How To Correctly Store and Preserve Family Heirlooms

Family heirlooms are often priceless pieces. When a relative passes a special piece down to you, it can be challenging to find a space for it in your home. This means that you might want to put the item away so that you can pass it down to the next generation or until you own a home where you’ll want to display it. Luxury homes in Henderson NV usually have extra storage space for important possessions. Here are a few tips for how to correctly store and preserve family heirlooms like: 

 • Paper documents 

 • Jewelry

 • Pictures and photo albums 

 • Clothing and material pieces 

 • Scrapbooks 

 Paper Documents 

 While you might have paper documents stacked in a cardboard box, this is not the safest place to store important ones. When it comes to heirloom artifacts, paper pieces are some of the most delicate documents that people hold onto. The material crumples and fades easily if it becomes exposed to too much moisture, light, or heat. 

 To protect paper documents, store them in acid-free flap envelopes. Archival file folders are also safe storage containers for important papers. If you want to be able to look at any of your special documents, clean your hands before handling them. Also, make sure that your hands do not have lotion on them. It might be a good idea to don a pair of clean cotton gloves for extra protection. 

 Jewelry 

 Storing heirloom jewelry can be challenging, but there are a few general practices for storing important jewelry pieces whether it’s a bejeweled bracelet or a beloved plastic necklace that your daughter made you for Valentine’s Day. Don’t clean jewelry with bleach or a toothbrush. If you’re going to store a valuable piece, take it to a reputable jeweler for cleaning instead of doing it yourself at home. 

 Before putting a special piece away, wrap silver jewelry items in silver cloth bags. This step will prevent them from becoming tarnished. Also, store these bags separately from any other heirloom pieces that you’re storing like books, pictures, fabric items, or documents. 

 Place diamond jewelry items in a separate space to prevent them from scratching your other jewelry pieces. Along with this, wrap soft stones in archival tissue. You can purchase this in pre-cut sheets that are as small as 5 inches by 7 inches, making them perfect for wrapping jewelry. After your heirloom jewelry is wrapped up safe and sound, place it in an acid-free storage container. 

 Pictures and Photo Albums 

 People often store their photos in sheet protectors, but the experts advise against this. If you scan your photos or take pictures of them, back your files up to keep them safe. A photo-scanning app is the easiest way to back up your files. Don’t use any products that contain substances that might transfer onto your pictures like tape. 

 If you’re saving newspaper clippings, keep in mind that they include toxic substances. The pages are also coated with acid. Because of this, you’ll want to prevent them from coming into contact with other special items. A better way to preserve newspaper clippings is to copy them onto acid-free paper. Be sure to store books and heirloom bibles in acid-free boxes as well.

 Modern luxury design can include framed photos of past relatives and special occasions. To make sure your old photos blend in with your home design, consider asking a professional designer for help decorating. 

 Clothing and Material Pieces

 People tend to store items like their mother’s wedding dress, baby clothes, or a great-grandmother’s handmade quilt. Moths can identify body oils or skin flakes. This means that it’s important to clean clothing and material pieces thoroughly before storing them. Dry cleaners have substances to clean special clothing items like wedding dresses. They will also store them in archival bags made from protective material for you. 

 You can safely store heirloom clothing pieces in acid-free boxes. These are available to buy from places like archival supply stores. Check with your dry cleaner ahead of time to make sure that they are comfortable handling vintage or antique materials. Old clothing pieces require particular cleaning techniques. 

 Scrapbooks 

 If you’re in the market for a new home, make sure that each home for sale in Henderson NV includes safe and dark storage areas for your important heirlooms such as scrapbooks. Family photo albums are important and irreplaceable. Often, they were put together by family members who were using whatever glue, tape, and paper that they had available at the time. This means that old scrapbooks may be falling apart.

 If a scrapbook page falls out of an heirloom book, do your best to locate where it fell from and reconnect it with Filmoplast book tape. Avoid using standard tape because it features non-archival substances that can damage your important scrapbooks. 

 Especially delicate scrapbooks can be preserved by placing acid-free tissue or paper between the old pages. If you’re storing them in a container, be sure to put them in unsealed archival polyethylene bags as well as in acid-free boxes. Storing them this way will make it easy for you to get to them when you want. It is also a safe way to store scrapbooks for many years. 

 Luxury Homes Las Vegas 

 Residents of the MacDonald Highlands community own luxury homes that come with all the bells and whistles. Your luxury home may include amenities like swimming pools, gorgeous outdoor landscaping, and plenty of storage space. For more information about the MacDonald Highlands community, call us at (702) 614-9100.