Getting new furniture built and settled in an older house

The short answer

Measure every doorway, hall turn and arched opening on the way in, plan to build tall pieces in the room they will stay in, check the ceiling height where a cove starts, level the piece on the floor you actually have, keep it clear of wall-furnace grilles, and anchor anything tall into the framing behind the plaster.

Most flat-pack furniture is designed around a newer house: square rooms, flat floors, drywall and wide doors. Many Alhambra homes were built in the 1920s through the 1940s, with arched openings, coved ceilings, tall baseboards and oak floors that have settled over the decades. The furniture still goes together the same way, but a little planning about where it will be built and how it will stand saves a lot of backtracking.

Measure the way in, not just the room

A wardrobe that fits the bedroom wall still has to get there. Measure the front door, every interior doorway on the route and the tightest hall corner. With the door open, the door itself and its stop take up part of the opening, so measure the clear space, not the frame.

Spanish Revival and Tudor-style houses often have arched openings between rooms. An arch is full width only at the bottom and narrows toward the top, so a tall carton carried upright can catch on the curve even when the floor-level width looks fine. Measure the width at the height of your shoulders as well as at the floor.

Build tall pieces where they will live

Boxes are easier to move than finished furniture. A tall bookcase or wardrobe is usually assembled lying on its back and then tipped up, and on the way up its diagonal is longer than its height. Measure the ceiling, then check the diagonal from the piece's instructions or work it out from the height and depth. In a small room, leave enough floor space to lay the whole piece out.

Coved ceilings and tall pieces

Many older Alhambra living rooms and bedrooms have coved ceilings, where the ceiling curves down into the wall. The usable height against the wall starts where that curve begins, which can be several inches lower than the flat center of the ceiling. Measure at the wall where the piece will stand, not in the middle of the room.

Old floors are rarely level

Wood floors in older houses often slope or dip, especially near exterior walls and over old floor framing. A cabinet set on a slope racks slightly, so its doors stop lining up and drawers drift open or closed. Set a level on top of the finished piece, then use the adjustable feet if it has them, or slim shims hidden under the base. Leveling it before anchoring keeps the strap from holding it in a twisted position.

Baseboards, picture rails and furnace grilles

Tall original baseboards and shoe molding can hold a piece an inch or more off the wall, and so can a picture rail near the ceiling. That gap is fine; the anti-tip strap or bracket bridges it, and a spacer block behind the top of the piece keeps it from leaning back.

Some older homes still heat with a wall furnace or a floor grille. Keep furniture, rugs and boxes clear of the grille and follow the clearance on the furnace's label. A bookcase pushed against a wall furnace is a fire risk.

Anchoring to plaster

The plastic anchors that come in the box are made for drywall. Plaster on wood lath is harder and more brittle, so the strap should go into a wall stud whenever possible. Our guide to anchoring furniture for earthquakes covers finding studs in plaster and choosing hardware, so this guide only adds one point: plan the anchor when you choose the spot, because a stud may decide where the piece can go.

Working around built-ins and door swings

Many older Alhambra homes still have their original built-ins: china hutches in the dining room, linen cabinets in the hall and, in some houses, a fold-down ironing board cabinet in the kitchen. Before you settle on a spot for a new piece, open the built-in doors and pull its drawers all the way out, then check the swing of the room and closet doors too. A new dresser that blocks half of an original drawer is easy to miss on a floor plan and annoying to live with. For repairs to the originals, see our guide to built-in cabinets and china hutches.

Pieces that are worth a second look

• Dressers and bookcases in children's rooms, which should always be anchored
• Wardrobes over about six feet tall in rooms with coved ceilings
• Glass-door cabinets and display cases on sloped floors
• Bunk and loft beds, where the instructions often call for specific wall anchoring
• Anything going against a wall furnace, a picture rail or an arched opening

How an assembly job goes

Send us the product names or links, the room each piece is going into, and a photo of the wall. You get an upfront quote, with any parts the job needs covered in it, and a text before we head over. We assemble each piece in the room where it will stay, level it to the floor, and anchor tall pieces into the framing. If something comes up beyond what we agreed on, like a door that needs to come off to get a piece through, we stop and ask first.

Shelves and mirrors for the same room, or a TV going on the wall above a new console, can go on the same quote; see shelf and picture hanging and TV mounting.

If you would rather hand this off, our furniture assembly page covers the work and the photos that help us quote it. For the bigger picture on local houses, see repairs in older Alhambra homes.

Rather have us do it?

Text a photo of the job to (626) 684-3505 (Mon–Sat 8:30 AM–7 PM) and you get a price before any work starts.

Call or text (626) 684-3505