Organizing Basements
I hope you have my newest book, “Martha Stewart’s Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines” - it’s in bookstores and online right now.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, there are a lot of organizing projects underway - winter is a great time to get these indoor jobs done. Over the last couple of weeks, my housekeepers and I have been busy cleaning and organizing the basements in both the Tenant House and the Summer House, where I store lots of decorations, files, baskets, home supplies, and other items. For this clean-up, the shelves were emptied and wiped-down, old pieces were discarded or set aside for future sale, like-items were grouped together, and finally, everything was placed in appropriately labeled containers where they could be found easily and quickly. It's a tedious chore, but it’s always rewarding to see the end result.
Enjoy these photos. In my next blog, I’ll share more tips and some of the images from my new book.
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- I am so excited about my latest publication, “Martha Stewart’s Organizing” – it is the ultimate guide to getting your life in order, with hundreds of practical ideas, projects, and tips for putting everything in its proper place.
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- This is my daughter’s Tenant House basement laundry in the middle of a good cleaning and organizing. This basement is one of my favorites. It is fully tiled in this area and there is ample room for storage and utility space for cleaning supplies, a washer-dryer, and an ironing mangle.
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- I always store as much as possible in protective bins – these keep everything dry and free of dust. Bins are easy to find in a variety of sizes and styles at any home supply store or online.
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- All cleaning supplies should be stored together in one place, so they are easy to find and easy to access. I like rolling laundry carts that can be moved from one room to the next. For cleaning wood furniture, I use Christophe Fourny’s furniture wax. All his products are so great for cleaning, restoring and protecting wood pieces.
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- These are commercial grade baker’s flour bins. They are great for storing so many things. I use several stainless steel flour bins in my main greenhouse head house for keeping soil mixes. These durable plastic bins are great for keeping laundry or towels.
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- I use them for storing all my pool towels – here, they are kept clean and ready for the warm season.
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- I have long used these metal wire shelving units. They are durable and easy to install anywhere. Enma and Carlos adjust the shelving to accommodate a collection of filing containers along one wall of this basement.
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- Bins like these are made specifically for storing files in file folders – they are compact and very durable.
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- They fit perfectly on the shelves with enough space for accessing needed documents without having to pull the entire bin out.
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- I have a spare refrigerator in the basement of the Tenant House. It’s always a good idea to go through any fridge regularly. Here, Sanu emptied the freezer bins and wiped the drawers with a damp cloth.
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- Then she places all the items back – these containers are filled with nuts. To preserve the quality of nuts, always keep them away from onions and other high-odor foods, so they don’t absorb any of the smells. Store shelled or unshelled nuts in the freezer for a year or even more.
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- Technically, foods can keep indefinitely when frozen; however, freezer burn may affect its taste.
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- Sanu also checks all the frozen fruits – wipes down the packages and returns them to the freezer. These berries are from my garden and can be used to make jams and jellies at a later date.
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- Remember these bears? I display them around the holidays, where my grandchildren can enjoy them. They are stored high off the floor during the off-season to keep them protected. Always keep everything elevated in a basement – just in case of water seepage.
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- After everything is cleaned and organized, the floor is mopped and dried.
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- In the Summer House, I store a lot of area rugs. These also needed a bit of organizing.
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- Each one is unrolled and vacuumed using the bare floor setting. Most of these rugs are antique and purchased from estate sales or antique stores.
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- Then, each one is measured and photographed.
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- Next, the rug is carefully rolled up.
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- And then taped together using masking tape. The measurements are written on a tag and taped to one end for easy viewing.
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- It was also a good time to organize all the holiday ornaments that were just used. I like them organized by color, type, and size. Here are gold ornaments placed carefully in a bin with bubble wrap in between each layer.
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- Another bin holds tinsel – old tinsel from Germany.
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- And these bins contain decorative branches and garlands. Every bin is labeled and placed in a section of like-colors. I have collected so many decorations over the years, it is important to keep them well-organized in one space.
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- Once the bins are properly filled, they are placed on the shelf – clear bins allow one to see the contents without opening each container.
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- There is still quite a bit of organizing to do, but it’s great to have everything in its place. What are you organizing this new year? Share your comments with me in the section below. Tomorrow – more organizing ideas and inspirations from my new book, “Martha Stewart’s Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines.” I hope you have your copy!
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