Organizing, Redesign & Staging

Monday, December 29, 2008

Dismantling Christmas

Another Christmas, another dismantling and putting away of all the holiday decor. Arrgh...not a fun activity, but necessary nonetheless. We took down the Xmas tree yesterday, which meant neatly wrapping lights and placing ornaments in their bins. This is followed by vacuuming up pine needles and putting furniture back where it belongs. Today will be the rest of the holiday decorations inside, and then when my husband can help, the outdoor stuff.

To make things easier and more user-friendly, I set it up so that putting things away from Christmas is fairly mindless. All the bins are labeled by room and one bin is labeled "Christmas Tree Decorations". Here's how my storage system works:
  • Living room: we have a couple of Rubbermaid tubs that hold stockings, Xmas CDs and DVDs, decorative items I keep in that room

  • Kitchen/Dining room: these bins house the ceramic "Dickens Village"-type buildings, linens, holiday plates, mugs, and decorative items I display in those rooms
  • Everything that goes into decorating the tree is contained in one long, large bin -- but all the ornaments are stored within that bin in 3 special plastic ornament holder boxes [see pic].

  • I label the outside of the bins with additional information like labels for "Xmas cards" so I can grab those first (since I prepare the cards early)

  • Using large Ziploc bags, I put garland, ribbons et al that go on a specific place, i.e. along the banister and then label the bag. Next year, I can grab the bag and I know exactly where the contents go.

  • Another bin for outside decor holds garland for the mailbox, sheds, front and side doorway areas plus a special wreath holder [see pic].