Wardrobe capsule on steroids...?

Apologies in advance if I don't follow up on my own thread right away, as I'm leaving on a jet plane early tomorrow...

Finally about to begin our renovation in a couple of weeks. Contractor is saying we will be able to live at home throughout the renovation, which will last 3 months (tack on 6-8 weeks to that, heh) .... I travel quite a bit and plan to schedule travel so I'm away more than home. The hubby will travel with me when it makes sense and he can afford the vacation time, but otherwise he intends to be around for supervision.

For those who've lived through such a major renovation, inquiring minds want to know what you did with your wardrobe????

I am definitely going to box up anything I won't be needing for the next 3-5 months.... what do you do with the rest? I'm thinking capsule wardrobe to get me through, lots of plastic tarps to cover... still needs to be somewhat accessible. Should I get a couple of plastic tubs for summer wardrobe, or what?

Help! Any tricks and tips I'm all ears!!

9 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Oh, another thing I should not give advice on. After the big earthquake, my whole family camped in the living room. Now my mom is looking at some other renovations, and everything is in boxes under plastic in the center of every room - even tho she doesn't even have a drawing or a contractor...lol.

JAileen

We did a big reno a decade ago - an addition, new kitchen, new bathroom, new closets. I think every room was affected at least a little except the family bath. We put our dining table upside down on our bed under a tarp to protect it, and slept on the hide a bed in the living room. In retrospect that was a weird thing to do. We had a lot of fun for the most part. Our son was in junior high and we had a dog. I was working and I can't believe we left our dog with the workmen! It took about four months. My wardrobe stayed in the closet. My husband and I shared a six foot long closet. With some refiguring we added a several closets, and now that closet is all mine. The only thing that sticks out in my mind wardrobe-wise, is I remember having to take a paper towel to my shoes when I got to work, to wipe off sheetrock dust. Even though I'm not working now, I have way more clothes than I did then.

Ledonna N.

Plastic covering and ziplock bags. Dust gets EVERYWHERE!!!!

jenanded

Let me repeat Ledonna's advice again - dust gets EVERYWHERE!!!!

I would try the sealed plastic boxes. Anything delicate with little grooves and things wrap as well - sure you never QUITE get that fine dust out... But apart from that - cute new housing coming up!!

Active Member

Having lived through a major reno and spent a summer in Europe, my experience is that they are the same, wardrobe wise. This is not helpful if you need to maintain a varied wardrobe for the upcoming months, but as everyone says...the wood and sheetrock dust is merciless.

When I went to Europe I had only a carry-on suitcase...I had 2 or 3 pairs of pants, a dress, several tops, and cardigan sweaters (the AC, you know.)

Kind of like, pretend you are camping. It is easier to pack the bulk of your clothes away to protect them rather than try and maintain them during the Sawdust Apocalypse.

Keep a small handheld vacuum cleaner and spray bottle of water in your closet.

We had the doorways covered with a plastic tarp and I am sure they helped but there was still dust everywhere so who knows.

Have fun! Again, pretend you are camping and that this is a wild adventure. If you take it seriously you will make yourself miserable and never get through it.

Come to think of it, the only things required during a major reno are a sense of humor and a big bottle of wine.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

One option could be to rent a small storage space locally, and put all but a small set of clothes there. That way, you could get to it if you needed to. Maybe a switch out of capsules every few weeks?

Suz

I've been through this not once, but twice.

Luckily, you live in a 4 season climate. Put away all the winter stuff. Seal it up well. As others have said...plaster dust. Gets into. Everything.

As you prepare your summer capsule or capsules, consider washability of fabrics. That's a concern for travel, obviously, but you might also want to wash more at home as well.

Does it need ironing? Maybe you don't need to wear it this summer. It might be tough to find a clean quiet spot to iron. Again, this doubles for your travel, so yay!

Ask workers to put up plastic barriers between areas of the house being worked on and those not being worked on at that time. This will help enormously. But stuff will still get dusty.

Get ready to spend a lot of money on eating out. Or, if you can, BBQ a lot and eat salads. Our second reno took far longer than expected. (Like months longer. Don't ask.) Anyway, it happened during a dry summer. We had no kitchen for ages...I was washing dishes in the bathtub. We ate most meals in our garden and made great use of BBQ.

Gaylene

Just reinforcing the advice to change your mindset. Life will NOT be normal until the dust settles, so think of the next few months as camping in your own home.

Pack away as as much of your wardrobe as possible, otherwise you'll have a huge cleaning bill at the end. That dust is relentless. Set up refuge area in a corner of the house with double plastic on the door (think of it as the decontamination zone!). Buy a bunch of clear, stackable storage boxes for your stuff. Stacking means they can go in a corner; clear means you have some hope of finding stuff. Simplify everything as much as possible--minimal food prep, only essential cutlery/plates/pots for easy cleanup, each person's personal items in a separate box--anything you can do to make your daily routines more manageable.

And take pictures of the chaos so you'll be able to appreciate the transformation. Renovation stories can be lots of fun when you are on the other side. Like the time, I ran through a bunch of early-arriving workers in a bath towel frantically looking for my clothes which Mr, G thoughtfully had put behind plastic to keep them from collecting dust. He still reminds me of the pitying looks he received from the crew for having married a screaming banshee.

Category