Versatile furniture key for frequent, easy moves

Aug 21, 2023

Call them the "turtle" generation — those who carry their belongings with them.

They're also known as Millennials, people roughly between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. This generation is only about 24% of the population, but they made up more than 40% of movers between 2007 and 2012, according to a study released this spring by the U.S. Census Bureau.

They're moving for lots of reasons: a better apartment, a more convenient neighborhood, a job or education, a more attractive lifestyle.

"Young adults are highly mobile," says Joe Cortright of City Observatory, a think tank based in Portland, Ore. "They're voting with their feet for the kinds of metropolitan areas and neighborhoods they want to live in."

They're also all about carrying a limited number of possessions, says Rebecca Ryan, an economist and futurist at Next Generation Consulting in Madison, Wis.

"They don't want to live in a big house; they want to have a big life. And part of that is living minimally, so they have as much flexibility as possible," she says.

Value is placed on furnishings that are stylish and versatile. Here are some options and ideas, which can be used by anyone wanting to keep the moving truck fees to a minimum.

For the living room

Boston Interiors' website, www.bostoninteriors.com, offers a number of ideas for versatile items at an easy price point. The Plantation storage trunk, crafted in warm Himalayan sheesham wood, offers capacious storage while serving as a handsome coffee table. The Emmett leaning desk has two fixed shelves and a writing platform. At only about 30 inches wide, it has a small footprint and transports easily. And the Hyannis flip-top dining table has a chunky, farmhouse vibe. It could be used as a desk, dining table or console.

Ikea's Friheten sofa is a sofa, chaise and double bed in one, with a bonus on top of that: The chaise can be switched left or right, depending on the configuration of the room. It comes flat-packed in three boxes.

Sauder has a new line conceived by furniture designer Shawn Sowers that includes coffee and side tables, a bookcase inspired by industrial scaffolding, and a media cabinet. A mix of textures and materials like brushed bronze, ebonized veneer, copper and glossy white metal make for a design-forward collection. Everything's shipped in heavy-duty cartons, assembling and disassembling with a few simple tools. You can check it out at www.sauderboutique.com.

On the floor, flat-weave or lightweight textural rugs eat up less space than heavy wool rugs.

For the bedroom

Instead of a bulky, wood-frame box spring, consider a simple platform bed on which a futon or memory-foam mattress can be dropped. Wayfair, at www.wayfair.com, has options in various finishes that assemble and disassemble quickly.

Some of the new memory-foam mattresses ship rolled up like a big sleeping bag. Orders can be timedto arrive on the move-in date. Safavieh has a high-quality option in all sizes at Target, www.target.com.

For the dining room

Pieces that serve for both work and dining suit the mobile lifestyle.

At Ikea, Backaryd and Karpalund tables feature a slim, fiberboard slab top that can be put on powder-coated steel legs; everything unscrews quickly when it's time to move.

Target has some bent plywood stacking chairs with contemporary dash.

Tick-System, at www.tick-system.com, has sets of universal-size table legs that look like giant paper clips. Attach them to any table top — marble, MDF (medium-density fiberboard), glass, wood and more.

Storage

Open shelving in a white, wenge or cherry finish is useful for books, display items, room division and other storage. At Dania, www.daniafurniture.com, there are ideas for several shelves that can be used vertically or horizontally, and some come with casters.

Ikea has some bamboo storage modules that can be arranged in lots of ways and are trimmed in powder-coated metal in red, green or white.

Wire-framed, canvas-covered portable wardrobes also come in lots of colors and styles, and dismantle easily.

Heatproof glass containers with lids can be used for food saving, cooking and dining, eliminating a lot of extra kitchen storage gear.

Consider rolling, drawered cabinets usually used for crafts, office supplies or tools as bedroom storage for accessories and small personal items that can get jumbled on a dresser top. When it's time to move, these are an easy roll to the truck.