Welcome to the 763rd Metamorphosis Monday! How was your weekend? I hope you had a great one! Mine was busy and turned out to be quite productive. I started pulling out all of the holiday decor I had stored under the attic eaves, hauling it all two flights of stairs down to the basement.
There was a lot stored here on the Christma-storage side. In addition to what you see, there were around 15 wreaths stored here, all hanging on nails on the wall on the left.
Here’s how that area looks now–I had forgotten just how big this storage area is until I saw it empty! I definitely took advantage of this storage space during the past 33 years that I’ve lived here. The other eave visible in a previous photo of this post, housed a bunch of Halloween decor. It is now empty, too.
This is how the workroom/storage side of the basement looked before I brought everything down.
It doesn’t look like that much in this photo because I did a good clear-out during this process, getting rid of stuff that was worn out or definitely passed its prime. Also, I had already put away a few things when I thought to take a photo.
There were two main reasons I have always stored my holiday decor upstairs under the eaves, including these 13 wreaths that I always hang on my exterior windows at Christmastime.
Seven of the 13 wreaths go on windows that are upstairs, so it made sense to store the wreaths upstairs where more than half would be used. (The dormer windows aren’t visible in the photo.)
The second reason was I had not been able to come up with a great hanging or storage system for the wreaths here in the basement.
That has changed! The wreaths are all now tucked away in these awesome wreath storage bags. As I was placing each wreath into its bag, it dawned on me that this will actually be a much easier way to store them. For one, each bag has a little clear plastic slot on the outside where I can add a card or label identifying to which room that wreath goes. Also, the bags are going to make it much easier to transport the wreaths since they have handles. In the past, I’d hang several wreaths over my arm which always led to lots of scratches on my arms. Come Christmas, I’m going to end up wishing I had done this sooner.
My exterior window wreaths are around 22 inches wide so I ordered three sets of these 24″ size bags. (Bags are available here: Buffalo Plaid Wreath Storage Bags, Set of 4.)
They also come in this pretty red and black Buffalo check color that I really like, but I went with black and white since I felt that color scheme would be better for the basement storage room. (Red/black Buffalo wreath storage bags are available here: Buffalo Plaid Wreath Storage Bags, Set of 4.)
I also purchased a set that came with two 30-inch size bags for two larger wreaths I often use at Christmastime. (Those are visible below.) That set included two 30-inch bags and two 24-inch bags. (That set is available here: Buffalo Plaid Wreath Storage Bag, Set of 4 (two 30-inch and two 24-inch)
As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve ordered two more cabinets for this wall. Those should be delivered next Friday. Hopefully, I can get those assembled next weekend and that will finish up this storage project for good.
I’ve also ordered new faux wood blinds for the two French doors and the 7 windows here in the basement. You can’t tell it in the photo below, but the blinds have yellowed pretty badly after being down here for over 25 years. I can’t wait to get rid of all the strings, too! The new blinds will be the newer style without all the strings for raising and opening. They are from a local company here in Atlanta and should be ready in 5-6 weeks. Looking forward to having those installed in a few weeks, along with some other updates I’ll be sharing real soon.
Looking forward to all the great Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday!
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That’s the best looking Christmas storage ever!
Thanks so much, Joy! ♥
Those wreath bags are perfect for all your window wreaths Susan! They look nice stored on top of your cupboards too. This will be much easier for you I think too. That old space is indeed big! Now you have some empty storage for when/if you need it. Hugs, Brenda
You read my mind, Brenda! I cleared out the small closet in that room that was filled with suitcases, those are now in the eave storage area. They will be easy to pull out when I travel and now that closet is all cleared out.
The new wreath storage bags are great Susan! And they look wonderful in your lovely basement room. I love the handles for carrying – it’ll be so nice at decorating time. Thanks for the tips and thanks for hosting! Hope you have a lovely week!
Thanks, Barbara! I hope so, I think they will, too.
Susan, you don’t ever stop! You are the Queen of Organization! Those wreath bags are awesome! Would you please come over and organize my house? Thanks for the party~
Can’t stop, won’t stop! lol Thanks, Jenna!
You always find great solutions, Susan!! I have a solution to help protect the wreaths’ bows and trailing ribbons. Stuff the bow loops w/ packing paper and/or paper towel/toilet tissue rolls and do the same thing w/ the trailing tails. Cut the roll, end-to-end, and slide a curled-up trailing ribbon onto it! I’ve had my bows for 20 years and they still look great.
Because of your lovely Christmas windows wreaths, I wanted to do wreaths on the outside of mine, too, when we moved from Florida back to NC. Unfortunately, in our new neighborhood outside Raleigh, the neighbor across the street beat me to it. Instead, I have swags on the outside at the base of the windows and it works for me.
Always look forward to your posts!! “What does Susan have for us now?”
Thanks so much, Carolyn! You know, I didn’t take time to do that but that’s a great idea! Thanks for that suggestion!
I bet your swags are beautiful! ♥ I love seeing swags in windows, makes me think of Colonial Williamsburg.
That looks sharp! I love the clean look of the black & white. Good move!
Thanks, Rita! It just sorta worked for this room.
Those are great wreath holders ! I used to have mine hanging on the wall in our basement and covered with plastic. Now we have a storage cage in our underground parking area. I bought larger clear plastic garbage bags and inserted each wreath into one…I have a wreath for each month. The “cage” is metal screening, so I bought s hooks from Lowes and hang them on the cage. That frees up space for all the decorating totes ( and I need to purge those!) and I can see what wreath I need to use next! Thanks for all your great tips!
That sounds perfect, Ann! Great idea using clear bags! I love that you have a wreath for each month. I would be going by each month just to see what wreath was up next. 🙂
Love the wreath holders! so cute too. Thanks for having us over!
That black/white plaid makes for some good looking storage. Did you consider leaving the upstairs wreaths in the eave storage? But still in the bags? (Or maybe leave the empty bags there during the holidays, for a quick grab to restore before going back to basement)
The holidays this year will be so much easier to plan, with all this reorganization. You must have been brutal with your decluttering!
You know, I could do that…I was just trying to get out of having to climb up under there. But I def could do that. I cleared out a small closet in the bonus room that held suitcases and put those up under there for now. I can easily reach those through the doorway. There’s still tons of space though…I could even put the upstairs wreaths stacked under the other eave where I had Halloween decor before moving it down.
Thanks, Mia! I was pretty brutal, but it was all stuff that was looking rather tied and I was ready to part with it.
I used to store my decorations under the eaves like you have but as I got older I started dreading hunching down in there to pull everything out. I purchased green & red wreath bags for my outside and door wreaths. I also purchased clear ones for wreaths for the other seasons. I hook the handle of the wreath bags over a coat hanger and have them hanging in a large closet. I also put all of my other seasonal decorations in other closets in my spare bedrooms (one of the perks of being empty nesters lol)
The who process of reorganizing my decorations forced me to clean out closets and get rid of stuff I didn’t use or need anymore. It was a great feeling to get rid of old stuff and have easy access to my decorations. I’m still nowhere near the organizer and doer you are though! LOL
I know you’ve mentioned this before, but could you possibly tell me where you ordered those white cabinets that are so great for storage? They’re exactly what I need to put in my playroom. I also wonder if the shelves are strong enough to hold dishware and other heavy items … I really need help organizing the playroom ! thank you for your help.
Hi Brenda,
I purchased them here: https://amzn.to/3sRXUcR
No, that’s my one complaint about these cabinets is the shelves are weak and will not even hold the amount of weight that claim to, which I think is 30 or 35 lbs. So when storing dishes are anything heavy on them, I always go over to Home Depot and purchased their melamine shelves that they cut down to the size I need. I always take one of the shelves with me so they have that to go by. The shelves used to be $7 each but they’ve gone up like everything else. Only three of the shelves can be removed/replaced. The bottom shelf is always sturdy since it has 5 feet under it, but you will only want to put lighter things on the top shelf since it can’t be replaced. I do use mine for dishes in my garage but I always replace the shelves with those from HD. I still need to do that on the ones I’ve added to the basement.
The reason I keep buying them, despite the weak shelving is because I like how they look, but I wish the shelving wasn’t so weak. At least most of it can be replaced with better shelving from HD.
Hi Susan. Great job cleaning out and finding cute storage bags for your wreaths. One concern I would have would be if setting the wreaths on end might cause the bristles to flatten on the end they sit on. Have you considered screwing hooks into the open beams and hanging the wreaths by their handles?
Gosh, I hope that doesn’t happen, but that’s a good point. I will check and see how they look. I really don’t have a great place to hang them down here, where they wouldn’t be in the way. Originally, I was going place them on top of each other but they stuck out too far off the top of the cabinets. Maybe I could hang them from the beams just above the cabinets…I’ll definitely consider that. Thanks, Toni!