Keep Belongings Safe in a Dusty Home Renovation (2025)

Okay, deep breath. You’re about to tear your house apart. It’s going to be awesome. Eventually.

But first, it’s going to be a total mess. I’m not talking about a “oops, I spilled some coffee” mess. I’m talking about a fine, ghostly layer of dust on everything in your house, even with the doors closed. I’m talking about the very real possibility of a hammer slipping and putting a nice dent in your hardwood floor, or a can of paint taking a tumble off a ladder.

I’ve been there. We did a kitchen reno a few years back, and I swear, we were finding drywall dust in places it had no business being for months. We thought we’d been smart, but we hadn’t been smart enough.

So learn from my mistakes. Here’s what actually works.

First, and this is non-negotiable: get rid of stuff

I’m serious. You’re going to be moving everything out of the way anyway. This is your golden ticket to finally deal with that cabinet full of random Tupperware lids and mismatched glasses. Why waste energy protecting stuff you don’t even want?

Go through the room that’s being worked on. Be brutal. If you haven’t used it in a year, you’re not going to miss it. Donate it. Toss it. Have a yard sale and use the money to buy a nice bottle of whiskey for when the reno stress hits. You’ll thank me later.

Second, you need a “no-go zone.”

Pick a room as far from the construction as possible. This room is now Fort Knox for your belongings. Nothing comes in or out until the all-clear is given.

But don’t just shove everything in there! That’s how things get broken. You gotta be tactical.

• Use real boxes. Flimsy grocery store boxes will collapse. Get some sturdy ones, or better yet, those clear plastic bins. They stack well and you can see what’s inside.
• Wrap your breakables. No need for fancy packing peanuts. Use your own dish towels, old t-shirts, even socks. Wrap every glass, every plate, like it’s a precious artifact. Because to you, it is.
• Label the living daylights out of every box. Don’t just write “kitchen.” Write “KITCHEN – Coffee Mugs, Filters, and the Good Whiskey.” You will be a hero to your future self.
• Disassemble furniture. Take the legs off the table. Take the shelves out of the bookcase. Wrap each piece in moving blankets or old comforters.

Then, seal the door to that room. I mean it. Get that plastic sheeting and tape it around the entire door frame. It might look like a scene from Dexter, but it’s the only thing that keeps the dust bogeyman out.

Now, here’s the real talk

Sometimes, your house just isn’t big enough for a proper safe zone. Maybe you’re redoing the floors everywhere. Maybe your only spare room is the project. When your Fort Knox is actually ground zero, you’ve got a problem.

This is the part where I tell you what we do. I run a storage facility. It’s not a glamorous job, but days after we finished our own nightmare reno, my wife looked at me and said, “We should have just rented a storage unit.” She was 100% right.

We see folks every week who are where you are. They’re stressed, their house is a mess, and they’re worried about their grandmother’s china or their new sofa. Putting your stuff in a storage unit for a month or two isn’t a failure. It’s a brilliant chess move.

Think about it:

• Your stuff is locked away, safe from dust, debris, and accidental damage. It’s not a “in the next room” safe. It’s “in a fortress” safe.
• The crew has space to work. This isn’t a small thing. When they can move freely, the job goes faster and, in my experience, better.
• You get to keep a sliver of your sanity. Living in a construction zone is hard. Living in a construction zone that’s also packed wall-to-wall with your own furniture is torture.

The relief people feel when they get their stuff into a unit is palpable. The stress just melts away. They can focus on the exciting part—picking out backsplashes and light fixtures—instead of worrying about their belongings.

Look, protecting your stuff is the most boring part of a renovation. But it’s the foundation. Do it right, and you’ll end up with a beautiful new space and all your favorite things waiting for you, unscathed.

And if your safe zone starts to feel a little too small, you know where to find us. We’re here to help.

Good luck. You’re gonna need it. (Just kidding. Mostly.)