Webbing straps to secure furniture?

[EarSlaps]

We bought a 1960's Ladderax unit with drawers and cocktail cabinet (a bit like this but with teak ladders down the sides), but I haven't dared fill the cocktail cabinet as we haven't secured it to the wall yet.

I don't want to drill into the unit itself, so I don't really want to attach brackets. I was wondering if I could use webbing straps? Loop them around the ladder section and fix to the wall? Would they fray where we put the screw though them or should they be ok? There shouldn't be any pressure on them most of the time, only if the DC manage to knock it over with rowdy games!

Has anyone done similar? Considering that we are all recommended to secure furniture to the wall there don't seem many options for doing it sometimes (especially if you don't want to attach anything to the item itself).

Ikea's fixing system for tall furniture uses synthetic webbing straps - you drill the wall and screw through the strap. The other end is secured to the item of furniture.

Is the unit stable on the floor? There is very little we actually have secured to the wall, but it depends how stable it is.

It is very stable, but we'd be putting bottles of alcohol and glasses in the middle bit, so it would be sort of top heavy. Add in two rather active children who bounce around the house and I don't want to take any risks!

I think we'll try webbing, it shouldn't have any pressure on it most of the time, it's just to catch it if it does get knocked.

Why don't you want to drill it and use rigid brackets?

Because it's a beautiful piece of 50 year old furniture and we will no doubt mess it up . Not sure where we would put brackets either.

Perhaps we could attach them to the underside of the cocktail cabinet bit?

Wall brackets go on the top for maximum leverage to resist toppling. Use a screw that will pass through the top and into the side. If you are fussy enough you can mount the brackets with the vertical leg of the L pointing downward, which means you have to measure and mark very accurately then move the cabinet to fix them to the wall.

Normal people put a dustsheet over the cabinet and drill the wall and the cabinet in place, with the legs going up. You can paint the brackets to match the wall if you want. Look carefully and you will probably see the holes a previous owner used (unless you bought it from the estate of a person who had been crushed to death by a toppling cabinet).

Cabinets with a substantial back rail at the top can be screwed through that.