How to prepare your office furniture for storage

It doesn’t matter whether you’re moving your office headquarters or looking to maximize the space in your office as much as you can, you’re most likely going to store your furniture. When you don’t store furniture properly, the outcome can be disastrous.

If you want to be able to pull your furniture out of storage quickly, you need to spend the time packing it in there correctly. We’ve outlined some tips about preparing, packing, and organising your office furniture.

Do you need to rent storage?

To minimise the downtime of your business, you’ll likely be moving one section of the business at a time whilst the rest of the team continue to operate as usual. This can be made easier if you already have storage available.

You may also need to rent storage when you’re renovating office space, modernizing your office spaces, restructuring or downsizing the business, temporarily moving to working form home, or just wanting to free up some space.

Challenges of storing furniture:

• The value of the furniture you’re storing
• Number of pieces being stored
• Potential damage that could take place whilst moving the furniture

Choosing the right type of storage

We’d recommend taking some time choosing what type of storage you use, it’s important you make the right choice as it will greatly affect your experience with storing furniture.

First, you’re going to want to find a reliable storage provider, and then calculate how much space you’re going to need. You may need to rent several storage compartments to store all your office furniture. If your furniture is stored and packaged correctly it should be safe from damage.

Disassemble any furniture you can

One way to make the moving process easier is to disassemble any furniture you can, so it’s easier to pack, carry, and organise. Most chairs, desks and shelves break down easily. The smaller parts tend to be easy to store, but it’s so important you remember where to put them.

Top tip: if you have any instructions for disassembly and reassembly keep them handy as well.

Clean all furniture as it’s packed away

You’ll be grateful when you relocate into your new office that you gave the furniture a clean prior, it’ll help prevent stains and scratches.

Wood

• Wipe down wood furniture with a soft cloth
• Use water or a cleaner specially designed for the type of wood finish in question
• Use wood polish for extra protection

Upholstery

• Start by removing cushions and vacuuming the frame
• Use a steam cleaner on the cushions and fabric
• Wipe them down with a mixture of water and detergent
• Do not use bleach

Leather

• Use a mixture of dish soap and water or vinegar and water to wipe down the leather with a soft cloth
• Apply a leather conditioner to protect the fabric

Cover all furniture with protection

It’s inevitable that the best storage places will have dust in them, these can cause stains and scratches on your furniture and direct sunlight can cause fabrics too fade. If you want to avoid this, you’ll need to wrap all furniture.

If you’re storing your furniture for an extended period, we would suggest not using plastic as this can trap moisture and cause mould to grow. However, if you’re storing your furniture as a short-term solution then plastic is a quick and cheap solution.

The best option would be to use padded covers, blankets, and sheets to wrap around your furniture and securing them with a string. If you’re moving furniture with glass in, we’d suggest taping an x across the glass surface and then wrapping in bubble wrap.

Organise your storage space

Taking some time to think about how you’re going to store your furniture in the storage space will help you in the long run. You’ll only want to stack on top of sturdy furniture and not soft cushions.

Thinking about how you’re going to unpack your furniture will be your next point of call. Put the pieces you need first toward the exit so they’re the easiest to get out.

If you do end up storing your furniture for an extended period, remember to visit the storage every month to make sure everything is in order.

Business-class commercial storage

Here at Crown our business-class commercial storage services actively support our clients in managing their assets cost-effectively and sustainably. We provide a responsive, secure, and competitive business storage for all your furniture. With a range of all size storage arrangements to suit your exact needs, including containerised and racked storage.

If you have high-value items we can offer enhanced options, you can find out more about our commercial storage solutions here.