Sacramento Movers Discuss Setting Up A Home Theater

This is the perfect time of year to sit back and get caught up on all the favorite TV shows on a cozy sofa. Or you could host a Super Bowl party or Oscar night by inviting over some friends and setting out some snacks. The most essential part of hosting such a party is having an awesome TV and speaker set up. Why not construct your own home theater?

(Photo Credit: Stuff TV)

The first thing to do is choose the location of your home theater  It could be in a spare bedroom, in an add-on to the home or in the family den. This space should be relatively isolated from the other rooms in the house so that those enjoying a show within the “theater” will not be distracted by someone turning on the blender in the kitchen, nor will the sleeping child be awakened by a noisy surround sound in the next bedroom over. You may even wish to add insulation to the walls, ceiling and floor to work as a sound barrier.

Next decide which wall the TV will be on then position the surround sound speakers around the room. There should be speakers in each of the four corners of the room, two behind the seating, the other two on either side of the TV. Next place a speaker on each side of the main seating area and one above or below the TV. You should use at least 7 speakers designed for surround sound, to create theater quality sound. See the photo above for ideas of appropriate placement for speakers.

Once the equipment is in place, it is time to add seating. The seating may be partially dictated by how much space you have available. If it is in a rather small bedroom, there may only be room for one sofa or love seat. If it is an open living room then you may wish to arrange furniture in a semi-circle so that if the room is not being used as a theater  then it will still be comfortable for other functions. Or if the room is spacious enough and used exclusively as a theater, then you may want to set up a couple rows of small sofas or recliners.

Ideally the room should have the option of dim lighting. You might want to use a dimmer switch to control the brightness of the room. If there are windows, invest in some heavy duty curtains. You may also want to paint and decorate with rich, dark colors to reduce the glare of a bright wall behind the TV screen. Last but not least, start popping the popcorn and enjoy the show!

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Sacramento employs a staff of over 40 Full-Time Movers and Drivers, with a fleet of 10 trucks. We have performed home and business moving services in and around the Greater Sacramento area for almost 10 years. Our award winning services include full service moving and packing services and we also sells boxes and packing supplies.

With comments or questions contact Carolyn Durkee, Marketing Coordinator at the Sacramento office of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® at 916-852-7411 or contact us here.

Sacramento Movers Share Home Organizing and Storage Tips

Is keeping your home tidier and more organized one of your resolutions for the New Year? You may have downsized to a smaller home or it may feel like you’ve outgrown your current home and the closets no longer hold everything in a neat and easy-to-manage fashion. This is the perfect time to consider a few organizing and storage tips that could free up space and improve the visual appeal of the home.

(Photo Credit: Home Trend Design)

First of all, the key to staying organized is to stop messes before they start. Develop an easy to use storage system for common household items so that it will be easier to put things where they belong than to misplace them. Anything used regularly should be easy to reach whereas things that are used only once or twice a year can be stored in out of the way places such as the attic or on the top shelf of a closet. Items should be kept off the floor as much as possible so that the space looks less cluttered and is easier to clean around.

Bedrooms

First pare down the items that take up space in the bedroom. Get rid of clothing that is out of style or no longer fits. Also consider saying goodbye to any articles of clothing that have no flaw but are simply never worn. Box up clothing that is off-season. These can be stored in the garage, attic, or closets. Another great place to store off-season clothes: under the bed. Get long, low plastic storage bins and store 3 or 4 of these under the bed. The dust ruffle will hide it all!

Desk or Home Office

Set up a system for handling mail, bills, and receipts. You may wish to set up separate cubbies or storage shelves on your desk to separate mail as soon as it comes into the house. Label each cubby accordingly so that when you sit down at your desk you can quickly pay any immediate bills or answer invitations. Title one cubby “bills to be paid” and highlight the due date on each bill before placing it in the cubby. Use another cubby for greeting cards received or invitations to events. Another cubby can be used for receipts that need to be recorded in the checkbook or filed for tax purposes. Place magazine in the family room or lounge where they can be paged through casually. Discard junk mail before it has time to build up.

Bathroom and Laundry Room

To speed up the cleaning routine place all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, a sponge and clean, dry cloths stored in a portable caddy that can be carried from room to room. Install shelves above the washer and dryer to store cleaning detergent, bleach, and other household cleaners. Hang the mop, broom and dustpan on the wall in the laundry room or garage. Do not leave these tools on the floor. Fasten hooks or a short coat rack in the laundry room to hang and air dry clothing on after being washed.

Garage and Closets

Built for storage, the garage and closets are where your best organization efforts will come into play. Use sturdy plastic storage bins to contain holiday décor, gift wrapping materials, off-season clothing, extra linens and blankets, sporting gear or tools. Use floor to ceiling shelving units to store boxes. Re-use a net laundry bag to store loose soccer balls, basketballs and other lightweight sporting equipment. If you have storage bins that must be kept inside because space is not available in the garage or closets, choose a designated area for storage and then curtain it off so that it will not create an eyesore within the home.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Sacramento employs a staff of over 40 Full-Time Movers and Drivers, with a fleet of 10 trucks. We have performed home and business moving services in and around the Greater Sacramento area for almost 10 years. Our award winning services include full service moving and packing services and we also sells boxes and packing supplies.

With comments or questions contact Carolyn Durkee, Marketing Coordinator at the Sacramento office of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® at 916-852-7411 or contact us here.

Sacramento Movers Tell How To Have An Unsuccessful Home Move

Yes you read that right. It is time to discover what steps you can take to have a stressful, unsafe and costly move. We’ve shared many tips with you on how to do a successful home move. This post takes a look at the steps you might take which would cause the reverse outcome. You will find tips how to choose a moving company if you want inefficient and costly movers and suggestions for preparing for the move such as holding onto any unwanted items. Some call it the “don’ts” of moving… read up on the road to an unsuccessful home move!

(Photo Credit: frugalicious)

Choosing A Moving Company

When you choose a moving company, make the selection on price alone. Lower quotes will surely result in lots of extra, unexpected charges that will add up quickly. What fun to watch your hard earned dollars get spent so fast! Don’t bother looking up the moving company on Yelp, Angie’s List or the Better Business Bureau. It’s far better to wait until the day of the move to fully realize that the mover you selected is notoriously late, breaks items more often than not and generally leaves you wishing you did it yourself.

Preparing For The Move

Bring everything you own to the new home. Moving is not hard enough as it is so there’s no sense in getting rid of items you will never need such as out-of-fashion clothing or that stockpile of magazines you haven’t got around to paging through. Also it’s better to leave everything where it is in the attic and closets because whatever is up there will surely take no time to move. Also why waste time stopping by the post office to file a change of address?  People will figure out eventually that you no longer live there when they get back their letter with a big “return to sender” stamp on in.

On Move Day

Pack the cat and dog in moving boxes and throw them on the truck. Of course they won’t get frightened or claustrophobic. It’s also a great idea to pack up flammable and explosive items and perishable food. Don’t forget to throw in important documents and heirloom jewelry. The cat will enjoy playing with these “toys” on the drive. When the movers bring out the paperwork, just sign everything, don’t take the time to read any of the documents or understand what you are signing. That just slows everything down and who wants to read fine print? The movers surely will not have any questions about how you would like items packaged or where items will be placed in the new home so now all that is left is for you to put up your feet and take a nap in some out of the way place.

Sound like a good plan to you? Didn’t think so. Take the opposite approach if you want to have a successful move. Also be sure to check out moving tips from your Sacramento Movers.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Sacramento employs a staff of over 40 Full-Time Movers and Drivers, with a fleet of 10 trucks. We have performed home and business moving services in and around the Greater Sacramento area for almost 10 years. Our award winning services include full service moving and packing services and we also sells boxes and packing supplies.

With comments or questions contact Carolyn Durkee, Marketing Coordinator at the Sacramento office of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® at 916-852-7411 or contact us here.

Sacramento Movers Discuss How To Fill Bookshelves

Bookshelves can be a great way to decorate a wall in your living room, bedroom, home office, or even the hallway of your home. Bookshelves may be built into the structure of the home or free-standing. For those who do not own many if any books, built-in bookshelves can create a decorating dilemma. Or for those who have lots of books that are all stored away in boxes, maybe it’s time to put them on display.

(Photo Credit: Young House Love)

Gather all the books you own in the room where the bookshelves are located. Organize the books into stacks according to some standard that makes sense to you. Perhaps you’d like to alphabetize the books by title or author’s last name. Or perhaps separating them by genre makes more sense. Another way to do it would be to divide the books up be their height standing on the shelf, placing the taller books together on one shelf and shorter books on another.

Once you’ve determined how you would like to organize the books, it is time to start placing them on the shelf. There are a few methods for book placement:

The Library Method. This method works best when you have lots of books that easily fill up all shelf space. Simply place books standing, side by side in neat rows along each shelf.

The Vertical/Horizontal Method. Using this method, place a handful of books standing, side by side, then place another handful lying stacked almost like a book end. Alternate groups of books standing vertically and books lying horizontally all the way across each shelf.

The Museum Method. If you have various knick-knacks to display, this method would be perfect for you. Place a stack of books standing, side by side then set a favorite framed photograph or figurine next to the books like a book end. Place another stack of books then another knick-knack. Items you might use to intersperse with books include framed photos, small potted plants, figurines or statures, souvenirs, trophies, candles, decorative vases or urns.

The Books Are Forbidden Method. In this style of decorating a bookshelf, the method is exactly as it sounds, just about anything can be placed on the shelves except books. This method is for those who do not own books or enough books to put on display. Use similar items to decorate the shelves as mentioned above in the Museum Method.

As you go through your selection of books you may find that there are some books that don’t fit on your display. In this case you may either choose to donate the books to a used book store or library or to set aside the excess books in a personal storage area. If this is the case, be sure to pack the books in small boxes that are reinforced with clear packing tape. Stack the books neatly in the box on their side so that the weight is evenly distributed and so that the books do not shift in the box. Label the box and store it in a dry, out of the way place.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Sacramento employs a staff of over 40 Full-Time Movers and Drivers, with a fleet of 10 trucks. We have performed home and business moving services in and around the Greater Sacramento area for almost 10 years. Our award winning services include full service moving and packing services and we also sells boxes and packing supplies.

With comments or questions contact Carolyn Durkee, Marketing Coordinator at the Sacramento office of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® at 916-852-7411 or contact us here.

Sacramento Movers Explain How To Determine What Size Truck You Need

So you have decided to do a self-move and need to determine what size of rental truck to get. Truck rental companies such as U-Haul, Budget and Enterprise often offer several different sizes to choose from including cargo vans, 10 foot trucks and 24 foot trucks as well as trailers and even pods. Ultimately you will want to choose a truck that will fit all of your belongings however not too big as you don’t want to spend more than you need to on renting a bigger truck.

(Photo Credit: Catskill)

Truck rental companies may offer their own breakdown of how much should fit in a moving truck. The cubic feet of the items to be moved is the determining factor for the truck size. But how do you know how many cubic feet your items add up to? Don’t grab the measuring stick yet! Just use the number of rooms as a guide. See the chart below.

Number of Rooms	Cubic Feet	Truck Size
Small number of items	150	10’
1-2	300	12’
2	450	14’
3	600	16’
3-4	850	18’
4-5	1000	20-22’’
5+	1,200	24’-26’

Even this chart may seem a little vague to you. If you have four rooms how will you know if you need an 18 foot truck or a 22 foot truck? This is when it’s important to take a survey of your belongings. Do you have especially large or oddly shaped items such as a pool table or workout equipment? Did you overlook any times not counted in your rooms such as patio furniture or a storage shed? If in doubt, plan for extra space.

Additionally some rental companies only carry a few standard sizes such as a 10 foot, 16 foot, 20 foot and a 26 foot. If this is the case, figure out what size truck you need on the calculator above and choose the next bigger size when selecting a rental truck.

If you are going a long distance it is especially important to have a large enough truck as it will not be possible to go back for a second load. Also diesel fuel is cheaper than gasoline so you can actually save money by using a larger truck fueled by diesel.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Sacramento employs a staff of over 40 Full-Time Movers and Drivers, with a fleet of 10 trucks. We have performed home and business moving services in and around the Greater Sacramento area for almost 10 years. Our award winning services include full service moving and packing services and we also sells boxes and packing supplies.

With comments or questions contact Carolyn Durkee, Marketing Coordinator at the Sacramento office of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® at 916-852-7411 or contact us here.