My mom collects teacups.
Not like a casual “oh that’s cute” kind of thing. I mean she has a room in her house that is basically a teacup museum. Hundreds of them. Delicate little things with flowers painted on them, gold rims, the works. And for years, she just kept them everywhere. On shelves, on tables, in cabinets. You could not sit down in her living room without being surrounded by fragile china.
Then she decided she wanted to paint her walls. She had to move everything. And she almost had a breakdown trying to figure out where to put it all.
That is how I got into this business, honestly. Because I watched her struggle. I saw her wrapping each cup in newspaper, stacking them in boxes, and panicking because she did not have room in her garage. And I thought, there has got to be a better way.
So I get it. I really do.
If you collect porcelain, you are dealing with the same thing. You love your pieces. You spent time finding them, probably spent money on them. They matter to you. But they are everywhere. And you are running out of places to put them.
The Biggest Lie People Tell Themselves
I hear this all the time. “I’ll just put them in the attic. It’s fine.”
No. No it is not fine. And you know it is not fine, but you say it anyway because you do not want to deal with the problem.
Attics get hot. Really hot. Like, bake-a-cake-on-your-roof hot. And when porcelain gets hot, things happen. The glaze expands. Then it cools down at night and contracts. Do that over and over and eventually you get crazing. Those tiny little cracks that ruin the finish. Your beautiful vase starts looking like a broken windshield.
And the dust. Do not even get me started on attic dust. It gets everywhere. It settles into every crevice. Cleaning it off is a nightmare.
The Basement Problem
Then there is the basement. People think basements are great because they stay cool.
Yeah. They stay damp too.
I have seen porcelain that sat in a basement for six months. The bottom of it, the unglazed part, soaked up moisture like a sponge. And when it dries out, it cracks. The whole piece just falls apart.
And nobody notices until they pull it out and see the damage.
Let Me Guess What You Are Doing Right Now
You are probably nodding along because you have porcelain stashed somewhere right now that is not ideal. Maybe it is the top shelf of your closet, stacked up where you cannot see it. Maybe it is in a box under your bed. Maybe it is in the corner of your living room behind a couch, covered in a blanket.
I have been there. We all have.
The problem is, when your collection outgrows your house, you have to make hard choices. You cannot just keep cramming stuff into weird corners. At some point, you need a real solution.
The Packing Part That Scares Everyone
Let us talk about packing, because this is where most people mess up.
You buy a box. You wrap a vase in some bubble wrap. You toss it in. You close the lid. Done, right?
Wrong.
- First of all, newspaper is the enemy. The ink transfers. I cannot tell you how many pieces I have seen with black smudges that will not come off. It ruins the piece.
- Second, bubble wrap is great, but you cannot just wrap it tight against the surface. That trap heat. And if the storage space gets warm, the bubble wrap can actually leave little dimple marks on the glaze. It looks terrible.
You need to wrap your porcelain in something soft first. T-shirt material. Acid-free tissue. Something that creates a barrier. Then you wrap it in bubble wrap. It takes more time. I know. But you are protecting the actual surface of your piece.
The Box Itself Matters Too
I see people using boxes that are way too big. They put a single teacup in a giant box and think the extra space is “safe.”
No. The teacup bounces around inside that box. It hits the sides. It breaks.
You want a box that fits your item snugly. Not tight. But close. You should have maybe an inch of padding around all sides. That is it.
And do not use flimsy boxes. Porcelain is heavy. Use double-walled boxes. Use packing tape, not the cheap stuff. Tape the bottom of the box extra well, because that is where the weight is going.
The Weight Issue Nobody Thinks About
Here is something I see every single day.
Somebody packs a box full of dishes. A full dinner set. Twenty plates, twelve bowls, saucers, the whole thing. And that box weighs fifty pounds.
Then they try to move it. They pick it up wrong. They drop it. And now their dishes are dust.
I always tell people. Keep your boxes small. Split your collection into multiple light boxes instead of one heavy box. It takes more boxes but it saves your back and your dishes.
Why Our Units Work So Well For This
Okay, I am going to be honest with you. I do not want you to store your porcelain in a cheap storage unit. You need something better than that.
Our units are climate-controlled. That means the temperature stays the same year round. No scorching summers. No freezing winters. Your porcelain stays exactly as it was when you put it in.
And we keep the humidity low. That moisture that ruins the bottoms of your pieces? That is not a problem here.
I have collectors who store with us who have pieces that are hundreds of years old. They trust us with their antiques. That means something.
How To Actually Organize Your Unit
This is the part people skip because they are lazy. But if you organize right, you will actually enjoy having a storage unit.
You want to be able to reach your stuff. Do not just stack boxes to the ceiling and call it a day. Leave yourself a path. Put heavy stuff on the bottom. Lighter stuff on top.
And label everything. I mean everything.
Not just “kitchen stuff.” That is useless. Write “teacups – blue pattern – set of six.” Write “vase – floral – 18 inches.” Be specific.
Here is why. Six months from now, you are going to want one specific piece. You are going to go to your unit and look at twenty boxes and have no idea which one has the thing you want. If you label them carefully, you find it in two minutes. If you do not, you spend an hour opening every single box.
My Weirdest Storage Customer Story
I have a customer who stores his porcelain in our biggest unit. He has hundreds of pieces. And he comes in every month to rotate them.
He has a display cabinet in his house. He keeps ten pieces on display. Every month, he comes in, swaps those ten pieces for ten different ones. So he is always looking at something new. The rest of his collection stays safe in our unit.
He told me once that he actually enjoys the rotation more than he used to enjoy having everything out at once. Because he gets to appreciate each piece individually.
I thought that was brilliant.
What I Tell Everyone Who Rents With Us
You do not have to store everything with us. Maybe you just need space for the overflow. Maybe you are moving and need a temporary spot. Maybe you are downsizing your house.
Whatever it is, we are here to help.
- But I always tell people this. Do not cheap out on storage for your porcelain. This stuff matters. It has value. It has history. It has memories attached to it.
- Cheap storage is cheap for a reason. It is not temperature controlled. It is not secure. Your stuff is at risk.
- We are not the cheapest option. But we are the safe option. And for porcelain, safe is what matters.
The Insurance Thing
I have to bring this up because nobody likes to talk about it.
- We have insurance on the building. If the roof collapses, we are covered. But that does not cover your stuff. That is on you.
- So call your insurance agent. Ask them if your collection is covered in storage. Most policies will cover it, but you need to tell them it is there.
- And take pictures of everything. Keep a list. If something happens, you need to prove what you had.
- It is boring. I know. But it is necessary.
Final Thoughts
Look, I get it. Collecting porcelain is a passion. You do not do it because it is practical. You do it because you love it.
So do not let bad storage ruin your passion.
Come check out our units. Walk through the facility. See how we keep things. Talk to me about your collection. I genuinely enjoy talking to people about their stuff.
We have been doing this for years. We know what we are doing. And we want to help you protect your pieces.
Your porcelain deserves better than an attic. It deserves better than a basement.
It deserves to be stored right.
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