Our Attic Facelift and Seasonal Storage Bin Labels

Our attic clean-out makeover and how we store our seasonal decor + free printable seasonal storage bin labels for Christmas, spring, summer, and fall.

We’re a mixed bag around here.

One minute we’re celebrating “pretty” room makeovers, and the next we’re up to our elbows in 60 year old dust, digging through our dirty attic wondering why we thought this was a good idea.

It always gets worse before it gets better though, I swear. (That’s what I tell myself in the midst of home chaos, don’t you?)

We’ve been chipping away at our big 2020 home goals focused on decluttering and organizing this place. And even though this project isn’t nearly as “pretty”, it feels SO good to get this one done.

Behold: the attic we had only set foot in once in the nearly 3 years since we lived in this house.

It was dusty, it was ugly, and it had piles of mysterious items leftover from the past who knows how long… maybe decades.

Old houses are full of stories, and this attic told us a lot.

The other week, Robert jumped in here to remove all of the old clutter and in the process found an old stroller, rolls of carpet, books, old clothes, window screens, previous owners’ Christmas decorations, and floppy disks (remember those?!)

Whew!

There was lots of blown insulation all over the existing plywood, so we removed it with a shop vac and used fiberglass insulation rolls underneath the attic floors in order to make room for our much needed seasonal storage.

In the process, we found an exposed live electrical wire so thank GOD we caught that or it could have been disastrous.

But now look how much better!!! Hey, it’s still an old attic but it’s a clean, functional attic.

Then, the nerdy fun part…

How To Organize Seasonal Decor Storage

1. At the end of every season, we get real with ourselves and purge! If we haven’t used it in the last two Christmases, or for other seasons in the last year, it needs to go.

2. This year, we worked out a system with our seasonal decor storage boxes by putting everything into like-item categories since we like to change up how we decorate our rooms every year.

Christmas storage categories:

• Trees
• Wreaths
• Garlands and floral
• Lights and battery operated items
• Figurines and collectibles
• Ornaments
• Ribbons, boxes, bags, and gift wrap

For the other seasons:

• Spring florals
• Summer florals
• Fall florals/pumpkins

The awesome thing about having a “capsule decor” mindset is I really don’t have any seasonal-specific decor other than faux flowers, plants, and branches.

I like choosing home decor that can be used in ANY season by sticking to neutrals or accents that work year-round. It’s so freeing to be able to shop more of your decor stash while also reducing the need for storage space. And it saves money!

3. These heavy duty storage boxes with wheels and pull handles and these medium sized storage bins are the freaking BEST!

4. Print these bin labels, tape them to the bins with clear shipping tape, and list the items in the bin on the label. It laminates them without the need for special supplies. Nothing fancy but it does the job.

You can snag the downloadable print yourself by clicking here to subscribe or click this button:

If you’re already a blog subscriber, you should have already received the free downloadable printable set in your email (or just click the printable library link with the password that’s at the bottom of all of my emails).

It’s still not anything great to look at, but my gosh it’s a massive improvement.

Part of me can’t help but try to think of ways to turn this into a tiny hideout room finished with skylights and drywall. I’m pretty sure that will never ever happen though with all of the utility things in here.

A girl can dream though.

Just curious… do you have a system for your seasonal storage? Have you done any attic overhauls? Hopefully, the next “ugly but functional” spot for us will be the garage. Fingers crossed anyway.

If you want more printable labels, you can find them all here. And if you want more organizing ideas, here are a bunch of our past organizing projects.

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