Anyone who’s renovated a room knows the cycle: move everything to the middle of the room, work around it, give up, move everything to the next room, repeat. By the end you’ve moved your dining room set six times, you can’t find your good knives, and there’s a fine layer of drywall dust on your couch.
A temporary storage unit fixes most of this. Here’s the case for renting one for the duration, and how to think about it.
Why a unit beats living with the chaos
Your stuff stays clean
Drywall dust gets into everything. Sanding sealed wood floors throws fine particles into every fabric within 30 feet. New paint smells linger for weeks if you don’t isolate furniture from it. Stuff that’s in a storage unit during the project comes out clean.
Contractors work faster
Watch a contractor try to work around a fully-furnished room. They’re slow, careful, and they charge for the time. An empty room means they can move freely, set up scaffolding, run extension cords, and finish hours faster. Your storage unit pays for itself in saved contractor time on bigger projects.
You don’t damage your own stuff
How many sofas have been ruined by being repeatedly shoved from corner to corner during a remodel? Your dresser gets scraped, the dining table acquires a new ding, the couch absorbs the smell of whatever’s being installed. Put it somewhere else and these don’t happen.
You can actually plan the new layout
When a room is empty during a renovation, you start seeing it differently. Maybe the couch goes there instead. Maybe you don’t need the big armoire after all. Designers always say to live with an empty space for a few days — a renovation forces that, and it’s genuinely useful.
How to think about size and duration
For a single room (kitchen, master bath, one bedroom)
A 5×10 or 10×10 is usually enough — you’re only emptying one room, not the whole house. Duration: 2–6 weeks for most projects.
For a whole-floor remodel
10×15 or 10×20 depending on house size. You’re moving most of the contents of multiple rooms. Duration: 1–3 months.
For a gut renovation or addition
10×20 or 10×30. You may need to empty the whole house. Duration: 3–6 months and sometimes longer.
Important: storage units are month-to-month here. If a 4-week kitchen turns into 10 weeks because the cabinets backordered (this is now standard), you’re not locked in to a 12-month rental. Pay for the months you actually need.
What to put in storage during a remodel
Definitely:
- All furniture from the rooms being worked on
- Rugs, curtains, lamps
- Wall art and decor
- Anything fragile from adjacent rooms (dust and vibration travel)
- Closet contents from rooms being painted (paint smell sticks to clothing)
Probably:
- Living room furniture if you’re doing kitchen work (drywall dust will reach it)
- Books, if shelving units are being moved or replaced
- Electronics from adjacent rooms (TVs especially — dust kills cooling fans)
No need:
- Kitchen items unrelated to the work (silverware, pots) — box them and keep in another room
- Bathroom items (towels, toiletries) if a different bathroom is being renovated
- Daily-use items you’ll need access to
The climate question
Renovation storage is mostly short-term (1–3 months), so drive-up is usually fine. The exceptions:
- Renovation in summer. Hot drive-up units + leather furniture = problems over even a few months.
- You’re storing electronics, art, or instruments. Climate-controlled is the safer call.
- You’re storing for >3 months. Climate-controlled stops being optional.
Our Hutchinson facility has climate-controlled units. The other three locations are drive-up — ideal for fast load-in/load-out during a renovation.
Pro tips from years of doing this
Don’t pack like you’re moving permanently. Boxes don’t need to be perfect. You’re going to unpack them in 6 weeks. Just keep them organized by room.
Take inventory photos before loading the unit. Sounds silly, but it helps you remember what’s where when you start moving back in.
Leave a walking aisle in the unit. You may need to grab something mid-project (the right hex key was packed with the bedroom hardware). Don’t solid-wall yourself in.
Pack a “daily use during renovation” box and DON’T put it in storage. Toothbrushes, phone chargers, one set of dishes, the coffee maker. Keep that with you, separate from everything else.
Worth it?
Almost always. A 10×10 drive-up unit for a 2-month kitchen renovation costs less than the price difference between two laminate countertop options. Your stuff stays clean, contractors finish faster, and you spend less time muscling furniture around your own house. We’d call that a win.