10 Storage and Organizing Ideas for Seasonal Decor and Crafts

Storage and Organization is something most of us are challenged by. Even more so when you’re a person who loves creativity and seasonal decor! Not everyone is made to be a minimalist. We creative types love change and thrive on switching up our surroundings; it feeds our souls! We love celebrating each season and holiday and have a hoard of supplies available for when the creative juices start flowing. Today I’m going to throw open the doors and divulge  my never-seen-before storage areas! (Yes, this is very scary;) Hopefully this “10 Storage and Organizing Ideas for Seasonal Decor and Crafts” will give you some ammunition to better your secret spaces!

10 Storage and Organizing Ideas for Seasonal Decor and Crafts

When Storing Seasonal Decor, Place Smaller Items in Larger Accessories

Your medium to larger accessories can be great spaces to store smaller items. Don’t just store them away empty! Picnic baskets are a great example. Many smaller items that you use for a similar season can be tucked safely away inside. I store my spring pottery flower pots and small pitchers in a vintage metal picnic basket. A plaid fall picnic basket is full of fabric pumpkins. They all come out for a new season, and get put away at the same time!

When Organizing Accessories, Store Items Made of the Same Material Together

Store wood boxes together, metal toolboxes near each other, etc. Then when you are styling a vignette and you need a wood box, for example, you can head right to that shelf. I call this “zoning”.  Each accessory grouping has it’s zone.

In my basement, I have plastic shelving from the home store. On different shelves I have zones of wood items, metal items, etc. I know right where those items need to be put away, and likewise know where they are when I need something for a vignette.

My ribbons are stored in drawers by color. If I’m wrapping a gift or need a length of ribbon for styling, I can go right to that colored drawer. By standing the ribbon spools, I can easily see what I have to choose from.

In my pantry, all the silver and metal pieces are together, way up at the top. I don’t use them often, but when I do, I know right where to access them.

In Storage, Group Items with the Same Purpose Together

Similar to the concept above, I store the accessories that have a similar purpose together. Candlesticks are all in one area on a shelf or in a cupboard, from brass to wood to pink. I have a plastic bin full of small to medium framed accessories that spans the seasons. Larger frames, from empty ones to needlepoint and paint by number canvases stand together vertically, so I can browse through them. All the seasons are organized together, so when I’m looking for a frame/art-type piece I know right where to look.

I have a drawer for animals and bugs, and another for bird-related items.

A general space for supplies is necessary, too. I have a drawer full of chenille stems, twine, clasps, wire, etc. Most of these supplies are for floral arranging and styling.

Beyond grouping items with the same purpose, it helps to color block them also:

Organize Similarly Seasonal Items Together

When you’re a seasonal decorator, it’s much easier if your seasonal accessories are stored in the same area. I’m a dish-a-holic and have a lot of plates and glassware. My spring oval platters and dishes that feature birds and flowers and eggs all get stored on a shelf in my pantry together. That way when spring shows it’s face, I can pull all those fun dishes out at the same time and not miss any!

Similarly, my fall pottery collection and other fall accessories get stored all together. Fall dishes and fall colored  glassware are also in cupboards with each other. I enlist my kitchen cupboards and pieces of furniture, like my dining room buffet.

Use Clear Storage Containers for Holiday Accessories

When you’re a seasonal decorator, there’s always fun little accessories you pick up secondhand that you love to incorporate into your vignettes. Clear storage containers are a great place to keep track of what you have. I have at least 1 under-bed type bin for each holiday. Everything from Easter eggs, Fourth of July-colored superballs and Valentine’s cookie cutters have their themed bin. These bins get stored in cupboards in the basement and can get pulled out whenever it’s time for that season.

There’s usually  some extras on top, too. Items that won’t fit into the bin, or items I’ve found after I put everything away and I’m too lazy to pull out the bin again. Nope…I’m far from perfect when it comes to organizing!

Organize Faux Flowers and Foliage by Color and Season

Often when you are putting together a display or vignette, you’re looking for a specific color of flowers or foliage. Or maybe you’re just wanting some neutral greenery. When you organize and store your faux flowers and foliage by color and season, it’s much easier to retrieve them when you need.

I have plastic, see through under bed-type storage bins organized like this:

• faux fruit
• faux vegetables
• white flowers
• blue and purple flowers
• pink flowers
• bright-colored flowers
• fall flowers (sunflowers, mums)
• fall foliage (leaves, mini haybales, nuts, acorns)
• feathers (spheres, boas, wreaths)
• all season greenery
• winter greenery (this doesn’t include any Christmas)
• different kinds of moss, excelsior grass, raffia
• pinecones

Where do all these go, you ask? Years ago, we were able to inherit some vintage metal kitchen cupboards when our church was renovating the kitchen. We installed them in our unfinished basement in an “L” shape and topped them with some cheap laminate counter top. They have seriously been a lifesaver for me to store all my floral supplies!

If you don’t have secondhand cupboards (which you can find on Craig’s list), you could fill a closet with these color-themed bins, buy a shelving unit, or fill up the space under your bed!

Which brings me to some basic, organization and storage advice:

Maximize Your Closet Space

If your closets only have the basic one rod with a shelf above, you need to upgrade! All of our closets were like that when we moved into this house. What a complete inefficient use of space! Do you see all that air space not taken advantage of? You don’t need to buy expensive closet organizers. With some simple DIY skills and some simple boards from the home store, you can place top to bottom shelves in any closet. We did this in almost every closet in our house and it makes such a huge difference. I even enlisted vintage ironing boards in our master bedroom closet {“Closet Debut and Junky Organization”}

Maximize Your Furniture Pieces

If you don’t have built in storage in your house (which many older homes don’t have), use free-standing furniture for extra storage. Refreshed vintage pieces can be filled to the brim with seasonal dishes, pottery, candlesticks, etc. Drawers can be filled with seasonal linens, flatware and tabletop accents. A “new” furniture piece can not only bring great aesthetic value to your room, it can provide wonderful, functional storage!

I refreshed a vintage trunk with old maps that holds all my seasonal blankets and pillows. I bring out the current season and fill it back up with the old season. It’s so large, it also fits a few seasonal wreaths I’ve made.

 

“Nest” Accessory Items in Storage to Maximize Every Inch

Make the most efficient use of your storage space by nesting items together. When I’m loading my trailer for curbside junking, I know the tighter and better I pack the load, the more I can fit in, and the quicker I can load an amazing find! Stack tightly, nest items in other items, tip things upside down if they fit better. Use all the air space you have! Whether you’re filling a piece of furniture, a shelf, or under your bed, pack tightly, just like you would a suitcase for a trip to Europe!

Vertical Storage is Better Than Horizontal

By placing items vertically, you can access them so much easier. If they’re horizontally on top of each other, you may have to take everything off to get to the bottom item. By standing frames, for example, you can browse through your collection and easily grab the one you want.

Encouragement If You’re Space Challenged…

As you can see, I am anything but a minimalist! Not only have I been buying and selling vintage for many years, I’ve decorated client’s homes, styled weddings, created umpteen recreated projects and decorated for church VBS! I’ve got a lot. of. stuff. I like having materials to work with when my creative juices start flowing!

You should also know I am constantly editing. Ask my family how many things I have “deleted” from their lives! I have a continual bag for the thrift store and am asking myself, “Do I still like this, use this?”

We do not live in a large home, so I have had to continually shuffle things around and reorganize, which is probably good. I always feel like if I have a system in place, I should be able to keep organized. You can see that I enlist any storage I can think of; kitchen cupboards, free-standing furniture, storage racks. Luckily our unfinished basement has been a wonderful place to store a lot of my seasonal decor and crafting supplies. It’s not fancy, but very functional.

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If you want more ideas:

(this one’s on my wish list; I love their magazine!)

It was scary to divulge all these storage places to you, but I hope they gave you some ideas to try in your own home! Yes, the struggle is real, but there is hope if you enlist some of these 10 Storage and Organizing Ideas for Seasonal Decor and Crafts.

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