What we store · Furniture & Decorative Arts
Wood, Veneer and Glue
Antique furniture is a wooden structure held together with animal glue and faced with veneer. All three respond to humidity, and they respond differently from one another.
Come and see the environment before you send anything. Bring your registrar, your conservator or your insurer — we would rather they saw it than took our word for it.
Climate
Controlled temperature and relative humidity, continuously
Above
Above the floodplain — not a basement
Condition
Reported on intake and on every movement
Named
You know who handles your work
Three materials moving at different rates
The carcass moves with humidity. The veneer, glued across it, moves differently and lifts. Historic animal glue softens in sustained high humidity and fails. A South Florida garage or an unconditioned warehouse will produce all three failures within a few seasons, and the damage is not reversible without conservation.
Upholstery and textiles introduce a pest risk that hard furniture does not. Insect activity in a stored piece can spread to what surrounds it, and it develops quietly in material nobody opens up. Inspection at intake and periodically afterwards is the only way it gets caught early.
What furniture needs
- Stable relative humidity, above all else.
- No direct light — finishes and textiles fade.
- Covered but able to breathe. Plastic sheeting traps moisture.
- Support at the structural points, not on castors or feet alone.
- Textiles and upholstery, which have their own pest risk.
Why plastic sheeting is the wrong instinct
It looks protective and it traps moisture against the finish, creating a small humid environment around the piece that is precisely what lifts veneer and softens historic glue.
Breathable covers protect against dust and light while letting the piece equilibrate with the room. It is a cheaper material and it is the correct one, which is an unusual combination.
How we handle it
- 01Condition report including veneer, joints and finish.
- 02Store covered in breathable material rather than plastic.
- 03Support the structure appropriately.
- 04Hold humidity stable and light out.
- 05Monitor for pest activity in upholstery and textiles.
Never wrap furniture in plastic sheeting for storage. It traps moisture against the finish and creates precisely the sustained humidity that lifts veneer and softens glue. Breathable covers, always.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We do not restore, re-glue or refinish. If something arrives with lifting veneer we will document it and tell you, and a furniture conservator is who you need.
Common questions
- Can we wrap it in plastic?
- No. Plastic traps moisture against the finish and causes exactly the damage you are trying to prevent.
- Why does veneer lift?
- The carcass and the veneer move at different rates with humidity, and historic glue softens when it is sustained high.
- Is a garage acceptable short term?
- In South Florida, not really. A few seasons is enough to do lasting damage.
- Do you restore?
- No. We document and store; restoration is conservation work.
How it works
Intake & Condition Reporting
Intake is the most important day in a work's time with us, because everything afterwards is measured against what was recorded then.
Read more →
Access & Viewing
Stored work still needs to be seen — by you, your appraiser, a conservator, or a prospective buyer. Access is by appointment and it is handled rather than self-service.
Read more →
Insurance & Valuation
Your work is insured under your policy or a specialist fine art policy. Our role is to give your underwriter records they will accept.
Read more →
Exhibition Loans
A loan request is a good problem. It also involves paperwork, condition reporting at both ends, and a work leaving a controlled environment for months.
Read more →
Hurricane Procedure
This is South Florida. A storage facility that has not thought carefully about hurricanes is not a storage facility, and you should ask the questions before you need the answers.
Read more →
More what we store
Paintings
Stretched canvas and wooden panel respond to moisture in the air by moving. Stored well they are stable for decades; stored in a swinging environment they crack.
Read more →
Works on Paper
Drawings, prints, watercolours and documents. The damage is slow, cumulative and usually invisible until it is substantial.
Read more →
Photographs & Negatives
Photographic material is chemically active. Color dyes shift, acetate film decays, and both processes are driven by temperature and humidity.
Read more →
Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.