Storage Tips For Renovations In London
No one likes living near a construction site, much less in one. The only reason why people continue to live in the house while renovations are ongoing is that the project can be expensive. With two weeks (or more) of construction, can you afford an extended stay in a hotel or Airbnb? Probably not.
The best thing you can do is to plan your life around the renovation. Move your belongings to an available empty room or squeeze it any free space. If you don’t want the renovation to create any additional clutter, you can also look at separate storage units. Check out Interior Design trends to look out for here!
Importance of Storage During Renovation
There are several reasons why you’ll want to have additional storage during renovations. The first is because your home is very small and cramped. No matter where you go in Greater London, most properties tend to be on the smaller end. When your contractors get to work, you’ll need to figure out how to accommodate their materials and tools while also storing the items displaced by the project.
The second reason why storage is necessary is that it would be very tight otherwise. Even if you are able to squeeze everything in, you can’t account for convenience or user experience. Think about it. When your bedroom and walkways are filled with items, it would be challenging to move around. How can you find anything under the mess? It can make your daily routine more tedious than it has to be.
And last but not least, having proper storage can help you preserve the condition of your belongings. Even though the renovation is isolated to one part of the house, the dust from the construction tends to travel.
On top of that, if you have teams of contractors working in your place, they can scratch and scuff your hardwood furniture. They might even break fragile items in the middle of work. It is just best to have your furniture, appliances, and miscellaneous items properly set aside, so that it doesn’t hinder the productivity of your build.
Storage Tips For Home Renovations
Before you schedule your home renovation, make sure you have your space all prepped. Here are some storage tips you can use:
Declutter What You Can
Whether it is your kitchen, bathroom, or living room, you’re bound to find items you don’t want to keep. You can take this opportunity to declutter them. Toss out the trash. Sell or donate pieces you’ve outgrown. Be very deliberate with what you want to keep from what you don’t.
By doing this, you don’t have to spend time or energy transporting the items you don’t like. And after the renovation, you have more space to work with for your interior design. If you managed to declutter a lot, you might be able to pull off a minimalist look in a small flat.
Look For Self Storage Facilities In North London
When it comes to moving your items to storage, it is best to stick with units near you. If you live in Barking and Dagenham, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Hounslow, Westminster, among many others, you should look for self storage facilities in North London, as opposed to the High Street area, for easy access.
You should keep an eye out for facilities that are clean, spacious, accessible, and secure. If you are moving your belongings to a unit to preserve their condition, it won’t make sense to settle for anything less. When you are scouting for a rental storage unit, you can always approach the staff with questions and concerns to make sure they are the right fit for you.
Since self storage units are very popular in London, they can be very flexible. You should be able to keep your boxes, bins, and large pieces of furniture there for the duration of your renovation. Most storage units allow you to rent them months at a time. So as soon as your kitchen/ bathroom/ bedroom renovation is finished, you can move your belongings back.
If you enjoy the space a storage unit offers you, you can easily turn your short term storage into a long term one. Any non-essential item or bulky piece that doesn’t work with your interior design can stay in the unit indefinitely.
Meticulously Organise Your Unit
Whether you will use the unit for a month or a year, you should carefully organise it so that no space is wasted. Disassemble the furniture that you can take apart and pack them in boxes. For solid furniture, make use of the space inside or underneath the item. You can probably keep clothes, knick-knacks, or books there.
Keep your miscellaneous items in labelled boxes. Try to keep like-items in the same bin, so you shouldn’t have kitchenware and old clothes in the same container. Separating them will make it easier for you to unpack later on. The goal is to maximise what you can store in your unit. By doing this, you can settle on a smaller and more affordable storage unit.
Home renovations can take a lot out of you. You have to juggle different trade workers coming in and out of your house while making dozens of irreversible interior design decisions. It can be loud, messy, and very stressful. You wouldn’t want to add protecting your items to that list. When your space is clear, it is one less thing for you to worry about.