Moving your furniture abroad

Organizing your move abroad is as exciting as it is apprehensive. However, the prospect of a new life does not necessarily mean buying new furniture. A range of solutions exist for moving your furniture abroad. From packaging to final delivery, including the choice of carrier, take a few minutes to list the steps necessary to move with your furniture in the best conditions.

Taking your furniture abroad: how to do it?

Moving in sight: choose your transport company

Is your moving date finally set? To move with your furniture abroad, consider choosing the company to transport your furniture without further delay. If you move outside the European Union or in the French Overseas Territories, the conditions will not be the same. Depending on the destination, places get expensive quite quickly.

Carefully compare the offers of transport companies before choosing

Some advice on how to best choose your carrier:

• Be wary of attractive ads on the Internet such as “cheap furniture transporter”. Some prices sometimes hide other costs;
• Opt for a company with sector-specific labels and accreditations: ISO 9001 and FAIM certification for international moving companies;
• Choose maritime transport to combine safety, efficiency and budget control if you change continents. Moving consolidation can also allow you to share a container and therefore transport costs.

Formalities for moving furniture internationally

Good advice: sort out the administrative formalities to have peace of mind. To avoid any unpleasant surprises, check all the steps to take to be in compliance with your future country but also the country of departure from the date of your move set. Moving your furniture abroad is not a simple formality, you must take into account the area where the host country is located!

• Moving your furniture within the Schengen area : no customs duties will be charged. However, you will need to have a transit authorization issued by the French consulate or local authorities when traveling by land.

• Moving your furniture outside the Schengen area : it is very likely that you will be asked to pay costs relating to the transit of your furniture. Certain documents, such as the inventory of goods transported, may be requested from you.

Three to six months before the move: inventory operation

If you've always had trouble choosing what to keep or not, this moment of sorting may be a bit confusing. This is an essential step in deciding what furniture you want to take, sell or store during your stay abroad. Moving your furniture abroad will invite you to classify it according to priorities...

Good to know: Remember that depending on your host country, certain furniture is significantly less expensive than in your country of departure and vice versa. Take the time to compare these price differences to make your choice.

What furniture to take when moving abroad?

Unsurprisingly, demountable furniture is your best friend when going abroad, especially if you are leaving temporarily.

Moving internationally: Living room side

• Your sofa bed has many advantages if you decide not to bring your bed. Above all, you will appreciate finding a bit of comfort away from home.
• Important : using delivery professionals will ensure delivery and installation of your convertible sofa safely without damage .

Bedroom side

• Does taking your carefully chosen bedding seem essential to you? It's understandable. However, think about the volume during transport! You can easily fall back on your sofa bed if your move is temporary. Again, a new bed on site may be less expensive than transporting your own.

Kitchen side

• Count on the fridge and the microwave to follow you in this new adventure if you do not have an equipped kitchen in your new home.

• For intelligent furnishing, you can also count on the extendable console table , which is as adaptable as it is functional. You should be able to start on this basis before fitting out your kitchen on site.

Moving your furniture abroad: sort it out!

Sorting is all well and good, but you still need to be able to store your furniture somewhere, especially if you are a tenant. A range of solutions are now available to you to meet this need.

Store your furniture

• Several companies specialize in renting secure boxes to store your furniture in your absence.
• Owners with unused space in their homes offer to keep your furniture at a good price through collaborative platforms.

Sell ​​or donate your furniture

• No need to introduce you to certain sites for purchasing and reselling second-hand products! You can group certain pieces of furniture together to offer lots. For example: chairs and table.
• Those around you may potentially be interested in your furniture. Don't neglect the power of social networks to relay information!
• If you have the opportunity and the patience, take part in garage sales or clearance sales in your community, for example by inviting friends to combine business with pleasure.
• Your move abroad is also a perfect opportunity to give to charities.

Final stretch before moving abroad: prepare yourself!

The deadline is getting closer and you have the impression that nothing is moving forward? Do not panic. List all the latest tasks to be completed to see clearly. Start packing the furniture you will take with you now.

How to properly protect your furniture yourself?

• Equip yourself with blankets, bubble wrap or foam, large plastic film, tensioners as well as covers to protect your mattress;
• Remove glass and mirrors from shelves if you take them;
• Remove all objects from the drawers and lock them;
• Disassemble the furniture as much as possible without forgetting to tape a small bag containing the screws and fasteners to each of them;
• Protect the corners with cardboard, being careful not to stick any adhesive to the fabrics;
• Pack your furniture flat;
• Install straps on your furniture to make it easier to handle.

Call a specialized company to pack your furniture

Most international moving companies take care of your moving project from packing to final delivery. However, you will not escape storage and prior sorting.

Have your pencils, papers or tablets to list all your furniture

After each packing, carefully note what you are taking using a color code to help you find your way around.

• Give each colored sticker a living room, purple for the living room for example;
• Stick the sticker on the cardboard or furniture once packaged;
• List the piece of furniture or box on a sheet.

You can also do the same for furniture you no longer want.

Before throwing yourself headlong into organizing your move abroad, be as pragmatic as possible. A stressful moment if ever there was one, there's no point taking care of your entire home if you're moving temporarily. In the case of transfers, you can undoubtedly benefit from semi-furnished accommodation and opt to rent your accommodation in France if you are an owner. The main thing is to organize yourself as much as possible to manage this event.