How to Prepare Furniture for Storage

Furniture going to storage waiting on sidewalk

How to Prepare Furniture for Storage

While Valleyview Mini Storage in Kamloops features clean, climate-controlled storage, you’ll still have to protect and prepare furniture you bring into storage. This is especially true for wooden furnishings, upholstered furniture, and any furniture of value, such as antiques.

While all furniture should be prepared for storage, the furniture that needs the most protection includes:

  • Upholstered furniture (fabric or leather)
  • Wooden furniture
  • Beds
  • Dining tables and chairs
  • Desks
  • Dressers
  • Cabinets
  • Any antique or valuable furniture

Learn about our Kamloops storage facility features.

Steps for Preparing and Storing Furniture

The basic steps for preparing furniture for storage are clean, disassemble, wrap, and place in storage properly, as described below.

Clean Furniture

Whether furniture is made of fabric, leather or wood, it should be cleaned before you store it. Over time, dirt, soil and grime can degrade upholstery and even wood.

For upholstered furniture, remove cushions and vacuum them, as well as the areas beneath the cushions, the back and arms. Clean soiled fabric with upholstery cleaner. If you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, bring the cushions (or cushion covers) to an upholstery cleaner or dry cleaner.

For leather upholstery and chairs, dust, wipe with a lightly dampened sponge, dry thoroughly, clean with leather cleaner, and apply leather conditioner.

For wood furniture, clean stains with a damp sponge or wood cleaner, oil the wood, then dry. You don’t want the wood to become saturated. Give the oil time to absorb and before storing.

For mattresses, vacuum and then spot clean with mattress cleaner if needed. Once cleaned, open windows to expose the mattress to sun and air it out.

Disassemble Furniture

Disassemble bed frames, shelves, dining tables, dressers and desks. Remove drawers and close door fronts securely. If door fronts don’t close tightly, consider wrapping the piece in thin plastic cling wrap to keep the doors closed. If you tape door fronts closed, use removable tape, such as painting tape, that won’t leave residue behind when removed.

Wrap it Up

When you store furniture, wrap it up to protect it from bumps, dust and moisture. The furniture you bring into storage may already have some moisture, especially if you don’t clean it beforehand. Moisture leads to mold and mildew that you can’t always see. Mold and mildew can migrate to anything you store.

Wrap items in old blankets or moving blankets, then cover with plastic drop cloths or furniture covers.

Valleyview Mini Storage stocks and sells many packing and storage supplies.

Properly Place in Storage

If you’re storing furniture long term, remember “last in first out”. Items you need to access frequently should be put in storage last, because they’ll be at the front nearest the door. Because you probably don’t need frequent access to furniture, bring it in first, so it’s stored at the back; safe and out of the way.

Don’t store boxes or other stored belongings on top of couches and chairs.

Don’t store couches “on end”. Armrests aren’t meant to bear weight and can become weakened or break.

Get an Estimate for Furniture Storage in Kamloops

Valleyview Mini Storage in Kamloops offers many options for storing furniture and other belongings. We have over 45 different storage unit sizes for small to large households and businesses. If you need a storage estimate or have questions, please contact us. Our helpful staff can help guide you.