My advice is to:
1) find a newer storage facility- might even be in a nicer area of town than the traditional ones in the industrial part of town.
2) Don't go with one with has 24 hour access, but rather choose one that can only be accessed when staff is there.
3) Go in and ask to see some empty units- some have much more headroom than others and this can make a huge difference in storage capacity.
We stored EVERYTHING a couple years ago when our rental was sold out from under us and we did not have a place to live. All wood furniture was wrapped in blankets, upholstered furniture was "saran-wrapped." Having a taller storage unit (see #3 above) allowed us to do a lot of stacking- put good furniture up on other things. Anything of value should be put up on cinder blocks or something similar- just in case of flood.
Also, when you pack the unit, do it in waves if you can. Start with the stuff you definitely don't need and work your way to stuff that you might want to get out of storage at some point. For me, things like books and collectible toys went in the back- these were things I had no immediate need for at any time, and things like tools and other gadgets that we knew we would probably want first went in at the end.
Our rent charged directly to our CC, which was very handy. I found the entire experience of having to store our stuff very easy. A family friend owned a storage facility and said it is rare that theft occurs, but DH worked with a guy last year who had his unit cleaned out by thieves. In that case they determined it had to be an inside job, so theft is not something you should worry a whole lot about. FWIW, we did buy extra insurance to cover our stuff while it was in storage- I think it was an extra $20/month, but worth the peace of mind to me.
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