Fall DIY Storage

Hey there!

The turkey has been put away, you've had one (three) slices of pie and you're beginning to doze on the sofa. Don't completely doze off. You have things to think about. I know that you've just had your corn bread dressing and cranberry sauce but it's time to think about putting the Thanksgiving decor away.

Don't look at me like that! It's time to think about holiday decor and you can't think about putting up trees and wreaths and reindeer stuff until you put away all of your pumpkins and random leaves. I know that it seems too soon but folks, you have 29 days until Christmas, 26 days until Hanukkah and 30 days until Kwanza! If you plan on decorating for your holiday, you need to take down the decorations you currently have up.

I know that not everyone lives seasonally but if you are like me and decorate for the seasons, you need to have a process for storing those goodies. I have several ways that I currently store my seasonal products.

I have a ton of floral items that I use for fall projects. I struggled for a long time when it came to floral storage. A few years ago I came up with the perfect storage solution. I use under the bed storage boxes!

I picked mine up from Target during one of the storage sales (probably in January or February so keep your eyes peeled) for about six bucks or so. I only needed one for fall floral and there's room left over for a few extra things. If you have space, you can store them under a bed or you can do what I do and keep all of your under the bed storage containers in the corner of a room with a sheet or cover over it and use it as a table! Yeah, I'm classy like that.

I like seasonal kitchen towels, napkins, table cloths and table runners. I think that are fun to change out and add a special touch to your space. When it's time to put everything away, they do double duty as packing material. I wrap my delicate fall ornaments and trinkets in kitchen towels so that they are safe from breaking.

I always have paper pads that I use for each season. I purchase 12 X 12 paper pads and kits mostly. When I decide on a project I'll pull some of the sheets of paper out of the paper pads and work on the project. When it's over, I usually have whole pages or pieces of pages left over. Recently I found an easy way to keep up with the loose papers. The Dollar Tree has Stor It Large Plastic Storage Bags with Handles that come 3 to a pack. The bags are 15" X 15" so they fit 12" X 12" loose papers easily. Because they were at Dollar Tree, you're paying $.33 each. I use these bags to hold all of my loose papers for a project or a season. They are very strong and so easy to store. You just put them in your storage box.

Yep, I use a storage box for each holiday. I use a Sterilite 72 Qt Storage Tote for my seasonal decor storage. I try to pick them out in colors that correspond to the holiday. My Halloween box is orange, my Christmas boxes (yes, plural) are red and green, my fall one is gray. I normally pick them up after the season for a discount. Most of my decorations can fit in just one box. Christmas decorations need a few more boxes. I also have some totes that have several holidays in them.

I have my paper crafting supplies in it's on container. I picked up a shoe box from Dollar Tree and all of my washi tape, ribbons, stamps, die cuts, etc., go into the container. It closes securely and I picked up some box tags and labeled the box so it's easy to grab.

When you have seasonal storage it's easy to get your things out for decorating and when it's time to put them back, you already have a place for them to go. I often add new decorations but I always purge things out so the boxes don't have to get any bigger.

What is your storage solution? Have you thought about it? Are you thinking about it now? This is the perfect time to pick up a storage tube and get busy!