October 2021 – U-Lock Mini Storage

How to Add Storage Space to Your Garage (Part 2)

Adding storage space to a garage is a great way to organize your garage and create more room.

Adding storage space to a garage is a great way to organize your garage and create more room. Before you begin adding anything new to your garage, you will first need to organize it by sorting your things and drafting a floor plan. Once your garage is organized, you can build some shelving and install other vertical organization systems. You can also free up some space by hanging things from the ceiling or placing them in cabinets and plastic bins.

Build Shelving

One simple way to maximize the space in your garage is by adding some shelves. You can build some floating shelves on your walls or install premade shelving. Shelves are a good choice because they are inexpensive, easier to access, and they let you take stock of your items.

If you buy ready-made shelves, make sure that they are raised so that you can easily clean underneath them.
If you want to be thrifty, consider installing second-hand kitchen cabinets in your garage.
If you have the space, consider installing some hooks on the underside of your shelves to hang lighter items.

Buy a Pegboard

A pegboard is easy to install and relatively inexpensive. The flat piece of particleboard with evenly spaced holes can be attached to most walls. You can also paint it whatever color you want and alter it to fit a wall space of any size. A pegboard is perfect for storing lightweight things like hand tools or sports equipment.

You should be able to find pegboard and hooks at your local hardware store.

Install a Panel-based Vertical Organizing System

This high-end system allows you to maximize your wall space. Each wall in your garage is finished with slotted plastic panels that hold and lock in hooks, shelves and cabinets. However, the system is expensive and, in most cases, it has to be installed by professionals.

This system is a great option for those who want to get the most out of every inch of wall space in their garage. It can handle lightweight and heavy items.

You can go online to find local professionals to install the panels in your garage.

Put Together a Track-based Vertical Organizing System

In this system, shelves, hooks, cabinets and other organizers hang from tracks that are affixed to the garage walls studs. This system is relatively cheap, extremely versatile and capable of handling large and heavy loads. However, it can be difficult to install. You will need to make sure that each track is level with the ones next to it so that the shelving hangs straight.

You can find tracks and shelves at most hardware stores.
If your garage is not plumb, you may have a difficult time getting your tracks and shelves level. Using a level, you should check the level of your garage before you install the tracks.

How to Stage a Kitchen when Selling a Home

Kitchens are at the heart of any home, so when it comes to selling, presenting a kitchen beautifully is a must. Whether you are tweaking a few features or considering a full-blown renovation, make sure you know your market and what features attract positive attention.

1. Deep Clean Your Kitchen

Clean your kitchen from top to bottom when you are preparing to show it. This means cleaning countertops, floors, stovetop, inside the fridge and inside cabinets. Work top to bottom, and then left to right—this will help you make sure you do not miss a spot.

Be sure to use the right cleaning product for each of the different surfaces. The labels on most cleaning products will specify on which types of surfaces they should be used.

2. Put Away or Store Personal Items

Avoid leaving personal things out on the counters, or even inside the drawers. Things like paperwork, mail, photos and even magnets on the fridge should all be taken out of the kitchen and packed up or stored elsewhere. Potential buyers want to see a clean slate so that they can imagine their own lives in the space, rather than feeling like they have walked into someone else’s.

Keeping the counters as clear as possible will help showcase the spaciousness of the kitchen to potential buyers. If you have a lot of small appliances covering the countertops, store those elsewhere when showing the home. Consider boxing and storing things you do not really need out, or that might be cluttering your countertops, like coffee mugs or spice racks.

3. Remove Extra Furniture

If you have large furniture items in your kitchen, like hutches or unattached islands, consider getting rid of these when staging your kitchen. They can make your space feel confined and appear smaller. By removing these items, your kitchen will look larger to potential buyers, who will then be able to imagine putting their own imprint on what they see.

If you have bar stools at the kitchen counter or chairs around the dining table, remove any extra seats you may have added. Use as few of these items as possible to let the room feel open.

4. Stay on top of Kitchen Odors

Since you will likely still be living in your home while trying to sell it, chances are you will still be using the kitchen to cook and have meals. When showing the home, avoid cooking meals that leave residual odors. Air out the kitchen and take the trash out daily to keep any odors from lingering in the kitchen.

Keep pet food dishes and other pet items out of the kitchen when showing the home. These can create smells you might not notice yourself, as you are used to them.
Drop a piece of citrus into your garbage disposal. A chopped lemon works well. This will defeat odors in your sink and leave a lasting, pleasant aroma in the room.

5. Clean Up Messes as You Make Them

Rather than spending a large amount of time cleaning the kitchen prior to showing it each time, just do one deep clean, and then clean up smaller messes as you make them. Wipe counters, and wash and put away dishes after cooking and serving meals. Put away items that may have gathered on your countertops throughout the day.

When you start to cook, fill the sink with hot water and dish soap. This way, you can drop dishes in it to soak while you eat, and cleaning up will be much easier and faster as the dishes will be easier to wash after soaking.

6. Organize Items in Your Pantry and Cabinets

Potential buyers will likely open the cabinets and pantry doors to take a look inside and get a better feel for the storage space in the kitchen; you do not want them to find cluttered messes. Keep dishes and food items organized and neat.At U-Lock Mini Storage, we offer storage units our clients across Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Island by offering storage units in Chilliwack (Chilliwack U-Lock Mini Storage), South Surrey and White Rock (White Rock U-Lock Mini Storage), Burnaby and Vancouver (Burnaby U-Lock Mini Storage), Victoria (Victoria U-Lock Mini Storage), Nanaimo (Nanaimo U-Lock Mini Storage) and Parksville (Parksville U-Lock Mini Storage). Please contact a U-Lock Mini Storage self-storage facility near you to inquire about our storage units and our team members will be delighted to answer any questions you have!

How to Rent Furniture for Staging

To stage your home, it is ideal to rent elegant, posh furniture. Here are step-by-step instructions you can follow to rent furniture for staging!

Staging a home involves adding beautiful and attractive furniture and accessories in order to accentuate the beauty and size of your home and thus attract potential buyers. To stage your home, it is ideal to rent elegant, posh furniture. Here are step-by-step instructions you can follow to rent furniture for staging!

1. Look Up Furniture Rental Companies in Your Area

Run a search for “furniture rentals” plus the name of your town, city or province. Furniture rental businesses are more common than you might expect, as they cater to businesses, realtors, individual homeowners and even members of the entertainment industry. This means that you are likely to find one near you. For example, you can search for “Burnaby furniture rentals” or “Vancouver furniture rentals”.

2. Visit a Company’s Website for More Information

Pick a rental company from your search results to take a closer look at what they have to offer. Viewing a company’s website will give you a better idea of the exact services they provide, as well as their signature decorating style and general price range. Additionally, look at their Google Reviews or Yelp reviews to gain a better understanding of their reputation and reliability. Finally, compare several different rental companies (assuming you have more than a couple to choose from) to find one that best suits your sensibilities and budget.

3. Call the Company to Enquire about the Furniture

If you like what you see on a furniture rental company’s website, call them and discuss the details of the rental process. A quick chat will give you a chance to learn about the company’s products and policies and ask whatever questions you might have. Some good questions to ask include “Where do you source your furniture?”, “Is it possible to pick out pieces individually?” and “How long does a standard rental agreement last?”

4. Assess How much Furniture You Need

If you are staging your whole house for walkthroughs, you will want to have enough pieces on display to tie each room together. This will call for large, coordinated items like beds, tables and seating areas. If you are only planning on listing 1 or 2 rooms, you can probably get away with renting a single set of furnishings in your preferred theme.

5. Pick out Furniture by Style

The pieces leased by furniture rental companies are typically grouped together as packages based on popular decorating themes such as modern, rustic, urban and townhouse. Browsing by style is probably the easiest way to find furniture that compliments your living space without having to select each item individually. When you shop by style, you will receive a complete set of furnishings that have been curated based on a common look.

Furniture packages are often categorized by room, which makes it possible to mix-and-match different styles between rooms. For example, you might fill your living room with contemporary minimalist pieces and select a rustic French chateau motif for the master bedroom.

6. Compare Items from the Company’s Inventory Individually

Online catalogues, showrooms and stores make it easy to shop for furniture one piece at a time. There, you will find items separated by type, such as beds, sofas, tables, chairs and lighting fixtures. Some companies even stock functional appliances and other accessories like wall art and miscellaneous decorations. Be sure to write down the name or item number of each piece along with its price to keep track of how much you can expect to spend. Picking out furniture individually can be useful when you are sprucing up a room that does not fall into one of the usual categories, or if you want to put your own personal touch on your living space. In some cases, it may be possible to add individual items to a pre-curated package for an additional charge.

7. Shop for Accessories to Provide the Finishing Touches

Before you check out, take a look at some of the decorative items the company has available, like rugs, mirrors, throw pillows, potted plants and eye-catching knickknacks. These items are perfect for giving homes a lived-in quality, especially in cozy, intimate quarters like bedrooms and bathrooms.

Consider spending a little extra on a few wall hangings, sculptures, and other pieces of artwork. The right selections can make any home feel more cultured.

Depending on how extensive a company’s inventory is, you might even be able to find small accessories like woven baskets, candles and flower arrangements for as little as a few dollars apiece.

8. Rent a Storage Unit to Store Existing Furniture

To make room for rental furniture, you can store your existing furniture in a storage unit. You can select a storage unit that suits the number of pieces of furniture you have. Our large storage units start from 8 feet by 13 feet to meet your space needs. If you want even more space, you can opt for our extra large storage units, which start from 10 feet by 21 feet. We are proud to serve clients across Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Island by establishing self-storage facilities in the following areas: