How to store antique furniture

So, you’re here to find out how to properly store antique furniture. Well, storing antique furniture is not that different from storing regular furniture. The process is very similar if you want to keep it in pristine condition for a longer period of time. In this article, you will find out how to properly store your antique furniture and where to store it. Naturally, the best way of storing it is in a storage facility. There are many moving services NH that can offer you a rentable storage unit on fair prices. But most importantly they can offer you climate-controlled storage units with all necessary conditions for storing sensitive and valuable items. Of course, if you have a storage space at your home that’s suitable for this kind of items you can store them there, too. That is a more convenient and cheaper way of storing valuable old furniture.

Store antique furniture to keep it good condition

It doesn’t matter where you decide to store your furniture. At a storage facility or at your home. You will still have to prepare your furniture for long term storing. First, identify the items you are planning to store. After you decide what goes to storage you will need to see from which materials it is made of. But you will probably find wood, leather, cotton fabric and iron.

Store antique furniture properly by cleaning it before packing
If you want to store antique furniture first you need to clean it properly

So, you need to prepare different cleaning products for different types of materials. And some material protection products if you want to keep it in good condition. You will also need to prepare packing materials and boxes.

  • Things you need if you want to properly store your antique furniture
  • Cleaning products. Use appropriate cleaning products for different types of materials. If you want to properly prepare and store antique furniture.
  • Protection products. Find suitable protection products for wood, leather, and metal to give your valuable furniture an extra layer of protection.
  • Packing supplies. You will need lots of packing supplies. Wrapping foils, bubble plastic, packing straps, packing tapes, cardboard sheets, cloths. If you need help with packing hire packing services NH to help you.
  • Set of tools. You will need to disassemble your furniture if you want to properly store it.

Before you store your antique furniture you need to clean it

If you prepared all the things that you will need to properly store your antique furniture you can start with cleaning. Thoroughly clean all accessible part with an appropriate cleaning product. You need to get rid of all dust, dirt particles or grease. If you want to protect your furniture it needs to be clean of all dirt and grimes that could damage it during storing. After you cleaned everything that you could reach by your hand you need to start with disassembling.

You need to try and disassemble all removable parts that you can. After disassembling your furniture it will be much easier to pack and carry it. And you will have access to the parts of your furniture that you couldn’t reach while it was in one piece. You can then clean the most hidden spots as well. It is important because the parts that are not cleaned are more susceptible to damage.

But, there is one general problem with antique furniture. It was made very differently than the one’s today. The old furniture was made to last. And if you want to build furniture that will last a hundred years or more it needs to be made without removable parts. Because those are usually the weakest spots. So you will probably find very hard, if not impossible, to disassemble antique furniture. Just don’t try anything with a force so you don’t make some irreversible damage.

Add a layer of protection

After you disassembled and cleaned all that you could you can add a layer of protection for the different materials of which your furniture is built.  Use some suitable conditioner for leather surfaces and apply the thick layer. It will protect the leather from drying out and developing cracks that are later hard to repair.

Antique furniture with leather
Be gentle with leather parts when you store antique furniture

Same goes for the wood and metal part. Find suitable products for protecting your materials and apply them according to the product’s manufacturer instructions.

Packing your antique furniture for storage

Next step is to pack your antique furniture. But you need to give your furniture, especially wooden and leather parts, a few days to rest with applied protection products. Just to give the material time to soak up as much of the products as they can. After a few days, you can start to pack your items. First, you need to wipe out all of the remains of products you used for protection. Your furniture needs to be clean and dry before you pack it. Wrap every piece separately in a thick layer of bubble plastic foil and tape it with packing tape. Just be sure that you keep all the parts from one piece in one place, so you know what is what when everything is packed.

A climate-controlled portable storage container is the best solution for storing valuable antique furniture

Old furniture can be very vulnerable to high-temperature variations and humidity. That is why you’ll have to rent a climate controlled storage unit. You want to have a stable climate in the place where you store your valuable furniture. Maybe the best way to store your old furniture is to rent a portable storage container. As mentioned earlier, antique furniture is usually impossible to disassemble.

You can'y store antique furniture anywhere
Store your antique chair in a wet basement and you can say goodbye to it very fast

That means that it’s problematic to carry. And there’s a possibility of damage while trying to slip it through some narrow corridor or loading it into a moving truck. Luckily, moving companies in Massachusetts have professionals that will do it safely either way. But if you decide to rent a portable storage container you’ll have to load it only once. The container is brought to your doorstep, you fill it up and the moving company carries it to a storage facility.

Find a suitable storage facility

No matter what storage solution you will decide you need to be sure that it will protect your items properly. When you want to store antique furniture you need to take care of the moisture, dust, sun, pest, and thieves.  Antique furniture is usually very valuable so it can be a target of thieves. So when you are searching for the right storage facility to store your valuable try to find a company with high security. If you decide to use storage North Hampton NH you can be sure that all those conditions are fulfilled. And you can relax knowing that your valuable antique furniture is in the right hands.