Furniture is an important part of any home, and it’s an investment that can last decades when you take good care of it. When you need to put your items in storage, you must make sure to take the time to properly ensure it will be just as beautiful and functional when you need it again. To accomplish this, it’s best to store your furniture in a climate-controlled storage unit. Also, consider the following smart strategies as you prepare for short-term or long-term storage.
Gather Furniture Covers and Packing Supplies
As you prepare your furniture for storage, start with strategizing how to protect it while transporting it to your storage facility. You should also consider how to keep it protected once you have it in the storage unit. One thing you should do is gather covers for your furniture as well as other packing supplies you may need.
Mattress covers and sofa covers are necessary when moving major furniture into storage. Bubble wrap can be used to protect fragile corners of large pieces of furniture, and it can also be used to cover small pieces before placing them in boxes. Gather permanent markers, blank box labels, packing tape, scissors, box cutters, packing paper, and other items for packing furniture.
Thoroughly Clean Your Furniture
Try to clean all your furniture before storing it. Be as thorough as possible. Have sofa cushions cleaned so dirt and grime don’t set in while it’s in storage. Polish table surfaces and use glass cleaner on mirrors. Whether you’re moving or placing things in storage to clear out space, you need to ensure that your furniture is clean before you put it in storage for days, months, or years.
Secure Accessories in Separate Boxes
Set at least one box aside for the accessories that go with your furniture. Then, when preparing your furniture for storage, remove any loose accessories. For example, small, removable couch legs should be taken off and wrapped carefully. Next, place them in a box for protection. Be sure to label the contents of each box so you can easily get to accessories when they’re needed.
Smaller accessories can simply be removed from furniture and placed in labeled plastic bags before they’re stored in boxes. These accessories can be anything from table bases to brackets and hardware. Also, be sure to put pillows that you use just on certain sofas in a box that’s labeled and stored near the sofas.
Pace Yourself as You Prepare Furniture
You don’t want to have all the packing and moving tasks reserved for the weekend before you intend to transport it. Instead, try to pace yourself by doing things a little at a time in the month leading up to the date where you move your furniture to the storage facility.
You may even use a calendar to schedule certain tasks for specific days. For example, you may work on packing two boxes per day and preparing one piece of furniture per day. Doing small, manageable tasks each day helps prevent stressful weekends full of non-stop packing that can cause frustration and burnout. When you plan the packing carefully, you can avoid stress.
Dismantle Furniture If Necessary
Start with furniture you don’t use often, then work your way to the most frequently used pieces of furniture in your house, such as beds and sofas. Dismantle the furniture if necessary, being sure to carefully wrap and store all the components. If the pieces are small when the furniture is dismantled, wrap them and put them in a box together. Be sure to label it to avoid confusion.
This includes removing table legs when possible. Many are designed to be screwed on and off, so this part should be easy. As you dismantle furniture, be sure to keep all the parts of a piece of furniture together. Being organized and ensuring everything is labeled as you go is an important part of the process of putting your things in storage.
Also, before you start dismantling furniture, try to consult the manual it came with, or look for a substitute manual online. If you aren’t sure whether you should dismantle a piece of furniture, it may be best to keep it as is. However, dismantling furniture can help save space in storage, and it can also help you wrap and safeguard your furniture when moving it to a storage unit.
Determine the Best Way to Store Furniture
Visit the storage unit where you plan to store your furniture prior to the day you move everything into it. Take the time to carefully plan the best placement for your furniture. If you think that you may need some furniture before you need other pieces, place the things you may want first near the front of the unit. That means you’ll need to move them in last.
When you take the time to strategically protect your furniture when placing it in storage, you can enjoy it for a long time to come. If you have any questions about placing your furniture in storage, contact Sentry Mini-Storage Inc. for all your self-storage needs.
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