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Home inventory checklist — free printable PDF, room by room
Ten rooms, what tends to be in each, what to write down about it, and ruled space to write it in. Print it, walk the house with a pen, and fill it in. Nothing here needs an app, an account or an address to send it to.
Or print this page — it is laid out for paper as well as for a screen.
Four things worth knowing first
- Photograph the thing, not the room
- A wide shot of a living room proves a living room existed. A photograph of the television, close enough to read the badge, proves the television did.
- The serial number is usually on a plate
- Back or underside for televisions and monitors; underneath for laptops; inside the door for refrigerators and washing machines; on the motor housing for power tools; stamped under the bottom bracket for bicycles.
- Write down what you paid, not what you think it is worth now
- The figure you can support is the one you have a receipt or a bank line for. Guesses are still worth writing down — mark them as guesses.
- Do it in passes
- One room an evening is a week for a house. Trying to do all of it at once is how these lists end up half finished in a drawer.
Living room
Write down: The television and sound system: make, model and the serial from the back panel. Sofas, rugs and curtains rarely have a serial, so write what it is, where it came from and what you paid, and let a photograph do the identifying.
- Television and whatever it is mounted on
- Sound system, speakers, games console
- Sofa, armchairs, coffee table
- Rugs, curtains and blinds
- Pictures, prints and anything framed
- Lamps and light fittings you paid for
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kitchen
Write down: Large appliances carry a rating plate with make, model and serial — inside the door or on the frame for refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines, behind or under the door for ovens. Small appliances: make and model from the base. Sets as sets, with a count.
- Refrigerator, cooker, oven, extractor
- Dishwasher, washing machine, dryer
- Microwave, kettle, toaster, coffee machine, mixer
- Pans, knives and anything bought as a set
- Dinner service, glassware, cutlery
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dining room
Write down: Furniture as sets — "dining chairs, 6, oak" with one figure. China, crystal and silver: the pattern name and the maker's mark from the underside, where there is one.
- Table and chairs
- Sideboard, dresser, cabinets
- China, crystal, silver
- Light fitting over the table
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bedrooms
Write down: Jewellery and watches one piece per line, each with a photograph and any valuation or certificate. Watches often carry a case serial on the back. Clothing by category with a count and a rough figure, not garment by garment.
- Bed, mattress, wardrobe, chest of drawers
- Jewellery and watches — item by item, not "jewellery"
- Clothing by category, and coats separately
- Shoes, handbags, luggage
- Televisions and anything else plugged in
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Home office or study
Write down: Serial numbers for anything with one: underneath laptops, on the back of monitors and printers, on the base plate of camera bodies. Order confirmation emails carry the exact model and the date you bought it.
- Computers, monitors, printer, network kit
- Desk, chair, shelving, filing
- Cameras, lenses, microphones, instruments
- Books, if there are enough of them to matter
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bathroom and utility
Write down: Mostly make, model and a rough figure. Dryers and dehumidifiers have a rating plate with the serial, usually around the door or on the back.
- Cabinets, mirrors, heated rails
- Electric toothbrushes, shavers, hair tools
- Scales, air purifiers, dehumidifiers
- Towels and linen as a set
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Garage, shed and outbuildings
Write down: Bicycles: make, model and the frame number stamped under the bottom bracket, where the cranks pass through. Power tools: the serial from the motor housing. Hand tools by the boxful, with a count.
- Bicycles — make, model and frame number
- Power tools and hand tools
- Lawnmower, strimmer, pressure washer, ladders
- Sports and camping equipment
- Spare tyres, roof boxes, car kit
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Loft, basement and storage
Write down: Count and describe rather than itemise — "two hard-shell suitcases", "four boxes of seasonal decorations" — and give anything individually valuable a line of its own and a photograph.
- Suitcases and trunks
- Seasonal decorations
- Furniture kept in reserve
- Photograph albums, archives, keepsakes
- Hobby and craft equipment
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Outdoors
Write down: Make and model for barbecues, heaters, mowers and play equipment, from the plate or sticker on the frame. Furniture as a set, with what you paid for it.
- Garden furniture and parasols
- Barbecue, fire pit, heaters
- Planters, statuary, water features
- Play equipment and trampolines
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Anywhere in the house
Write down: Instruments: maker, model and serial — inside the sound hole on acoustic guitars, on the headstock or neck plate on electrics. Art: artist, title and size. Collections: a count and a total, with the valuable pieces on lines of their own.
- Musical instruments
- Artwork and anything inherited
- Collections — stamps, coins, records, models
- Rugs that move between rooms
- Tools and kit borrowed from nobody in particular
| Item | Make, model, serial number | What you paid | Photo | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
When the sheet is full
A filled-in checklist is already worth more than nothing, and it is enough on its own. Keep it somewhere that is not the house it describes, and photograph the pages when you finish — a minute's work that turns one fragile copy into two.
What insurers ask for
There is no universal form; the exact request depends on the insurer and the policy. What the requests share is a shape, and the columns on this sheet follow it: one object per line, described so a stranger can tell it apart — what it is, make and model, serial number, when you got it, what you paid — with a photograph, a receipt or a bank statement line behind it.
The field-by-field version, and what to do if something has already happened with no list at all: what an adjuster actually asks for.
Doing it in an app instead
Paper cannot hold the photographs and the receipts, and those are the parts that turn a list into evidence. Roomkeep does the same walk through the house with a camera, keeps each photo and receipt attached to the thing it belongs to, and prints a report like this one at the end.
One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac. The free version covers one property, one room and thirty items.
Weighing apps first? See which home inventory apps are one purchase and which are subscriptions.
