Renovating Your Home

By Anthony McHenry
23 Feb 2022

Renovating Your Home

How do you spell relief from the stress of renovating your home? SELF-STORAGE

The short-term reality of juggling a job and home routines while living with clutter, mess, dust and endless tea rounds for the builders is a challenge. Some people swear they’ll never do it again. Others love the ongoing projects and energy involved. Which camp will you fall into?

After setting a budget, finding the builder and agreeing on designs, most would agree that a significant source of stress is figuring out what to do with your belongings while the renovations are in full swing. If you’re considering some DIY, then it’s all the more important to protect your belongings as things can get messy pretty quickly. Painting, decorating, fitting new bathrooms, kitchens, knocking down walls… you name it… whatever the job there will be dust, splashes and a fair number of knocks to contend with.

Assuming you’ve created Fort Knox at home and no dust is floating into anything you’ve masterfully taped up, the novelty of squeezing around boxes and reaching for items that are inaccessible - or never knowing where anything is - quickly wears off. It causes stress on the family and unnecessary anxiety. And there are the over-optimistic timescales and promises from builders, prolonging the chaos at home. 

Even with the best care, those dust sheets will slip off and even a day’s worth of dust can cause havoc with your belongings. Then, just when you think you’ve cleaned away the dust it settles again and the whole process has to be repeated. Keeping precious belongings indoors during renovation work also risks accidental damage. Remove the obstacles and rely on personal self-storage to keep things safe while contractors are in-and-out.

In the long run, renovating your home will be worth it - more living space and a pleasant environment. It may well increase the value of your home. And, dreaming about what your home will look like when your renovation project ends is all part of the fun.

It really is simple and easy to make the most of your space while renovating your home and keep the daily stresses of clutter to a minimum. By making use of a self storage unit, you will be protecting your belongings every step of the way by storing them in our secure, clean storage facility near you.

So, with just a bit of planning, you can organise your belongings to keep them safe during your renovation work, and keep them out of the way so you can concentrate on creating your dream home.

KEEPING YOUR BELONGINGS AT HOME

If you have space in your house that you don’t use often, like a guest bedroom, it could be the perfect solution to store your belongings from other rooms. Bear in mind a few things to keep this option convenient…

Add time to the job: Assume your project will over-run, so be prepared to lose this space for a while.

Fill the room well: If you have a path around larger items, you will find things more easily if you are able to access them.

Get practical: Place large items in the back since they'll still be visible, and all small boxes and belongings in the front (unless they won't be needed during the renovation). This may sound obvious, but it's easy to overlook in the rush to prepare.

Don't fall into the trap of assuming you'll remember everything, or not labelling your boxes carefully.

NO SPACE? MOVE YOUR BELONGINGS OUT.
Getting most of your content out of the way will improve the whole experience - and it doesn't have to be expensive. Add it to your costs upfront, so that you can avoid the large rental costs associated with moving out and still have access to them.

Protect your belongings by storing them off-site. It is simple and easy to make the most of your space while renovating your home and keep the daily stresses of clutter to the minimum. For renovations, our service is perfect, and you can store for as little as one month or for as many months as you need. As an added benefit, businesses can also take advantage of our flexible service - helping them to manage their office space for short-term and long-term needs.

WHAT TO STORE
Large furniture: You can avoid having to move large furniture into storage by just emptying out the contents and storing them in boxes or bags. This makes the furniture lighter and easy to move around as the project progresses.

Clothing: Label suitcases by person and pack clothing by season. You should keep clothing that you'll need for the next 3-6 months, including festive and formal wear.

Books: Always keep some on hand. Your bookshelves will be so much easier to move.

Toys: Store them at home, but keep a box or two at home so we can return fresh ones to play with and collect the rest.

Documents and files: You should protect all documents that you do not need to hand over. Water-resistant packaging is ideal for storing important documents.

Hobby equipment: You can store most items in large bags to prevent damage. 

Small furniture: What doesn’t fit in a box can be stored or covered with large bags or sheeting.

Kitchen items: So many cupboards are filled with kitchen appliances and items that rarely get used. If you are having kitchen work done then we can help save space by storing all your belongings that you won’t need on hand.

Soft furnishings: Items that collect dust easily, such as cushions, curtains, pillows, and bedding, can be stored safely until they are needed. 

Paintings and picture frames: Wrap and store them in our boxes.

With just a bit of planning, you can organise your belongings so that they remain safe during renovations and out of your way so you can concentrate on creating the home of your dreams.

If you would like to discuss your options for renovation storage, get in touch with Store-Pro. We will happily help take a load off your mind and protect your belongings. Go online for a quote at www.store-pro.co.za and find the nearest self storage facility to you.