Room by Room Guide: Tips for Efficiently Packing up the Master Bedroom
While moving to a new home can be exciting, packing up your old home definitely isn’t. After all, the idea of boxing up one’s entire life in a limited amount of time can be downright overwhelming. Thankfully, we’re here to help you out. Before you begin the packing process, it’s important to prioritize and decide what rooms to pack last and unpack first. Along with the kitchen, nursery and kids bedrooms, your master bedroom should also be added to the list of high priority rooms.
To help speed up the packing process, we’ve included a helpful guide (below) on how to box up your master suite as efficiently as possible.
Packing bedding and larger furniture
Your bedroom essentials, mattress and bed frame are several master suite items that you won’t be able to pack up until the last minute. After all, you’ll still need somewhere to sleep on the last night in your old home. So I recommend packing up all of your bed linens a day or two before the move in either a large box or a waterproof bin. Make sure to wash and dry all sheets, duvet covers and blankets before packing them. This way, you won’t have one more thing to worry about – and wash – once you arrive at your new house. To save room, you can also place your bedding and linens inside a vacuum seal storage bag before packing. When packing other bedding items, such as pillows and blankets, you can use these as soft cushions and buffers in other boxes with your fragile belongings.
Packing your larger master suite items, such as mattresses, bed frames, and furniture – won’t be easy. I highly recommend enlisting either a group of friends or professional movers (preferably the latter) to assist in disassembling all of that heavy bedroom furniture. After taking several of these items apart, you’ll need to properly protect and pack these pieces. Make sure to cover your furniture with a blanket, utilize furniture pads, sliders and mattress bag, and – if you’re embarking on a DIY move – rent some sort of moving dolly to help you transport your furniture through the house. Tip: if you’re planning to rent a U-Haul truck, you can also rent a moving dolly to pick up at the same time.
Jewelry
The bedroom is typically the place where valuables, such as jewels, gemstones, and other pieces of jewelry are kept safe in our home. Personally, I recommend transporting any fine jewelry to your new home yourself, instead of boxing it up with the rest of your things. For costume jewelry, I suggest packing it securely with bubble wrap inside of a jewelry box or some sort of box with compartments, such as a fisherman’s tackle box.
Closet
First things first: get organized. Before you move, it’s extremely important to declutter and purge all of your clothing that you no long need. While letting go of old clothing and accessories won’t be easy, it will certainly make your moving (and unpacking) process a whole lot easier. Toss your clothing item if…
- It’s no longer in style
- It doesn’t fit
- It’s in bad condition
- It hasn’t seen the light of day in over a year.
If any of these things ring true for a piece of clothing in your closet, then it’s time to let go. Remember: you can always donate or consign your clothing to make some extra cash as well.
Once you know which closet items are definitely coming with you, you can better plan for the packing. To box up clothes, I recommend using several large wardrobe boxes with hanging bars for shirts, dresses, dress pants, etc. This will save you money on dry cleaning bills later, and will save you from hours of tedious ironing. These wardrobe boxes are also great for holding odd-shaped items like pillows, shoes and yoga mats.
To pack pajamas, undergarments and jeans, I recommend folding them neatly in either a suitcase or box – whichever you plan to use. All hats and bags should be stuffed with newspaper or packing paper to prevent them from losing their shape. Also, don’t forget to pack yourself a separate bag with essential clothing for the moving day and day after.
Lamps, mirrors, wall decor and rugs
Before packing up all of your glass mirrors, I strongly recommend purchasing corrugated picture and mirror boxes. These large, flat boxes are perfect for packing your framed items, mirrors and paintings. The handy telescope boxes will protect your mirrors and wall decor by adding full protection to the entire length of your belongings.
As for rugs, you’ll want to make sure these are cleaned, rolled and ready to go before the move. Once you’ve rolled the rug, secure it with a tie and roll it in either stretch-wrap or paper sheets. When packing up your bedroom lamps, find a box tall enough to hold the entire lamp once it’s wrapped up in bubblewrap. Make sure to remove the lampshade and light bulb, and wrap the base of the lamp (which usually happens to be fragile) in several layers of bubble wrap to avoid breakage. Place the lamp in the box, and add extra layers of protection (packing paper, towels, etc) to secure the base in place. You’ll want to pack the shade separately to avoid rips and tears.
Last but not least, don’t forget to think about how you’re going to pack all of those bathroom necessities. Make sure to separate essential items needed on moving day and the day after from all of your other non-essential items. Examples of essential items include: hair brush, hairdryer, shampoo and conditioner (I recommend using travel size for moving day), soap, makeup, face lotion and towels.
Any bathroom belongings capable of leaking, such as shampoo bottles, face wash dispensers, lotions and essential oils, should be placed in plastic bags. Also, remember that any kind of product inside of an aerosol spray can (such as hairspray) cannot be packed on a moving truck. I recommend tossing these out and repurchasing them after the move. Towels should be washed, folded and packed for the move. Tip: you can also use towels to wrap fragile items to add an extra layer of protection.
To find discounts on moving boxes and supplies for your master suite, check out Moving.com’s handy box center.