Self Storage Blog
Armadillo Hull nominated for Business in the Community award.
The team at Armadillo Self Storage Hull have been nominated for a Hull Daily Mail business award as recognition for the work they do in their local community. The team were shortlisted for the competitive “Business in the Community” award for their work for “Life for a Kid”, a local charity that offers support to children who require life-changing operations.
Armadillo Hull has been supporting the local charity for four years by offering free storage space – just one of many charities the team supports.
John Colley, a member of the team, also provides resource for other local charities and offers training and merchandise tips for local charity stores. John was individually recognised with an “Outstanding contribution” award.
We’re really proud of the team’s great work. They certainly looked the part at the ceremony!
Top tips for how to best store your wine at home
Here at Big Yellow we’re known for storing your belongings – but did you know that we also offer 500 climate-controlled rooms to store your treasured wine collection? Whether you have 15 or 500 bottles we have the space to keep your whites chilled, reds full of flavour and your fizz… sparkling!
Whether you’ve been given a case for posterity, a bottle to mark a milestone or you’re preparing for a special event – make sure you’re wine is looked after at home.
We’ve put together some top tips from our wine expert Matthew Wicksteed to help you store your wine at home.
1. Stay cool
Wine doesn’t like heat and temperatures higher than 21° C will age it more quickly than necessary. If it gets much hotter your wine might get “cooked,” resulting in flat aromas and flavours. The ideal temperature range to store wine is between 7° C to 18° C. At Big Yellow we restrict the climate of our Wine Cellars to 12° C with a humidity at about 70%.
2. Stay cool but not for too long
Keeping wines in your fridge at home is fine for up to a couple months, but long term, this temperature could cause corks to dry out due to the lack of moisture. This will increase the risk of air seeping into the bottles and damaging the wine. The kitchen is the least suitable place to store wine (although most people do store it here) as it has the greatest heat fluctuation.
3. Keep a consistent temperature
Sudden changes of temperature are permanently damaging. On top of cooked flavours, the expansion and contraction of the liquid inside the bottle might push the cork out or cause seepage. So where possible, make sure you’re storing wine in a place that has a constant temperature.
4. Turn the lights off
As well as heat, light – especially sunlight – can pose a threat to the long-term storage of wine. The sun’s UV rays can degrade and prematurely age wine which is why it comes in coloured glass bottles to protect the liquid from sunlight.
5. Lay back
Bottles that have corks should be stored at a 45° angle in order to keep the liquid up against the cork, which (theoretically) stops the cork from drying out. If you’re planning on drinking these bottles in the near to mid-term, or if the bottles have alternative closures (screw caps, glass or plastic corks), this isn’t necessary.
For more information on storing wine, or if you would like to learn more about the storage we offer at our Wine Cellars in Fulham, visit our website.
The Chiswick Crew Have Muddy Good Fun
After weeks of training, a team of six brave souls from the Big Yellow store in Chiswick took part in Push it for the Peace, a demanding five mile obstacle course in aid of the Peace Hospice in Watford.
The gruelling challenge saw Nikki, Gino, Aqua, Darren, Anna and Ali climbing, crawling, swinging and splashing their way through miles of testing obstacles set around Cassiobury Park, Watford.
Nikki Wilson, Big Yellow charity co-ordinator, comments: “This is the second time this year that we have been involved in this terrific initiative and it is a cause that we feel extremely passionate about. We will continue our support to help the charity reach their targets. The mud won’t defeat us!”
Each year The Peace Hospice aims to raise £3.8 million in order to run and develop their services, which are free to patients and families. They continue to provide care for those people across South West Herts with life limiting illnesses.
Well done to the team for raising almost £700 for this fantastic cause!
Big Yellow’s Big Battle in 100K Charity Run
Ali Velayat from Big Yellow Chiswick is the toast of the store after raising £700 for Macmillan Cancer Care, as part of a gruelling London to Brighton running challenge.
Ali, store manager, took on the punishing test, covering over 100 kilometres and 1,400 metres of ascent on varied terrain completing the race in 12 hours and 47 minutes – far ahead of the other 1,750 competitors.
Starting in Richmond Upon Thames, the route headed south into the suburbs of London, then on through the heart of Surrey and Sussex, over the South Downs towards the finish line in Brighton.
Well done, Ali, from all at Big Yellow!
Key to a happy home? Clear out some space for a Man Cave
Enjoyed by the likes of Hollywood heartthrobs, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, the trend of the ‘Man Cave’ is also taking off in the homes of Brits. In a recent survey we commissioned, 61% of British men say they have created their own ‘Man Cave’ in their home.
Any why are they creating this space? Over a third (36%) of men say that they are at the end of their tether from arguing with their partner at least once or twice a week about the space their possessions take up.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. 79% of men believe that having a place where they can store their possessions and indulge in their pastimes is actually beneficial to their relationship – this sentiment was mirrored by 60% of women, despite 40% worrying that a ‘Man Cave’ is merely a place for their partner to hoard unnecessary belongings.
Anthony Chenery, Head of Marketing & Ecommerce, says: “With a rise in the number of couples co-habiting, space is more precious than ever and men are demanding a private sanctuary to call their own.”
Anjula Mutanda, counseling psychologist believes that it’s important for men to have their own retreat. She says: “Couples often don’t see eye to eye when it comes to the possessions that take up household space, which leads to tension and arguments. Both men and women can benefit from this time apart. Why? Because this freedom and space is key to a healthy and balanced relationship.”
Men are most likely to use their ‘man space’ to stash books (51%), a TV (34%), comics and magazines (31%), old gadgets (30%) e.g. mobile phone and computers, music collection (29%) and games console/s (26%).
So think of Big Yellow Self Storage units as the spare room you’ve always wanted – whether that’s to de-clutter to make space for a Man Cave, or to use our facilities as ‘man spaces’ in themselves.
Whatever your needs, we have a range of safe and secure storage spaces, from the size of a wardrobe to a warehouse, for as little or long as you need.
Upcycling objects from the home or workplace by Richard Bloomfield at The Workplace Depot
Upcycling is the process of using something that is worn out or broken and making something better and more useful from it. Whereas ‘recycling’ is about taking waste and producing new raw materials, upcycling is about creating a new and useful product. Both are important in reducing waste and landfill as well as making better use of the dwindling resources of the planet. Before throwing anything substantial away from your home or place of work, always have a quick think about whether it can be recycled, or better still upcycled into something new and useful.
In this article I have found a few examples of some imaginative and creative ways that people have used objects to make something interesting rather than throwing them away.
In the world of art and design many people are looking towards ‘upcycling’ for inspiration – and of course a very cheap source of raw materials. There is probably not a town or city in the country where you could not go within a few hundred yards of a supermarket (or a river) and find a discarded, rusting and wheel-less trolley. A design company in Bedford have come up with a stylish shopping trolley chair which took pride of place in Prince Charles’ eco home at the Ideal Home Show 2011. It may not be to everyone’s taste but you couldn’t argue with it being a great talking piece in any home and is a wonderfully creative use of one of the most commonly discarded items on the planet!
Although you are unlikely to find a car engine lying around, if you do you could perhaps use it to make a coffee table. An original Rover V8 has been chrome powder-coated and set on ball and socket height adjustable feet with a toughened safety glass top – amazing!
Sticking with a design theme, one of the hottest items in the fashion world at the moment are book clutch purses. The example below shows Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with the inner cavity lined with wading, gold satin fabric, purple headed pins and lilac velvet ribbon edging to finish off the look. Although they require considerable time and effort plus trial and error to make, they are certainly a beautiful way to re-purpose something which could otherwise just be collecting dust on a book shelf or in a box in the loft.
On a less glamorous note, an area that is fertile territory for the avid upcycler is the commonplace door stop. The idea here is to find something fairly small and heavy and which you would not expect to be used as a door stop. Talk about money for old rope (old bricks, old hammers etc).
The grey metal filing cabinet is an icon of the pre-computerised office and a good example of an object that gets tossed away on the scrap heap. However, with a little bit of paint, some self-adhesive vinyl and multi-coloured film, the cabinet is completely transformed into something that you would actually want in your home and would be highly useful.
One Friday afternoon we sat in the office and decided if we could make something interesting out of an old kick step that someone was about to throw out. It was a struggle but as we had a Dr Who fan in our midst we set about re-making the kick step into a Dalek. An old hexagonal recycling bin (ironically!), some cardboard, blue paper and the mandatory toilet plunger later and we had a working Dalek.
Ok, the Dalek wasn’t great but it certainly glided beautifully and managed to go downstairs when we pushed it! There are some brilliant examples of other creative and innovative examples of upcycling – if you do a search for ‘upcycling’ on Pinterest you’ll see some wonderful images and possibly even our Dalek.
Richard Bloomfield is website editor for The Workplace Depot.
Big Yellow Chelmsford add a touch of colour to Farleigh Hospice’s summer.
A team from Big Yellow gave up their free time this month to help out the Farleigh Hospice in Chelmsford with some DIY painting. Matt, Dave, George, Hayley and Samantha set to work painting the walls in the hospice’s private gardens. These tranquil areas are hugely important to the hospice, providing a welcoming and peaceful place for people to visit.
The Farleigh Hospice is one of Big Yellow’s chosen charities which provides hospice care to people affected by life limiting illnesses across mid Essex. Since being established in 1982, the hospice and its team of healthcare professionals has grown and evolved to meet the needs of the community it serves.
Find out more about the charity here www.farleighhospice.org
Big Yellow Swindon get on their bikes in aid of Cystic Fibrosis
The team at Big Yellow Swindon recently took on the challenge of cycling the distance from London to Paris in aid of Cystic Fibrosis…on exercise bikes!
Mark, James and Gemma, along with Jon, Anthony and Justin from removal company, Robbins Removals, joined forces to cycle a staggering 212 miles between them. The feat was supported by Fit 4 Less who kindly donated two exercise bikes for the team to complete their challenge.
All six participants are hugely proud of completing their bike ride in just 16 hours and 40 minutes and have raised over £800 for Cystic Fibrosis.
Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK’s most common life-threatening inherited diseases with over 9,000 people in the UK affected.
Big Yellow Watford Push it for The Peace Hospice
The Big Yellow team in Watford are in strict training after entering “Push it for Peace,” a five mile obstacle course in aid of The Peace Hospice. The challenge sees participants climbing and crawling through a series of obstacles in Cassiobury Park, Watford, the muddiest course in Hertfordshire.
The Peace Hospice cares for people across South West Hertfordshire living with life-limiting or terminal illnesses and provides support for their families. They offer care, outpatient and family services, therapy and a hospice-at-home service.
Each year The Peace Hospice aims is to raise £3.8 million in order to run and develop their services, which is free to patients and families.
With the support of Big Yellow customers the team are keen to help the charity reach their target, led by the area charity co-ordinator, Nikki.
You can make a donation at the Just Giving page.
Big Yellow and The Southwark Tigers visit the House of Lords
Big Yellow is proud sponsor of the Southwark Tigers, the first inner city rugby club for young people in England.
On the 10th April, we were lucky enough to be invited to the House of Lords, where Lord Tim Clement-Jones held a reception for some of the players, parents and sponsors, thanking them for all the work they do for the club.
The founder of the Southwark Tigers, Vernon Neve-Dunn, says: “Our parents were pleased to be recognised for the work that they do for the club. And it was great for me to be able to thank your company personally.” The children also performed the ‘Tigers Haka’, a dance they want to do pre-match.
For more information about the Southwark Tigers click here.
