Ways to Store That Holiday Decor!

December 26, 2018

If you pull out all the stops to decorate every holiday season, you may already have decoration storage down to an art form. But, for the rest of us who cobble together ribbons, ornaments, wreaths and lights every year – we need a little help from the experts – who are only too eager to offer advice!

Creating Tree Ornament Order

Family Handyman has a DIY solution for fragile holiday ornaments using a see-through plastic bin from just about anywhere, and six-ounce plastic cups. Using cardboard to separate the layers, you can stack and label these bins for storage in your basement or garage. 

If you’d rather have ready-made divider storage, the Aurora Target (Saddle Rock Village on S. Gartrell) and Kohl’s (Arapahoe Crossing S. Parker Rd.) both carry see-through plastic bins that divide and protect up to 128 ornaments for less than $15. You can spend more on Amazon – the bestsellers there are about the same price and if you’re a Prime member – you can have it on your front door step before the New Year.

Better Homes and Gardens offers ideas on how to store everything from garland and candles to holiday décor of odd shapes and sizes. And Refined Rooms has free holiday storage labels for the printing!

Beads, Paper and Lights

For long strings of outdoor lights, Family Handyman suggest using a hose reel to keep the lights from getting tangled and making them easier to hang next year. Laura the Tip Junkie says to store long stringed beads used for garland, just use an empty plastic water bottle. The come out the same way they go in – untangled and untwisted!

Rachel at The Chic Site found that instead of stashing rolls of paper willy-nilly around the house (or under the bed like we’ve been known to do), use a plastic garment bag and keep them in your closet. And Good Housekeeping used aluminum cans and coffee cans to wind unwieldy strings of lights. Check it out.

The ingenious organizers at DIY Network took small six-inch cones placed in the bottom of a plastic storage bin and used them to figure-eight wrap mini-LED lights to keep the strands separate and hassle-free come holiday season 2019!

Six more genius ideas from the Network repurpose items you already have or might regularly throw away. These include hanging wreaths in a children’s garment bag; and using cardboard beverage trays and coffee cup sleeves to cushion breakable ornaments. 

Tree Storage 

Never re-hang another ornament or garland on your artificial Christmas tree with this crazy-clever idea from Hometalk. Using that stretchy plastic wrap you get to protect your furniture when moving, this YouTube video shows you how to wrap up your tree, ornaments and all, to store and unwrap next year. If you have the storage space to store your tree upright, this might be the easiest tree storage idea, ever.

For a little more protection, just head to Lowe’s on E. Wheatlands Pkwy. The home improvement store carries 7.5-foot and 9-foot rolling storage bags for your tree that don’t cost an arm and a leg – or a branch and a trunk. If you’re looking for bags to store your disassembled tree, you can get one from Amazon for less than $20.

Toy Storage – Swoop!

If Christmas and Hanukkah or Kwanzaa at your house resulted in a few more toys for the littles, here’s a brilliant invention to keep things contained. Does everyone know about swoop bags? It’s a way to keep small children’s small play things in a bag — that doubles as a play mat – and a swoop bag makes for quick clean up and storage. From $20 to $50 on Amazon or make your own from this pattern provided by Swoopbags.com. 

You can pick up collapsible canvas cubes at the DollarTree on S. Gartrell Rd., about 10 minutes from Southshore – which work for both holiday décor and toys. And these cylindrical bins by 3 Sprouts are another option – lightweight and convenient – they make for quick toy clean-up. They fold so you can store them easily when not in use and are decorated with cute felt animal appliques which make it easier to keep different kinds of toys separated without added labeling.

For more (like 58 more!) genius toy storage ideas, check out Morning Chores for organization inspiration!

New Year, Newly Organized in Southshore!

It’s that time of year to return our homes to the year round or winter décor popular in the master-planned community of Southshore! Check out the flavor of new homes here that you can help design by touring the ultimate in model homes from Toll Brothers, Richmond American Homes or Century Communities. Available in ranch and two-story designs, Southshore homes are priced between the upper $300s and the $700s.