A Note From The SBAOR President: Organization tips for your holiday gear and decorations

By Bob Walsmith, Jr.

President of the Santa Barbara Association of REALTORS®

Organization Tips for Your Holiday Gear and Decorations

If you are like me, you have your Holiday decorations, lights, etc. in various places in your house and garage. You sometimes have trouble finding them all when you first need them and then struggle with where exactly to put them when they are out and when you put them away.

Decking the halls is good fun and all, but shuffling through piles of wreaths, lights, ornaments, dreidels, wrapping paper, and stockings is nothing to fa la la about.

Well here are seven storage tips that will make packing up jollier.

Make a Holiday Closet

Instead of doing a holiday-themed scavenger hunt each November, put all your holiday gear in a single closet. You’ll keep it dust-free, together, and at your fingertips. Since this closet will be all holidays, all the time, leave some of your decorations out and use them to adorn the space. Easy to find and festive; it’s a twofer.

If your closet is unfinished, use the space between the wall studs to store hanging items. They work like little cubby holes to maximize storage space.

Use Clear Bins

Everything’s packed in tidy boxes. Good. But how will you find the stockings if you use a bunch of identical, opaque tubs? Even if you label each bin (which takes more energy than most of us have post-holiday), you can’t possibly list everything inside. A better idea: clear bins. Hey look, the stockings.

Square bins make better use of the space than tall or odd-shaped ones. Measure your storage area so you buy exactly the right size and number of bins to maximize the space.

Organize with a Storage App

If clear bins aren’t your thing and you are more of a techie, pick whatever container suits your fancy and keep track of your stuff with an inventory app like Sortly or Home Inventory.

Just photograph and tag your things as you put them in a bin. The app will assign a QR code that you print and attach to the bin. When you go looking for your vintage 1940s ornaments, scan the label, and the app will show you a list of every item in the box.

Just be sure to back up your data on another device so you don’t lose the menorah if you lose your phone.

Hang Your Wreaths

Nothing takes the holly jolly out of the holiday like crushed wreaths. If you put them in a bin or on lay them on a shelf, they may not survive till next season. Instead, hang them from a clothing rod in a closet. You can use pot hanger hooks to suspend them or make your own.

You don’t need to dedicate an entire closet to wreaths. Just add a second bar to a coat closet.

Use a Dedicated Baking Cart

Holidays mean baking, and baking means lugging the stand mixer, the cookie cutters, and the jars of glittery sprinkles out of the cabinets for every sweet batch.

Instead, put your supplies in one place, on a rolling baking cart. Store it in your pantry or in a corner, and roll it out when you’re ready to bake. Best of all, you can use it year round, not just at the holidays.

And if you have a significant other that likes to bake, helping them with this might just mean more cookies for you this Holiday season.

Wrap It Up With a Wrapping Station

Rolls of wrapping paper are awkward to store and constantly in the way. And if the rolls get dinged, the darn paper tears. You can store your paper and use up dead space, too, with a wall-mount storage system. Hang it in a closet on a blank wall, put your paper in it, and you have a wrapper’s delight.

This one is definitely a biggie in my house.

Corral the Coats

When winter hits, your house turns into a debris field of coats, boots, and gloves. Keep that blizzard of outerwear from ruining your festive and organized house with an entryway cabinet. It’s a clutter catcher that will make your holidays (and the rest of the year) a little easier.

Doing some or all of these helpful tips might just allow you to spend more time with your family, enjoy more Holiday songs and “adult libations” and truly celebrate the season as you should!

OPEN HOMES

To view this weekend’s Open Home Guide and all other Real Estate for sale or rent go to: newspress.com – click on Special Editions, House & Home

SATURDAY

MONTECITO - LOWER VILLAGE

940 Channel Dr Welcome to this elegant estate located on one of the most coveted streets in Montecito nearby Butterfl y Beach. 12-2 $5,999,9994/4

Zia Group | eXp Realty California Kamran Mostofi 805-364-9009 # 02145968

SUNDAY

HOPE RANCH

4520 Via Esperanza 5/4.5 1-4 $8,250,000 A majestical masterpiece on 2.5 acres nearby the exclusive Hope Ranch beach! A divine and timeless family home equipped with terracotta tiles, cathedral ceilings with wood beams, French doors, bar, outdoor pool & much more! Coastal Properties Gary Goldberg 805-455-8910 # 01172139

RIVIERA

44 Via Alicia 3/3.5 2-4 $2,795,000 New Price! - Come enjoy the unobstructed City/ ocean views from this spacious two-story pool home!

Sun Coast Real Estate Chris Agnoli 805-895-0313 # 01132005

OPEN HOMES DIRECTORY

Our Open Homes Directory is in our House & Home Publication inserted in the Weekend Edition of the Santa Barbara News-Press. We no longer take submissions via e-mail, instead an easy-to-use form can be found at newspress.com Click on “SPECIAL EDITION” then click on “OPEN HOME”

Deadline is 5 p.m. on Wednesdays for the following WEEKEND publication. If you have any questions please e-mail: openhomes@newspress.com

Decking the halls, Simply Scandi style

Scandinavian homes are often well-decorated for Christmas, with shiny baubles, candles and various other shimmering objects to enjoy. Although this design doesn’t include any straw, a common Scandinavian ornament material, we did take a nod from the Nordic and left no space untouched as we piled on the holiday decor. Featured in this design are a cacophony of bells suspended from birch logs fashioned to the ceiling, the decor spilling into your line of sight.

Decorating a Simply Scandi tabletop

Many Nordic countries celebrate with an elaborate Christmas Eve dinner, which usually includes dry-cured lamb ribs, ham, goose or cod fish cured in lye (lutefisk, anyone?). Boards full of these foods are passed around the table. Glogg, a mulled wine into which you can dip cookies, is a popular drink of choice across Scandinavia at Christmastime.

Scandinavian style is really known for its simplicity, and we played that up in this tablescape. An ornament plays double duty and acts as a napkin ring, holding a candy cane-striped napkin atop stacks of cheery red and white dishes. The dishes themselves are simple in design, but the alternating colors give each place setting some additional dimension. A wintry green is a welcome addition to the centerpiece, making the dishes at each place pop even more.

Adapted from nellhills.com. Katie Laughridge is the owner of Kansas City interior design destination Nell Hill’s. For more information, contact Katie at info@nellhills.com.

©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Simply Scandi Christmas design features bright red and creams. A collection of hand-painted bells are suspended from birch logs in front of the Simply Scandi tree. Red and white Scandi decor and ornaments spill from the tree to the coffee table. A close-up is shown of ornaments of differing textures: woven, yarn, wooden, felt, painted, glass. The splendor of red and white are alive and well in a table setting.