Preparing Your Furniture for Moving or Storage

There are plenty of reasons why you may want to consider placing your furniture in a storage unit or portable storage container. From moving to a new home, downsizing to a smaller space, moving in with someone, or just trying to clear out some extra space. Whatever the reason may be, you’ll want to ensure that your furniture remains protected and stays in great condition while it’s out of your home and in a moving truck or storage unit.

In this article we’ll walk through everything you need to know about preparing your furniture for moving and storage.

Getting the right supplies

Before you begin moving and packing your furniture, you’ll want to make sure you have the right supplies to properly protect them from any accidental damage or mishaps while they are in transit or storage. You likely won’t need everything on the list – so consider what will be useful for your furniture first. Most of these items can also be picked up from your local hardware store:

• Storage boxes
• Plastic wrap or shrink wrap
• Bubble wrap
• Moving blankets or furniture covers
• Plastic sheets or tarps
• Packing paper
• Furniture lifts or pads
• Cleaning products (wood, upholstery, leather, etc).

Cleaning your furniture

Once you’ve gathered all the necessary supplies, you’re ready to get-going! Now, before you start packing and wrapping your furniture, you’ll want to ensure that you clean everything thoroughly. Keeping your furniture dry and clean will not only prevent mold, but it will also ensure that pests aren’t attracted to your unit by the smell of old food or mildew growing. This step is often overlooked but it’s very important to ensure that your furniture remains in good condition and protected while outside of your home.

Disassembling Your Larger Furniture

Taking apart your furniture may seem like a pain, but it can actually benefit you in a number of ways. The first being that the individual pieces will be much easier to carry than the fully assembled item. This will also make them much easier to wrap and package away which will ultimately save you both time, and money as you’ll be able to fit much more in your storage space (without needing to upgrade to a larger storage unit). If your dealing with larger items we strongly recommend enlisting the help of a family member or friend as well.

Tips for Wrapping and Protecting Your Furniture

Now that we’ve cleaned and disassembled our furniture it’s time to start wrapping them to protect them during their time in storage or your move. Since the type, material, and size of your furniture can vary tremendously, we’ve broken out this section into 4 seperate sections based on some of the most common materials used for furniture along with some general tips that can be applied to all items.

General Tips

To get started, you'll first want to prepare your storage unti by placing a tarp or plastic sheet on the floor. While this may not be necessary, it does offer a layer of protection in the event that any water does leak into your unit. Another option you have is to place your furniture on pads or on wooden blocks to give it some lift off of the floor - again incase any water leaks in.

Now when it comes to wrapping and packaging your items - you'll want to ensure that you do not place your tape directly on any of your furniture as this can damage them. Instead, you should tightly wrap them with your plastic wrap, sheets, or moving covers, and then tape around the furniture to hold it in place. For anything with a sharp corner or pointed edge, try to add some extra padding so that they don’t damage other items during transit – these points can also be some of the weaker areas of your furniture so this will also help protect them from breaking.

Glass Tables, Mirrors, and Other Items

For your breakable items, such as glass tables or mirrors, you’ll want to ensure that they are properly padded and loaded carefully. Consider adding bubble wrap or extra packing paper to protect your glass tables and furniture from scratches or breaking from being knocked over or bumped into. Additionally, you’ll just want to make sure that you label these items – if the contents are not obvious once packed – and be sure to load them last or on a separate trip!

Wood and Upholstery

Once again, the steps to packing these items can vary depending on the size and other factors. The most important piece of information when packing and wrapping your wood and upholstery furniture is to not use any plastic wrap and instead use a furniture cover or tarp as moisture can build up inside of standard plastic wrap causing mold to grow. 

Leather Furniture

If you own or have ever owned any leather furniture – you’re probably well aware of the special care that it requires. Typically, these items are much more expensive than your standard fabric or wooden furniture, so you’ll want to ensure that you take extra care when preparing it for storage. In addition to the cleaning process, you’ll want to pick up some furniture covers designed specifically for leather furniture to prevent dust, mold, rips, and tears from forming while it’s stored away. We also strongly recommend using a climate-controlled storage option – but we’ll cover that in the next section of this post.

Moving and Storage

With everything safely wrapped and protected, it’s time to start moving them into your storage unit, moving container, or moving truck. For this step, you’ll want to focus on how you’re loading your furniture and be sure to load your breakable items last to avoid any unnecessary damage to them.

If you’re planning to use a storage unit for long period of time, we do strongly recommend that you consider a climate-controlled option as this will ensure that your furniture stays at a consistent (often standard room temperature) all year round. This can be important as it will prevent any fluctuations in temperatures and humidity that may lead to damage or mold on your furniture (depending on what it’s made from).

If you’re looking for a storage unit or storage locker near you, we can help! At Make Space Storage, we provide storage solutions to both home and businesses for any of your short-term or long-term storage needs. In addition to traditional storage locker rentals, we also provide portable storage container rentals and moving storage container rentals that can be delivered directly to your location and either stored with us when you’re done packing, or we can move it to your new home or another location for you!

To learn more about our storage solutions check out our website, and if you have any questions or aren’t sure what option is best for you – give us a call – we’re always happy to help!