Are you breaking out the good dishes for Thanksgiving?
Most people are ready to bring out the ceremonial plates for Thanksgiving. This time of year many people take out the fine dinnerware they have a time to mark the holiday with a little something extra and a little something nice. A festive time requires festive decorations, but if you only use the fine dinnerware plates, glasses, serving trays and utensils a handful of times throughout the year perhaps they would be better stored in self-storage than in the cabinets at home.
At the Xtra Storage Companies, we love decorations in general, and we have a great appreciation for fine dinnerware. However, what we don’t love is taking up valuable space at home, or having to shuffle to the bottom or top of a plate stack to get to the right dishes. With this in mind, we have created a helpful list of tips to ensure you are storing your fine dinnerware in a safe and cost-effective way! Please check out our helpful self-storage tips for dinnerware here:
How to Store Plates without Breaking them!
Stack
First, you are going to stack these unless you have a rack. When you are storing them, you should lay them flat and stack them atop each other.
Plastic Wrap/Bubble Wrap
However, keeping terra cotta, ceramic, crystal, or otherwise atop each other for too long is a great way to scuff, scratch, or potentially even break these beautiful plates, so you want to insert some padding in between. Be sure to use anything from bubble wrap to plastic wrap to be cost-effective while also being safe. We do recommend individually wrapping each plate or item in bubble-wrap for extra protection.
Don’t Overload it
Next, you don’t want to add too many plates on top of each other. Some people say 15 is the max plates you should stack. Personally, I’m more comfortable with ten because I don’t want to risk snapping or breaking one of them. In addition to this, when placing the plates or items into boxes we highly recommend not overloading the box. Plates and dinnerware can become very heavy in the box and will make transporting very difficult.
How to Store Cups and Bowls
Wrap Completely
The first step you want to do is wrap each of the cups individually and completely. We recommend using paper packaging instead of wrapping them in plastic. This makes your storage effort a more eco-conscious one, while also reducing your costs overall. We often very carefully place the packing paper inside the cup as well.
Layer
Next, you want to work on carefully insetting the bowls and cups within each other respectively. Never go higher than five, because then it just becomes difficult to manage.
Additionally, add a layer of protection between each stack of bowls/cups, this will keep it safer for longer.
Xtra Storage Spaces
The Xtra Storage Companies have been providing the best value in air-conditioned self-storage spaces for over 30 years. We pride ourselves on every day low prices, no extra fees, and are friendly to our clients! We’re a self-storage company but look at ourselves as an extension of your home. Come by for a cup of coffee and a tour — if you would like to learn more about our rates or the sizes of our units for storage in South Florida, please give us a call today at (305) 677-1483. We offer small storage spaces that would be perfect for a few boxes if you’d like to clear out some dinnerware etc!