Usually, I do not even start to take down Christmas until after the Epiphany of Feast of 3 Kings which is recognized by the Catholic church as the official end of the Christmas Season.
I am still fighting this cold and fever thing a week later......
I know in Blogland, everything moves at the Speed of Light and many of you have already packed away Christmas but I do still work 3 days one week and 4 days the other week of a 2 week pay period.
And I work night shift so that makes it a whole different Ball Game!!
I decided that I would do a Series on Where DO I Really Put It all? because I am asked that so often!!!
As I take down all of my Christmas Decorations, I will be showing you how I store things and where I store everything..........
And I will be sharing these posts over a period of time along with How I Plan for Christmas using a Christmas Planner......
But first, I want to Thank Angelina, over at Petite Haus, for featuring my post, An Evening Christmas Tour, Christmas Home Tour, from last week's Thursday's Favorite Things Party!!
But for today, we are going to start this series with one area in our townhouse that is a "Secret Space" that many people ( my Neighbors) ignore as storage......
We do not have a basement so this is where our hot water heater is..........
Since we do not have basements, the builder originally put the pipes underground, unde the concrete slab that the townhouses were built on.
Over the years, with the ground settling, almost all of our pipes burst underground, requiring plumbers to jack hammer through the concrete floor in our Living Rooms to access the pipes!!!!!
I do not even want to tell you what a nightmare that was even though in my style of townhouse, the pipes were right in front of our stairs.
In the other styles, they ran right across the Living Room!!
One plumber came up with the genius idea of bringing the pipes up into the house by the front door, disguising them by placing a hollow electric heating basement element over them until they came out in this storage area.
This was done in most of the 72 townhouses in our development over 30 years ago and no one has ever had their pipes burst again!!
Knock on wood........
Quite a lot actually!!
All that is stored under my stairs!!!
You may remember my Living Room Tree.......
The Village is stored in these tubs.......
Now let's move on to the decorations on the Tree.........
I take everything off the Tree in the reverse order of how I decorated the Tree......
I have to just mention that I was actually ask these 2 questions by guests that visited our house this Season
1: Do you take everything off the Tree when you store it?
2. Do you put the ornaments back in the same spot on the Tree every year?
Needless, to say, those questions rendered me speechless which does not happen too often!!
I can not even imagine trying to put the ornaments back in the same place on the Tree every year.......
A few years ago, Joe bought these smaller tubs on Clearance .....
I pack the Candle ornaments in 2 shoe boxes......
Joe bought a few ornament tubs and there were some extra dividers in them so I repurposed them to use in other tubs........
I put some of the larger ornaments in the bottom of this tub.......
The second level......
So the majority of the Kitchen decorations which consist of ceramics, are also stored under the stairs.....
Next, the 2 larger tubs go in.......
The trap door is put back in place.......
I do still have a few more tubs for my Kitchen decorations stored up the attic which by the way is floored and I have pull down stairs to access.....
I will be sharing that with you in the next installment of my series, "Where DO I Really Put It All?
I hoped you enjoyed the first part of this Series and I hope you were able to take something away that you could use in your own home......
So I hope you will come by and visit again!!
And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!
If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......
Hugs,
Debbie
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We also have a storage just like that under our stairs. All of my decorations fit in here if I'm very organized and use every inch. Just got it all put away yesterday, although I did order a new tree on Ebay that will have to be squeezed in when it arrives.
ReplyDeleteAnn
Debbie, we live in an older home so storage space is very limited. I store most of my Christmas things in a guest room closet, and another storage closet off the upstairs sunporch. All are full, so I need to get creative if I add anything else. I also have a floored in attic where all my other holiday tubs resie along with shelving that holds dishes. Thanks for sharing your storage solutions. You have it down!
ReplyDeleteDebbie, That's exactly where we store all of our Christmas. We have our main level and then our lower walkout level. Under our stairs in located in our utility room. We've got nails and hooks into the wall under the stairs to also hold wreaths and a few items in bags. We have no storage in our attic and it's too cold to store in the garage. I'm at the point where if I buy more, I need to get rid of some items.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your clever storage solutions
ReplyDeleteHugs
Of course I remember your beautiful Christmas tree, Debbie. Thank you for the inspiration you give us. I love your storage solutions and the beautiful boxes you use. Happy New Year, my friend.
ReplyDeleteI have a place just like that under the steps . I want a storage shed just for decorations and maybe will yet get one as it's getting too hard going up in the attic. I didn't put out as much this year, but still took as long taking the stuff down. We always waited till epiphany to take ours down as mom always did it that way. We went to Methodist church growing up. I am not as organized as you at all but I did purchase clear bins and that will help. Before ya know it, we will be taking it out again, God willing. betsy
ReplyDeleteThis makes my organizing-heart happy :) Great job
ReplyDelete#boquetoftalent
Katelynn, hampersandhiccups.com
I found it interesting reading about your problems with pipes. We own an older townhouse, built without a basement. Our pipes were all in concrete and one by one all the units were bursting their pipes. Our pipes were rerouted through our kitchen walls and the ceiling (first level) We also have pipes running through the ceiling of the carport to the upstairs bathroom. In the winter we have to plug in heat tapes to keep our pipes from freezing.
ReplyDelete*Smiles*
I think I should move all the coats in my closet and see if there is a trap door back there! The layout is somewhat the same. Working under the philosophy that I will fill up what space I have, maybe I shouldn't, but what a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great space for storing! I have a huge attic and a basement in my new home. It is a blessing to have that much storage! Have a lovely weekend! Drop by if you can!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Rebecca
I have a similar space accessed in the basement with a large closet door for under-the-stairs storage. All my Christmas goes in there, just like you starting in the back with smaller boxes and working towards the door with larger items. The tree goes in last, I leave the lights on it and cover it with a plastic bag to keep it dust free until next year.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this with Party in Your PJs! I don't decorate nearly as much as you do, but I do keep a year round tree,which leads to my husband frequently running to the storage to get the right bins for the switch out (good thing he enjoys the result...lol). We waited til epiphany to switch from Christmas to winter, too - an some hearts will be added to the snowflakes on Feb 1. :)
ReplyDeleteDebbie, it really is amazing how much you can store in an area if you do it right! And girl, you do it right! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
ReplyDeletehugs,
Jann
Ah Debbie, I hope you're feeling much better. Love the hidey hole under the stairs, I wish we had one like that. If I may ask my friend how long does it take you to take all the trees down?
ReplyDeleteThe space under the stairs in the basement are often under-utilized. What a great way to maximize your storage space. I also loved the cardboard dividers within the container! So, so clever!
ReplyDeleteYou've done a wonderful job of organizing all of your Christmas decor! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!
ReplyDeleteI love under the stair storage. I gave away most of my daughter's toys. (She didn't want them.) Now almost all of our Christmas decor fits under our stairs. I was thrilled with this. You have it down to a science. I'm sorry your neighbors are taking advantage of theirs. Thanks for linking with Keep In Touch.
ReplyDeleteI was really fascinated and enjoyed reading this post, Debbie! You could write a book about organization! I keep telling my hubby that there's space under the stairs for storage and that we should hire someone to cut a door and finish off the area. But I think I've fallen on deaf ears. I'm going to show him your post and maybe he'll get the message!
ReplyDeleteDebbie, I've said it before and I'll say it again: you're amazing! I love that you're sharing us where you store your decorations. Thank you for sharing your good ideas. Putting things into bins according to where they're used in the house makes great sense!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I'm featuring you this week!
That's funny because I have wondered where on earth you keep it all when I've seen your lovely seasonal decorating in the past.
ReplyDeleteI have homemade dividers for glass baubles too, but ours are in a couple of shoe boxes. We don't have anything like as many as you though!
Your trap door under stair space is just perfect for all this and you really do organise it to perfection!