How To Pack A Lamp When Moving House

House lamps are one of the toughest household items to pack when moving house. Every home needs them, but their awkward shape makes for tricky packing. Here's a step by step guide from About.com for getting any lamp, no matter how fragile, safely into a box for moving.

1. Start by measuring the diameter and height of your lamps and lampshades.
2. With those measurements, go to a moving company or a storage specialist, and buy some extra tall boxes and bubble-wrap.
3. Buy enough boxes that you can fit all your lamps inside standing up, with three to five centimetres to spare per box.
4. For each lamp, remove the bulb and lampshade. Wrap the power cords around their corresponding lamp bases, and tuck the plug end under the cord.
5. Spread out a length of bubble-wrap on a flat, clean surface. Lie the lamp on the bubble-wrap and roll it up with at least three layers, covering all the lamp's surface, including the base.
6. Use a generous amount of tape to secure the bubble wrap.
7. Pack the lamp into a box upright, with the base down. If you're putting more than one lamp in each box, place them base-down too.
8. Put more bubble-wrap in each box so your lamps won't move around during transit.
9. Keep enough room in each box to pack your lampshade up the top.
10. Write 'fragile' and 'this way up' on each box.