large. Doorways and hallways matter too, because a piece that fits the room still has to get through the door.

How do you choose what to keep?

Start with the rooms you use every day. Keep the pieces you sit on, sleep on and eat at most, then fill in from there. Furniture that does two jobs, like a storage bench or an extending table, earns its space. A formal set that comes out twice a year usually does not.

Is there an easy way to test the layout?

Yes. Sketch each room on graph paper, or tape the outline of the new living room on your current floor with painter's tape. Set your furniture inside the tape and walk around it. You will see quickly what feels open and what feels crowded.

What about the pieces that do not fit?

Decide early, so you are not making choices on moving day. Offer heirlooms to family first, then sell, consign or donate the rest. Label everything that is moving with the room it belongs in at the new house, and the movers can place it right the first time.