Storage for holiday/seasonal decor

Zsazsa · ‎09-27-2015

Hoping the decor gurus here can give me some advice... we downsized from our two homes to the smaller home. Our plan is to move to a condo in the next 2-3 years that will actually have more living space than the home we are currently living in...but may not offer much more in the way of storage space.

Currently, my decor items are in a storage unit that they share with items I need to store for my business. The individual items are mostly stored in the boxes that they came in... so for example, QVC items are in cardboard boxes with styrofoam. Those take up much more room than if I were to purchase sterilite containers and pack more items in plastic containers wrapped in bubble wrap or protective foam wrap.

I believe that they are more well protected in the original packaging, but by condensing I believe it will take up much less space. My goal is to be able to store all of my decor at the condo... but if by condensing, items get broken or ruined, it’s pointless.

So my question is ...do you store things individually in the original packaging ...or do you repack items in plastic containers ... and which method would you recommend?

I love the idea of storing items in closets or the rooms that they are displayed in, but that system probably won’t work for us, unfortunately.

Any input is appreciated.

Kitlynn · ‎03-09-2010

We store all of ours in heavy duty plastic tubs. I use bubble wrap for everything. Now, I don't wrap each thing in bubble wrap I layer it in between items. For example I put a layer of ornaments then a sheet of bubble wrap then another layer of ornaments. It works great and nothing ever gets broken. I do the same thing with all of the decorations and it works great.

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

Suggestions:

1. Edit your collection and keep only the things you love.

2. Repack in plastic bins after wrapping in bubble wrap. Label each bin with contents.

3. Quit buying.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

meallen616 · ‎01-10-2013

@Kachina624,

Love suggestion #3. I should tell some friends of mine who are downsizing the exact thing!

FranandZoe · ‎03-09-2010

Mine are stored kind of 1/2 in the original containers and 1/2 in plastic bins and boxes. The items in bins are wrapped individually in newspaper, tissue, or bubble wrap. The larger items I keep in the original containers. I also have tons of ornaments - mine and my Moms wrapped in tissue then stored in boxes. I honesly have over a thousand. If I were to move to a condo I'd have to eliminate a lot of this stuff. By the way - I have three Christmas trees - two I decorate. I keep most of it in a huge closet under our stairs. Some in the garage on a shelving unit. Good luck!

AuntG · ‎03-09-2010

Some of both for me. Things like hurricane lanterns go back in original packages. Plastic items are lightly wrapped and put in Rubbermaid tubs. Next week I plan to go through the basement shelving and sort what is stored down there.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Right now, if things have to stay in storage, I would advise leaving them in their original boxes with the packing materials as they are. They won't be better protected than that, in my opinion.

When you move (or before you move, if you really want to come to grips with just how much space these things are going to take up stored differently) you will want to spend the time to unpack them and try your new ideas.

Storing things in plastic tubs, like seasons together, with some kind of soft cloth or bubble wrap does indeed save a lot of space compared to those original boxes. That was the first thing I did to make more space.

The problem can be that if most of your things are very fragile and need lots of wrapping that takes up a lot of space in the containers. Also if storing this way, be sure heavy things are in the bottom of the container, lighter things on top. and don't pack the container so tight that the lid is hard to get on. If you do, you may crush things when stacking the tubs or containers.

Once you get to the final home, you may find that simply laying towels or of bubble wrap between layers of decor in the tubs will be sufficient (and you will get a lot more in each tub). It will depend on how delicate the things are, but when the tubs won't be moved often, then things should do just fine.

I was running short of storage space for my Christmas items and had switched to tubs with wrap for a few years, but decided to try and save steps and stress, and purchased a few storage ottomans plus I already had a couple of trunks I used in my decorating, and I moved a lot of my Christmas into those items, right in the room where the decor is used. I simply layer the pieces with towels in between.

So decor items are in the room they are used, they are stored in things that double as furniture. I highly recommend if your storage space is going to be getting limited, to consider looking at things like trunks, storage ottomans etc. to use as furniture pieces (there are some really pretty ones that make great coffee tables) to help extend the space you will want or need.

Also an idea, should you have the space, would be to have some shelving in a basement or big closet, and set decor pieces that you work in and out of your home on a regular basis simply sitting on the shelves, organized by type or season or whatever works for you. No tubs, no wrap, no boxes. I'm thinking more every day decor, not Christmas things.

You can see exactly what you have, access it easily, and change decor more often. It also prevents one from over buying, as you can see at a glance what you have and how much you have (and how much space you do or don't have left).

This last suggestion won't work for everyone. If you don't have the space to do so, or have more than could fit easily on the shelves, it wouldn't be practical, but in a perfect world, it would be wonderful to see it all at a glance.

Zsazsa · ‎09-27-2015

Thank you so much for all of the great ideas and sharing your own 'best practices'! I really welcome these suggestions because I am ready to tackle this project... and with the bad weather we are having this winter, I might actually have the time ... but I am so uncertain about how to proceed. So any other ideas are most welcome!

@Kachina624...thank you...your advice made me laugh out loud! It's terrific advice, I'm afraid I won't be taking your third suggestion for some time to come ... I'm in the special events business and my husband owns a manufactuaring business... we often host clients in our home ... so it's important for our home environment to reflect our style and to stay current and on trend. I 'purge' and pare down regularly by giving items to guests who admire them ... to my family and friends ... to charity ... and just by plucking something from my home when it is needed for an event.

I'm sentimental ...but I also love new things... I have 4 Christmas ornaments from my childhood that I keep... yep, just 4. They mean a lot to me. I have a wreath that I made from ornaments from my Mom and Dad's first Christmas tree...they are both in Heaven now ... and a tree skirt that I made with my MIL when I was first married. I treasure those things. The rest ...it's all beautiful ... but they are just things. I take great care of my 'stuff', but I learned a long time ago that nothing lasts forever...except love, and even then, only in the best of circumstances!

@Mominohio...you should be a professional organizer ...or have your own HGTV show ... it would be a hit! I love your idea about storing items in the room that they are displayed in! And I really love the storing on shelving idea. The building we hope to move to has 20 units ... and a variety of floor plans. Usually only 1 or 2 units come up for sale in a year ... so we are waiting it out for the 'right one' so that this can be our last move. This takes patience! Ha! But several of the units have an area in the unit that can be used for storage in addition to the small storage space in the parking garage...so maybe I will be lucky and we will own one of those and then I could do the shelving system!

I'll keep all of you posted because I enjoy reading all of your posts so very much!

Susan Louise · ‎03-14-2010

wrote:
Hoping the decor gurus here can give me some advice... we downsized from our two homes to the smaller home. Our plan is to move to a condo in the next 2-3 years that will actually have more living space than the home we are currently living in...but may not offer much more in the way of storage space.

Currently, my decor items are in a storage unit that they share with items I need to store for my business. The individual items are mostly stored in the boxes that they came in... so for example, QVC items are in cardboard boxes with styrofoam. Those take up much more room than if I were to purchase sterilite containers and pack more items in plastic containers wrapped in bubble wrap or protective foam wrap.

I believe that they are more well protected in the original packaging, but by condensing I believe it will take up much less space. My goal is to be able to store all of my decor at the condo... but if by condensing, items get broken or ruined, it’s pointless.

So my question is ...do you store things individually in the original packaging ...or do you repack items in plastic containers ... and which method would you recommend?

I love the idea of storing items in closets or the rooms that they are displayed in, but that system probably won’t work for us, unfortunately.

Any input is appreciated.

@Zsazsa I personally don't like the storage method of using the packaging the decor came in and if I did that, the space the decor I purchase would take up 3+ times as much room. I store most decor in medium & lg tubs with bubble wrap. Some pieces are on shelves due to their height or the type of decor they are...ie., lanterns, bottle brush trees, luminara candles, handmade floral arrangements, etc...and it is all in our basement.

If I was moving, I would look at each decor piece and 1st ask myself if I was to buy it again, would I pay for it to be shipped to the next home...how often do you see yourself actually using 'fill in the blank' over the next few years...and lastly, besides loving 'it', does it earn it's keep? (the prime real estate it takes up)...do you actually use it?...does it ever see the light of day?

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

I totally understand wanting to keep the original boxes but they do take up a lot more room...If I were you I might decide what is really, really important and keep those boxes everything else I would wrap in bubble wrap.

I don't have a ton of storage, I keep most of the glass, fragile things in a closet in the spare bed room, wrapped in tissue or bubble wrap. I have not broken anything...well one thing but it was my fault, an old ornament slipped out of my hand and shattered, had nothing to do with storage issues.

I had coated, wire storage shelving put at the short end of the closet, the bottom is the floor and I can slide a large plastic container in there, there are two shelves....the shelves contain the other fragile things in smaller plastic storage containers. I also have 3 large containers in the garage tucked in a corner out of the way, and we have a standard 2 car garage, not a bit of extra space but those containers fit very nicely in the corner at the front of the garage,, DH's car has to be moved to get to them but it's Christmas stuff so I don't get into it often.

I have an unwritten rule, nothing new unless something goes because I just don't have the space. I have one container for Easter decorating and 2 for fall/summer. Fall summer is also in the garage.

I have seen in the home improvement store hanging storage..looks like a large piece of wood, or metal (not sure) hanging from the ceiling, in the garage. I like the look and I swear one of them was remote controlled, cause it could be an issue getting up there and getting the boxes down, especially if you are alone. The remote control would be the bomb!!