Part of the difficulty of this game is managing and handling objects, and getting them oriented correctly in order to successfully piece together furniture.

The most important concept is realizing that you are working with two planes. Once you get this in your head, you will get fairly quick at adjusting pieces. The planes are (1) vertical (z-axis) and (2) horizontal (x-axis).

When you are trying to orient a piece, first work with only one axis first. Only once you have it oriented in that direction should you move to working with the second axis. It doesn't matter which one you start with.

Protip: Let gravity work for you. I often drop pieces against a wall (you can use all four walls even though you can only see two usually). Once the piece drops, it orients nicely so you can pick up the piece and then you only need to work with one axis. This eliminates alot of frustrating work, usually.