FIT GUIDE

Measure Twice, Order Once

A guide to measuring your home for delivery

Measuring your space

Make sure to measure the space you’re planning on putting the piece. It’s helpful to consider your surrounding area and account for anything that can’t be moved. It’s helpful to lay masking or painter tape in the outline of your piece to ensure a perfect fit. Even cutting cardboard pieces and laying them out helps give you a visual how your space will be used.

Measuring your space

Always measure from the inside of your doorjambs. Be sure to note how wide your doors are able to open and make sure to accommodate for doorknobs. If the door can be removed, removing them for delivery might be a good idea to prevent any accidental damages.

Stairways

Make sure to measure the width of your stairway (taking in account any handrails or posts) and the height from the top and bottom steps to the ceiling. Be sure to look out for any sloped or curved surfaces. If your stairwell has a landing, make sure your piece can fit on and around it, both width and height.

Obstacles

Take into account for any low-hanging ceiling lamps or fans, decorations that are breakable that cannot be removed, stairways or turns, and angled ceilings or walls. Clear a complete path for your piece; best practice is to make more space than you think you’ll need where possible.

Hallways

Every hallway on route to your final destination needs to have enough room to accommodate your piece, especially if there are any twists or turns. Make sure the shortest measurement of your furniture is less than the width of your hallway (measure the width, depth, and height).

Making a route

Create a path and clear it out. Have a good game plan on how to get your furniture to it’s final spot. Planning ahead can save a lot of time and hassle when your furniture arrives. The quickest route is not always be the easiest. Plan for all the twists and turns that it might need to take as it enters your home (hallways, stairways, doors, etc.)

Entry Points

Don’t forget to measure the area around the outside of your home where you plan to take your furniture in. Be aware of gates, porches, pathways, and flower beds. Even if this needs to come through a garage or patio ensure the path is clear for your furniture.

To determine the longest possible measurement of a piece of furniture—such as when fitting it through a doorway or stairwell—you often need to find the diagonal distance from one bottom corner to the opposite top corner. This diagonal represents the true "tallest point" when the piece is rotated at an angle, which is especially important if you're trying to tilt or maneuver it into a space.

You calculate this diagonal using the Pythagorean theorem, which is a method for finding the hypotenuse of a right triangle. In this case, the width and height of the furniture (66 inches wide and 38 inches tall) form the two shorter sides of a right triangle. By squaring both of those values, adding them together, and then taking the square root of the result, you get the diagonal length: √(66² + 38²) = √(4356 + 1444) = √5800 ≈ 76.16 inches.

This means that when the furniture is angled, it needs at least 76.16 inches of clearance to pass through an opening without hitting corners.