How to Properly Prepare and Protect Your Antique Furniture When Storing

Do you have a valuable piece of antique furniture that you want to keep but can't find the right spot for it in your current space? It might be time to start looking for a safe and secure place to store it. No matter where you choose to keep your furniture, it's essential to take precautions to maintain its quality and make the most of the space available, both within your house and any extra storage areas. This may be achieved by swiftly disassembling and storing furniture, safeguarding fragile pieces and finishes, and applying a few effective organization techniques. Follow our guide and learn how to safely and effectively store antique furniture.

Find A Storage Area

The first step when storing antique furniture should be determining where you plan to store it. There are several viable options that you can choose from, each with positives and negatives. One option is to rent a storage unit, which is useful for keeping a lot of furniture in a climate-controlled and sometimes insured place. This can prove to be an expensive method over time, however. The larger and better the unit you choose, the more expensive it will be, so make a detailed list of every piece of furniture you plan to store to have the most cost-effective plan. If you have a basement or attic, it's a convenient and free area to store antique furniture. However, the process of moving any of your large items may prove difficult if these spaces or the paths to them are small or narrow. A garage is a tried-and-true spot of the house to keep large amounts of items, big and small, but a lack of climate control could damage any wooden or upholstered items. For any small items, you could always fit them in a closet so long as you accept the imminent risk of clutter in a very small space. Don't forget to take extra precautions when transporting your furniture.

Take Safe and Efficient Measures

When you've found the right spot to store your furniture, begin by lining the floor with enough plastic tarps or moving blanks to cover the surfaces it will touch. This will protect your antique furniture from any possible scratching, moisture, and extreme temperatures. If your items can safely be broken down into separate parts, consider doing so whenever possible to allow more options for storage. Keep all disassembled parts close to each other so you won't lose anything important.

If you have any particularly large items, try storing them vertically. In addition to increasing your storage potential, this practice also increases airflow between items and prevents some pieces from collapsing under their own weight. Don't forget to wrap some of your more sensitive pieces of antique furniture with soft covers like towels or blankets to prevent damage. Try to keep your items in places that aren't often used or visited to prevent damage from accidents or frequent climate changes.

Protect Your Furniture from the Elements

When considering where to store your antique furniture, one of the most important things to consider is the climate of the space you plan to move your items to. Many kinds of environmental effects have the potential to damage your most valuable pieces irreparably. Consider the temperature of your storage space carefully. A climate-controlled storage unit will always be a safe bet to keep your furniture at healthy levels of temperature, but extra precautions must be taken if you plan to store it in your home. Put your furniture in open spaces that commonly see moderate temperatures and are properly ventilated. An excess of cold can cause certain materials to splinter or dry out, while the heat has the power to warp materials like wood. Also, be sure to check for any drafts or leaks in your storage area and fix any compromising issues before going ahead with your furniture storage.

Cover large pieces of antique furniture with drop cloths or specially designed covers. This will reduce the amount of exposure to dryness and moisture, which can be catastrophic to wood pieces or rustable metals. Covers can also protect furniture from excessive amounts of accumulating dust. Try to avoid wrapping your pieces in plastic, as moisture can get trapped in the material and spawn mildew. Any level of moisture has the potential to house large amounts of smelly mold and bacteria and cause your antique furniture to deteriorate at a rapid rate. Ensure every piece of furniture is completely dry before wrapping it in any cover.

If your antique furniture is made from natural materials, there's a chance that pests like termites, moths, and rats can feed on it. Be aware of any openings in the spaces these items are kept where creatures could get in. It's also important to check your furniture and the environment that they are kept in every once in a while to ensure that the method of storing you've chosen is effective.

Conclusion

You can never be too safe when preparing your antique furniture for storage. It's always key to be attentive to details and anticipate any impact that weather or storage environment might have on your items. So long as you pack your furniture with the right materials and keep a close eye on the temperature and moisture levels, there's a good chance that your pieces will stay in immaculate condition. We hope you've found this guide helpful and informative, and we wish you the best of luck in all of your storage plans.