Tools You Need to Make Your New Place Home

You need tools to move out of your old home, but you also need tools to move into your new residence. Here are the essential tools to have on hand for an easier moving day, plus some tips to make decorating easier.

If you disassembled your furniture for easier packing, you'll need to reassemble the pieces in your new home. Stock a toolbox with all the tools you need to put your tables, chairs, and bookshelves back together.

Gather the following tools for furniture assembly:

• Measuring tape
  
• Set of Allen wrenches
  
• Drill or electric screwdriver and bits
  
• Flathead and Phillips screwdrivers
  
• Rubber mallet
  
• Muffin tin to organize fasteners

Your job of reassembling furniture is easiest when you have the original instructions for any ready-to-assemble furniture. If you didn't keep the instructions, take pictures as you disassemble items.

Assemble furniture in the rooms where you intend to place the pieces. You won't bang into walls or door frames trying to move large furnishings into their permanent locations.

Nothing makes a house feel more like home than your own art displayed on the walls. Familiar paintings, photographs, and prints can help kids and grown-ups alike adjust to their new surroundings.

You need the following tools to hang wall décor:

• Measuring tape
  
• Pencil
  
• Hammer
  
• Picture hangers (hardware), rated for weight
  
• Level
  
• Removable poster putty
  
• Roll of butcher paper
  

Experts recommend that you hang individual pictures at 57 inches on center for the best visual appeal. Measure your wall from the floor up to find the 57-inch point, and make a small line with a pencil to mark the spot.

Next, determine exactly where the picture must hang so its vertical center is at the 57-inch mark. Measure the full height of the painting and divide by two to get an approximate center point.

Heavier paintings and works of art are supported by wires mounted on their backs, so the painting may hang slightly lower or higher when the wire stretches. Pull the wire up taut to determine where its top point will be when the picture is hanging, and place your nail or picture hanger at that height to maintain the 57-inch center point.

To create pleasing displays of multiple pictures, arrange them on the floor until you find a grouping you like. Or, use butcher paper to create full-sized rectangles of each picture. Arrange the paper pictures on the wall using no-stick poster putty until you find the right look. Use the level to straighten pictures once they're hung.

You need tools to hang curtain rods, shades, blinds, and draperies. The following tools will come in handy when you mount window treatments:

• Measuring tape
  
• A pencils
  
• Screwdrivers or an electric screwdriver
  
• A level
  
• String and tacks
  



Most curtain rods, shades, and blinds are mounted using two or more pieces of hardware that attach to the inside of a window frame or to the wall above the window. Since window frames aren't always square, use your level, tacks, and string to ensure the brackets or other hardware will hang straight.

Stretch the string taut between two tacks that are placed slightly wider than you intend to hang the hardware. Hold the level on top of the horizontal string (don't let it touch the string) and adjust the tacks until the string is level. Then, mark where the fasteners will go.

Mount curtain rods so that the drapery extends at least four inches on either side of the window area. Drapery can even extend 10 inches to make a narrow window seem wider. Leave at least two inches between the tops of curtains and the window casing unless you have a cathedral ceiling. In that case, allow four to six inches from the top of the frame to the curtain rod height.

When you're ready to relocate in the Los Angeles region, contact Superior Economy Moving for all of your moving needs. We have 50 years of experience providing local and long-distance moving services for our customers throughout Southern California.