Have you put away the holiday decorations yet? If you haven’t, you’re not alone, but it is time. The kids are going back to school. The rest of us are getting back to a routine. It’s time to look forward to the next season, even if that is the second half of winter.
For our 31 Days of Clutter-Free Living prompt today, I’m here to encourage you to put away those decorations safely and in an organized way so you can find them next year. In a recent article, I offer 7 critical thoughts about putting away holiday decor so it doesn’t end up looking like this with broken treasures at the bottom:
In a few cases, you might be able to extend your decor into early spring, or find a way to make it work in your every day decor, so you have less to store. We’ll call this an organizing hack.
Last year, I picked up these cute mini-pillows at Target, and when we put away decorations, I just turned the design to the backside. But the kids didn’t get it, and they kept turning the snowflake and reindeer back around to face us. That got annoying sometime around May.
I created little envelope slipcovers for these sweet pillows, and now they get to stay out all year. Maybe you can use this trick, too.
How to Make an Envelope Slipcover for Pillows
If you sew at all, this project is a cinch. If you don’t sew, this is a perfect project to start with. No zippers! Cut a strip of fabric one inch wider than 2x the width of your pillow and sew 1/4″ seams on each end.
Turn the fabric wrong side out and overlap the seams by about a half inch. Then sew along just the top and bottom.
You don’t even have to worry too much about this being a straight seam because you’re going to turn it inside out on the next step, and then stuff the holiday pillow inside. There’s that little dear!
Honestly, it took me longer to set up the sewing machine than it did to sew this slipcover.
I covered the second one in a coordinating fabric. Don’t you just love these bright designs from OnlineFabricStore.com? Makes me think spring is just around the corner.
Of course, you can’t hide all of your decorations, but some things you can.
Do you have any tricks for hiding holiday decor in plain sight?
If you already put away your holiday decorations, then today was an easy task for you in our 31 Days. Go back and catch up on any of the posts in our Clutter-Free Living series Don’t miss the big Samsung Galaxy Tab4 giveaway
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Love your creativity! We keep our decorations up a couple of more weeks. Traditionally I have used the four-day MLK weekend to de-decorate. The lights on the Christmas trees cheer me up on these dreary January days.
Yes, I agree that taking the lights down in January can seem doubly sad. Thanks to those of you who leave your outdoor lights up a little longer. It is cheery. But we had to take down the tree before the kids broke any more ornaments!
LOL As you know, my girl is past that stage. Kitty Lucy even seems to have outgrown that in favor of sitting under the tree as if she was a present.
I’ve started decorating a lot more with lanterns the last few years. I just take away the things that scream Christmas and the lanterns and anything like pinecones, or some white and gold glitter items stay out till spring. They give a wintery look that doesn’t say Christmas. I also have lots of snowmen and being that I live in an area that gets snow most of the winter the snowmen are just part of the “winter theme”. In spring the pinecones and lanterns stay and we can remove the white and glitter items and add something spring ish like mosses and things reminiscent of birds/nests/birds eggs (Easter ish but on a more natural rustic level).
I love it! Sounds like a layered strategy. Snowmen are great because they do carry on after Christmas.