Does anyone use a storage facility ?

[GladysOhli]

We have a huge dining table that I use for seating 8-10 maybe 4 times a year but it's otherwise too big plus 8 chairs. Am contemplating storing the chairs away from our home along with suitcases/ lesser used items that don't fit in our loft. Is this madness? I want my dining room back as more of a snug space for my son to use with friends so would put a sofa in there (small one that could be moved to lounge if entertaining ). Is this a mad idea.
We always host Christmas and the dinner parties for friendship group which I like but it's not that frequent and it's just too space taking. 8 leather dining chairs is a lot of space...

If you add up the cost of the unit plus transport back and forward to collect/return it, is that cheaper than buying/renting a table when you need it?

Good point. No I haven't and didn't even think of renting a table as and when needed tbh. Where would I get one ? Off to do some googling

Storage works in a short time application ( my husband works in one ). It is fairly expensive. You have to work out if the value of what u are storing is worth the £100 odd a month it would cost you. Doesn’t sound much. But if it is long term that is £1000 a year ( ish ).

Also u would have to have insurance for ur room so add that to the cost. Also these places are not heated so make sure what ur storing can be kept safe during the winter months as those places get cold.

If you're in a big city you can rent furniture for house staging purpose

Or you could buy something at auction and sell it after using it.

Could you sell it and buy some good quality trestle tables that you can cover with beautiful table cloths?

Storage is pretty expensive. We keep a large sheet of MDF in the garage and when we have extra guests for big family meals we put it on top of our kitchen table and cover with a table cloth and it gives us a much larger table that we can seat 12 people around. Works well for us!

Sounds like a no go. 9 chairs just take up so much space but I don't want to get rid of them to have to get some back again at some point. Hmmm. To ponder. I might ask my mum if she'd house them or swap some of hers out ...we've not got a garage sadly or anywhere other than a small shed to put stuff in

One of the couples on Sort Your Life Out this season had spend £4800 on a storage unit for a second hand kitchen they had bought...to save money.

Could you possibly spread the chairs around; corner of a bedroom, sons study desk for the rest of the year

Do you have a van? Are you really going to get a table out of storage to have your friends over for dinner?

By the time you pay for storage you could buy another shed to store them in. We have a storage unit just now whilst house is on market, its a special offer of £56 a month for first 2 months the £112 there after.

I had all the things that my EXDP didn't take from our old 3 bedroom house in storage between house moves.

What I thought would be 3 months turned into 15 months, and at £488 per month, ended up at over £7k in total, and I threw half the things away!

I wouldn't recommend storage as a long term solution for bulky items; only for smaller things, for a very short timeframe.

I think we lose 2-4 chairs and see if we can manage the table unextended for a few months and then borrow chairs or extra table as needed. Storage was me not wanting to let go of the stuff we paid good money for. Stupidly. Pre kids. When we hosted all the time and didn't need that room. It's now an office in one corner and my son needs space with his friends too now. Times change. I need to move on

WHy not store the chairs round the house as someone else suggested and get a large drop leaf extendable table you can fold down and store behind a sofa (use it as a console table with lamps on it.
Much easier and cheaper than faffing about with a storage unit.
https://www.homedit.com/drop-leaf-table/

I've managed to put chairs in wardrobes with half size things like shirts or trousers hanging above them, and leaving the full space just for things like dresses and coats. I've also put a couple stacked seats together (ie one upright and one upside down), in the hall cupboard, and then put random stuff underneath and on top, and it doesn't actually take up that much more space - a bit like an extra shelf (I have bags and boxes underneath, and a floor cleaner on top of the upside down chair!). I do live in a very small one bed flat though, with almost no other storage, and I have about three extra chairs that I can't fit round the table! If you had more space, then scattering them about would also be good.

I bought six some (stylish) stacking chairs from ebay for Chistmas parties etc. and stored them in the garage.