Must-Haves We’re Bringing To The Rental

The must-have items we’re bringing to the rental for 5-6 months during our home renovation – and what we’re leaving behind! Check out this post if you missed the announcement about our home renovation in lieu of deciding to move.

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I am so excited and grateful that we’re able to do this big renovation after many years of thinking about it, but gosh – it’s strange to be to not being living in our home.

But we are very lucky to have found such a perfect house to live in these next 5 months. The rental is so charming! The décor is very “English cottage” with lots of china and linen. It’s 3 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms all on 1 floor. Just enough space for the four of us (plus Gus!).

We spent all last week moving all the small stuff into the rental and all of the big stuff into our basement while the top two floors of our home undergo the reno.

Our new cottage is a monthly rental that is furnished as if it were an Airbnb, so we have pretty much everything we need minus clothes and toys. But of course there are those “comforts of home” that we had to bring along, mostly in the kitchen!

We’re finally somewhat settled in, and so I thought I’d share what must-have items we brought with us, and what we left behind tucked somewhere into the nooks and crannies of our basement.

Of course, if we need anything that we forgot, we’re thankfully only a few minutes away.

What we brought:

Coffee Grinder and Coffee Maker: While there IS a coffee maker at the cottage, we are used to and addicted to ours and all of its settings. Plus our new Burr grinder is now a must-have! So we brought both of these with us.

Caraway Pans – Read this post for my full review! We are obsessed with our cookware. We decided to use our set and we have tucked away the cottage’s main pieces.

Vitamix: We use our Vitamix blender all of the time for smoothies. It was definitely a top kitchen item we couldn’t do without – there is no other blender like it!

Dyson Vacuum: Between the kids and the dog, I end up using our Dyson a couple times per day! This was a no-brainer to bring, and I do not do well with cords, haha. Only problem is we don’t have a great built-in spot for it.

Air Purifiers: White noise and clean air are two of Thomas’s top priorities of life.

1/2 of my clothes: I packed away half of my clothes. One half of those are mid-winter styles I probably won’t need between March and September, but the other 25%? Those are just my least favorites. This will be a great test to see if I even allow them back into the new closet at the end!

Everything in our pantry: Despite trying to plan pantry meals for months, we are still moving way too much stuff! But we gotta use it up one way or another. I left behind a can of pumpkin that doesn’t expire until 2024. It will be waiting for me for in the fall!

Kids’ Toys and Activities: We brought too many, but might as well since they have to be stored anyways. And the boys’ rooms have decent storage with big empty closets. I left any messy arts and crafts at home, and we brought puzzles, games, and essential toys.

Toiletries: Of course I brought our Beautycounter essentials. I am very excited about the storage solutions in our rental – so pretty on display!

Our Couch: A big fluffy family couch is a must have!! The sofa that was in the cottage has been relocated to our bedroom and we brought our big sectional. It doesn’t look as great in the space, but it will serve us well for 5 months of kid snuggling and nighttime TV watching.

What we left behind:

Plants: Luckily the plants can live outside all summer long!

Winter Clothes: We are again lucky this is all going down during the summer, so no need to lug our boots, coats, hats and mittens. But that does mean all of our swim gear had to come!

Dishes: Our house is totally furnished with dishes and silverware, so ours are all going in the basement.

Electric Kettle: We were excited the rental has one!

Linens: We’re leaving our favorite sheets behind, as the house is fully stocked with sheets and towels. I’m so excited because the homeowner has really nice linen bedding in all the rooms!

Mattress: Gosh we wanted to bring our Tempur-pedic so badly, but we were so happy to discover that the cottage’s mattress is a new organic one and it’s nice and firm! YAY.

Big Toys / Extra toys: We sent some of these to our in-laws so they boys have toys there and we didn’t have to store them. The train set and the (dreaded) hot wheels set are both there.

Other things I can go without for 6 months: nail polish set, single-use appliances like our rice cooker, half my jewelry, cords, batteries, our printer, and more!

Peloton: Even if we’d had the space, I’m not sure we would have brought it. While I love our Peloton bike and have been using it 2-3 times a week since we purchased it during the pandemic, we’re leaving it back at home. I will rely on our gym membership for the next several months, and I might drop by the house on my way home from preschool for a morning ride.