Holiday meals are a great time to spend with family and friends and to bring out the china! When putting the dishware away, here are some best practices to protect your investment and to make it as stress-free as possible. Contact the space-saving experts at Closet & Storage Concepts of Marlton today if you need more organizational tips!
Clean Well, Pack Carefully
It sounds like common sense, but properly cleaning your dishware of residue is a smart idea to keep critters away. After they have all been cleaned and dried, it’s time to get packing. There are a number of options to keep your china safe from chips and scratches.
When wrapping individual pieces, it’s usually best to use packing or butcher paper. This protects light china from ink transferring if you use newspaper. For more heft, use bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is especially useful during moves to add a cushion for glassware. Large cloths or old t-shirts that you were going to throw out can work well if you don’t want to use paper. For glassware, wrap each item and put the rim on the bottom of the box. Add support with cardboard dividers. This gives more support to your box and also protects against scratches from glasses against each other.
Many companies make strong fabric bags to store your china. Although, you will want to be wary of how many items you put into the same bag or box. China gets heavy, and you wouldn’t want the box to break on you, or make it physically difficult for you to move your china. Use smaller boxes for plates and chargers, and bigger boxes for bowls and dessert plates. Plastic boxes and tubs can work well to transport and store them.
Label
When storing away your goods, it’s a good idea to label the boxes. This way, if you only end up needing just the cups and saucers, you don’t have to waste time going through all of the boxes. Even using clear plastic bins can make finding items difficult since your items will be individually wrapped. Labels can solve this issue. Plus, they can be changed fairly easily if the contents are switched around. 
Storage
China hutches are ideal places to keep delicate china, but sometimes they’re stored in the attic or in the basement. Keep heavier boxes on the bottom and stack up. This can help create additional space to store other seasonal goods like the holiday decorations.
If you are looking to increase the storage space in your home, give Closet & Storage Concepts today! We serve the greater Philadelphia, South Jersey, and Maryland areas.
Top photo © iStock/WichitS. Bottom: © Closet & Storage Concepts.