Storage Closet Makeover for Seasonal Decorations
In this post: If you’re looking to organize your seasonal decorations so you can find everything quickly and easily, you’ll love this seasonal storage closet makeover.⇒
If someone asked you to find pinecones in your house, how long would it take you?
If you answered three minutes or less, and two of those minutes included walking to the closet, then you may not need this post. (Yet you’re exactly who will appreciate it!)
But if you had no idea where to start, or you found the right storage area, but then rummaged endlessly through piles of detritus, then read on.
Side note: if your pinecones are still out from last holiday season, then you should bookmark the post and return to it over and over!
Seasonal Storage Closet
It turns out the optimal way to store seasonal decorations is in a dedicated space.
No one wants their pumpkins mixed in with their tableware or other non-seasonal items. It’s always best to keep like items together, making it the most efficient way to find things quickly.
This is exactly what I decided to do with our seasonal decor. I’m not talking about large items like Christmas trees or huge door wreaths. That I’ll save for another post since they’re housed separately in our garage.
But for smaller items like Easter eggs and acorn filler, a dedicated closet offers the perfect solution.
We’re lucky to have a small spare closet in our basement that we added deep shelves to. I had already earmarked the space for seasonal decor and I had even tried to separate the items by each particular season.
But in time, the pumpkins multiplied and encroached on the spring nests and Valentine’s hearts and pretty soon I couldn’t find anything. (You can see the mess in the photo above… ?)
So I knew I needed to add containers to the closet to break things up into smaller parcels.
As always I did a lot of measuring first and then a lot of research until I could find the correct containers for my needs. I wanted them to be large enough to fit some of the medium-sized items, yet small enough to separate items by season.
I always prefer pullout drawers because they keep things not only neat and easy to see but also keep dust at bay.
I also added rattan bins to keep on the floor of the closet. This is the perfect place to store the piles of pumpkins in various sizes that wouldn’t fit in the plastic bins.
They offer a nice neat look and help keep everything off floor. They also happen to fit perfectly in our space.
What’s great about the plastic bins is that you can stack them to store things vertically limiting the amount of wasted space.
I started by dividing things up seasonally, doing my best to designate a season to each shelf.
One of the things I most love about storing things in containers is that it encourages you to edit and clean out as you go. I also love that you can move the drawers around, just by pulling them out, if you change your mind about where they should go.
Given the size of our existing closet and the bins that fit the best for my needs, I had space left on one side, where I chose to store extra large pumpkins and few larger decorative items that wouldn’t fit in the bins. This includes a rattan basket I use to give out Halloween candy, complete with the note I added to it when leaving it outside for self-serving. Already adorned with black and orange ribbon, I just grab it each year and fill.
Tucked in on the side of another shelf I keep stacked decorative gift boxes. Some of the larger ones have smaller boxes nested inside. I try not to store other items within them as they would be hard to identify and find, which underscores why I love the see-through drawers all the more. I always prefer to use clear containers and only use opaque if I can label them.
On the very top shelf, a much narrower shelf that’s the full width of the closet, there was just enough room to house long seasonal branches and some faux holiday greenery.
The challenge with seasonal decor is that it’s often bulky or oddly shaped, so I included a wreath hook on the door where I drape longer garlands.
The rattan baskets fit perfectly on the floor and are filled with my overflowing collection of velvet pumpkins, which are soft enough to pile in an open bin. I separate them by color for even easier locating. There’s enough room in front for a few extra items such as a basket of stalks and smaller branches.
Within the drawers I divided things up further still to ensure maximum ease of use.
I’m thrilled with the difference and how easy it is to find things and to be able to see everything at a glance.
So if I was asked to find pinecones I feel quite confident I could find them in under a minute!
Resource Guide
To get the look, click on the items below for direct links to the products. Where actual items were no longer available, I’ve provided similar options. If an item is out of stock but may be restocked, I left it on the list.
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This looks so pretty and organized! Unfortunately I have so much stuff lol. I’d need 3-4 of these closets!!!
I love the acrylic drawers you used though. I am sure I can incorporate these as some storage solutions!!
Thanks, Marion! I did weed out some things when I went through the closet… 😉 I also have all the larger things (trees, wreaths, garlands) in the garage. But my concept is to help people organize what they already have – which is currently housed somewhere – so I’m just recommending to organize those existing locations… 🙂 For me, it has helped make things easier to find.
what company for those large clear drawer containers? did I miss something!?!? ah hahha they are just what i need!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you!
Haha, yes, they are linked at the bottom of the post… 🙂 But here you go for your convenience: https://rstyle.me/+TFb2E1Ucdw5XePAmjugjEA
I know you abhor litter so I’m surprised to see this closet! Your clear bins are a great idea for easy access and will be so much easier when you pack up the decorations.
Drawers, as opposed to plain containers, really are a time and stress saver. I have finally reached the point, and age, at which unstacking everything to get to the container that holds what I’m looking for, is getting annoying and, I suppose, will eventually be difficult to impossible. I wish I could afford the clear drawers. For now, anytime I see a good clean storage drawer, those white plastic ones with the translucent drawers available in most craft stores, in a thrift shop I purchase it. I’m always pleased with the result when I can replace a plain container with a pull-out drawer in my very large apartment storage closet. Thanks for continuing to address storage issues.
I completely agree with you! I also agree they are pricey and I’ve just been collecting them over the years. In the meantime, the translucent ones work well too… 🙂
I love what you’ve done with your closet. It is so well organized! Wish I had an extra closet but those clear bins can really be used anywhere. I also don’t see the link to order so thanks for reposting for Marion.
Hmm… wonder if my source list is not showing up? I see it at my end. In any case, I’ve added the link within the post as well. Ugh… technology!
And thanks for the kind words!! I agree they can be used anywhere and I do use these bins all over my house. They make it super easy to get at things, keep everything clean and it’s easy to see what’s inside.
As for the closet, we’re empty nesters so I have some extra closets. Never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. I’m also a purger… 😉
I meant Jill.
This makes it seem almost like fun finding what you need! I wish I had an extra closet. I am trying something now, based on the short “fad” a couple years ago when people were wrapping their entire full-sized, fully decorated Christmas trees with Saran Wrap for off-season storage. I am wrapping all of my floral arrangements, once I’ve removed them from the containers, in Saran Wrap. They seem almost indestructible and it certainly compresses them so they take up much less space. I’m anxious to see what they look like next year when I unwrap them. The floral stems I like are very expensive so I hope this works as I’ve just been bagging them up to now and they take up so much space.
Wow, that sure seems like a great idea! I do have friends who store their trees fully standing in those zip up “bags”, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing that with the tree still decorated. Could be brilliant and sounds very workable for your flower arrangements… 🙂
I recently purchased a lot of different sets of drawers from my local thrift store to put on the steel shelving in my garage. Everything fits so well and i print out large labels on the fronts. I have craft supplies in them. I still use big plastic tubs for Christmas decorations, but have managed to downsize and Actually donate a few of them. It’s a real process. I don’t do any Christmas decorating until day after Thanksgiving. My autumn decorating with pumpkins, owls, pine cones, seeds, etc along with candles are so beautiful that I’m still enjoying them. My colors are sage green, browns, russet and a touch of orange. Christmas will be many angels, tons of candles, soft green, pink and white with lots of lights on lots of little trees.
I can’t get any of the links to the pull drawers to work. Can you tell me specifily who makes them or where you got them?
Sure. Here you go:
This is the basic one: https://rstyle.me/+FhoBFqpCIZrnApvG1Nxc0g
This one is a bit larger: https://rstyle.me/+onzNg88PvOt0tz-e7z3Emg
And here are the sweater drawers which are a good bit larger: https://rstyle.me/+D_7fauc5AfvmNXFZ8E4gGQ
I love how organized you are! I don’t have an extra closet but I do have my holiday stuff in plastic containers in the garage. Works for me!
This looks so wonderfully organized. I think I need to get some shelving installed in my very large apartment storage closet to actually make something like this work, though.
Yes, I highly recommend outfitting closet with custom shelves! Good luck!!