DIY Holiday Decoration Storage Ideas

These storage hacks will make storing holiday decorations a (winter) breeze.

Stop – take a deep breath – the holiday rush is officially over. Now that the guests have gone home, the dishes are done, and you’ve had your fill (or chosen not to have your fill) of fruitcake, it’s time to take down and store your holiday decorations. Before you release an exhausted sigh and retreat to the couch with your box of leftover holiday chocolates, here are some simple storage ideas to make breaking down holiday decorations easy – and reassembly next year even easier!

Ornaments

If you managed to keep your ornaments safe from swarms of excited children rushing the christmas tree in search of gifts, you definitely want to keep them safe during the transition from the living room to the storage area. Empty egg carton containers make perfect DIY storage boxes. Just place the ornaments where the eggs usually sit, close the box, and place the box in a storage container with the rest of your decorations. If you don’t have any empty egg cartons, try using some of your leftover plastic cups to make this Plastic Cup And Cardboard Storage Container.

Garland

Whether you hand-string beads and pom poms, or you purchase a strand at your local department store, you don’t want your garland efforts to go to waste due to haphazard storage systems. That’s why using leftover plastic water bottles, like this Bottled Bead Garland Container, is the perfect way to store holiday garland. Just insert one end of the garland into the bottle, and slowly drop the rest of the strand into the bottle, leaving the end of the strand at the top of the container so that you can easily pull it back out next year.

Lights

One of our fondest holiday memories is of mom yelling “Well, we just won’t have Christmas this year!” as she unhappily attempts to detangle a string of holiday lights. Save yourself the holiday hassle by using an empty paper towel roll, panel of cardboard or clothing hanger to store your lights. Just start by wrapping one end of the lights around the object and don’t stop until the entire string is securely wound around your makeshift holiday light holder.

Wrapping Paper

Although grandpa always advised us to “save the wrapping paper!” the festive wrapping doesn’t look quite the same after spending a year in basement storage. To keep your wrapping paper looking fresh through the seasons, try this Cup Hooks And Dowels Wrapping Paper Hanger, or this Plastic Garment Bag Wrapping Paper Holder.

How do you store your holiday decorations? Do you save used wrapping paper? Tell us about it in a comment!

How To Cover Your Basement Cracks With Decorations

Vertical, horizontal or diagonal cracks in your basement walls are warning signs of weak foundation walls. One of the best ways to ignore signs of serious structural damage is to cover your basement cracks with holiday decorations.
Now, we recognize that you can’t sacrifice your favorite holiday decorations to your basement, so here’s how to hide your basement cracks with all those old and damaged decorations that you can’t put outside, but don’t have the heart to throw away.

The Broken Reindeer

Grandpa’s wooden reindeer sat next to the Christmas tree and watched over the presents every year since you can remember. And every year, the reindeer’s role as guardian of the gifts took a bigger toll on its little wooden body. First with a lost eye, then with a broken ear, now the three-legged, one eyed reindeer sits, almost unrecognizably, in your basement. You can’t put it outside because it will frighten the neighborhood children, but you don’t want to part with grandpa’s memory. Well, your broken reinder is the perfect decoration to help hide your foundation wall woes. Just prop its mangled body against the base of the crack. You’ll be so happy about rekindling old holiday memories that you won’t even notice that the structure of your home is crumbling.

The Half-Lit String Of Lights

Any seasoned holiday decorator knows that there will be at least one string of lights that doesn’t make it through the season. Never fear, you have the perfect reason not to throw away a string of half-working lights. Just place the strand of lights along the cracks in your wall. Your basement will be so illuminated with holiday cheer, you’ll forget that the safety of your home may be in jeopardy.

The Left Over Gift Bows

How many times did Aunt Pam urge you to save the bows for next year? (But they don’t stick anymore, Aunt Pam! Darn it, they don’t stick!) Well, you may finally have a use for those adhesive-less gift toppers. Just grab a roll of tape from your stash of gift wrap and tape the bundles of ribbon over the remaining cracks in your wall. How can you focus on the concerns of a structurally unsound home when your basement walls look like a giant holiday gift?

Do It The Right Way

Decorations may brighten your home, but what really makes your home special for the holidays is the safety that it provides you and your family. Cracked or bowed foundation walls can threaten the structural security of your home. Let us cover your cracks this holiday season, the easy and effective way, with Keystone Basement System’s Carbon Fiber Straps. You’ll feel so secure in your home, you won’t even notice when Aunt Susie brings over a puppy as a family holiday gift.

What Makes Pittsburgh Homes Unique?

With interior decorators, professional renovation companies, and DIY home improvement tips, you can easily customize your home to fit your own style needs. However, every city has its own set of unique quirks that come with traditional homes. Here are a few things that make Pittsburgh homes unique.

The Pittsburgh Potty

For most homes, a home listing that mentions a “partial bath” usually means a fully furnished bathroom with all the amenities of a regular bathroom except for the shower. In Pittsburgh, a partial bath often refers to a lonesome toilet planted in the basement of a home without any other bathroom features, including walls. That’s right, it’s just a toilet in the middle of your basement. This fully functional, but not so private, “partial bath” is often referred to as the Pittsburgh potty. Today, Pittsburgh natives may drape cloth around the area for added privacy, some may even build walls around the toilet for a complete bathroom, and others just leave it as is and use the appliance as a back-up toilet during family get-togethers. If you’re planning on using your potty for an upcoming holiday, here’s how to Get Your Pittsburgh Potty Ready For The Party.

Steep Hills

It’s no secret that Pittsburgh is not a flat-landed city. With hills of varying levels at almost every corner, Pittsburgh homes have to be uniquely constructed around some frighteningly steep roads, such as Canton Avenue. This Pittsburgh road definitely wins the scariest-street-to-drive-up award. In fact, with a 37 percent grade, Canton Avenue is one of the steepest streets in the world. If you do decide to challenge gravity and test the mechanics of your vehicle, choose a day with calm weather and clear skies because navigating this road in the snow is not a good idea. If you do make it up the hill successfully, you’ll have to go around the block to get back down because Pittsburgh law does not allow traffic to drive down the hill.

Art

Source: Randyland
Randy Gilson, Pittsburgh native and local artist, didn’t stop at just a few indoor paintings or outdoor lawn decorations. Decorated with brightly colored gnomes, mannequins, mismatched patio furniture, pastel paint and countless plastic toys, Gilson transformed his home from an ordinary corner building on the Mexican War Streets in Pittsburgh’s Northside to something out of a colorful children’s book.
Open for exploration almost every day between 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm, Randyland’s decor may not be a style that most other Pittsburgh houses share, but its certainly an attraction that makes one of our city’s homes unique.

What’s unique about your Pittsburgh home? Do you have a Pittsburgh potty in your basement? Tell us in a comment!

5 Horror Movie Inspired Basement Haunted House Themes

Keep your friends guessing – and running – with these movie-inspired Halloween basement ideas!

The first rule of every horror movie is: Don’t go into the basement. People, don’t go into the basement! But no one listens to that advice. Instead, almost every horror film star inevitably descends the creaky, spider-infested basement stairs where the stalker, monster, or serial killer waits patiently with a record player poised to play a song that no one’s heard since the 1940s and an old, rust-stained (or is it blood-stained?) machete. If you’re decorating your basement this Halloween and you’re hoping to lure unsuspecting friends and family into your bone-chilling basement of doom and terror (too over the top?) these five horror movie scenes may inspire some of your decorations.

The Shining

Stanley Kubrick, director of The Shining starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, knows very well that sometimes simplicity is all you need to scare the bejesus out of people. Ask your niece or nephew to help you recreate the most terrifying characters of all time: identical twin children. Provide them both with outdated matching outfits, cover them in red Jell-O and have them stand at the end of a hallway while strobe lights flicker to reveal their sinister intentions. For an added effect, hide in another room behind your haunted house attendees and bang against the wall while screaming, “Here’s Johnny!”

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

If you’re decorating for an audience craving a real scare, this is the theme for you. Not for the faint of heart, this theme is sure to have your visitors running from your basement – mostly because you’ll be chasing them out with a fake chainsaw. Start by placing some haystacks, cornstalks and farmer’s tools such as shovels and rakes around your basement. Rent or purchase a fog machine and plug it in somewhere no one can see it (or trip over it). The fog will slowly creep over the corn and hay and will have your visitors believing they’re stuck in a serial killer’s back yard.

Now for the most essential element of your massacre themed basement: the chainsaw. Although we hope you already know this, we feel the need to reiterate: Real chainsaws can permanently injure people. DO NOT use a real chainsaw for your haunted house. Instead, use a leaf blower. They’re lighter in weight, the sounds are similar to that of a chainsaw, and you won’t have to worry about accidentally impaling someone. Wear a pair of overalls and a ski mask and stand in a dark corner of your basement. When your visitors get close, rev up your leaf blower and wait for the screams to ensue.

*Some people suggest removing the chain from the chainsaw and using that as a prop. Although the chain is what the machine uses to actually cut things, a chainless chainsaw can still be dangerous. People actually go to classes to learn how to use a chainless chainsaw for haunted houses and trails. Stick with the leaf blower.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space

This ‘80s flick features killer klowns (with a “k” to evoke extra fear). Well, actually they’re aliens dressed as clowns because every extraterrestrial being knows that the easiest way to gain a human’s trust is through a scary clown costume. Clowns, plus darkness, plus enclosed spaces, equals the perfect haunted basement theme. You and your family can dress up as clowns and hide in various corners of the room. When your visitors get close, run past them. Strobe lights are essential here because they will make it more difficult for visitors to see where you’re going. Are you behind them? Next to them? Across the room? They have no idea! All they know is that your haunted basement is one they will remember for a long time.

Holiday-Horror Themed Basement

Horror films were once considered a Halloween-time treat for the nerves. However the genre has quickly crossed over to year-round holidays. There are now so many films based on malicious versions of loveable holiday characters that it can be difficult to choose just one to use as inspiration for your haunted basement. By recreating elements from heartwarming holiday classics such as Thankskilling directed by Jordan Downey, Gingerdead Man voiced by Gary Busey, and Leprechaun starring a young Jennifer Aniston, you can enchant your visitors with an all inclusive holiday horror fest. Designate sections of your basement to each holiday. Use traditional decorations like Christmas trees and shamrocks to design each room, then sprinkle in elements of blood-curdling horror like severed limbs (fake) and bloody goo (also fake).

Frankenstein

A corrupt scientist taking experiments a bit too far is a plotline that has been revised countless times over the years, but no matter how many versions are created, one element always endures: the laboratory. You can really give your visitors the opportunity to interact with your design with this theme. Fill jars with things like Jell-O and chopped almonds for a slimy but crunchy texture, spaghetti and pudding for a gooey and stringy texture, and anything else you can find. Place the jars on your “operating table.” Make sure that the jars are accessible, then adjust the lighting so that it’s light enough for your visitors to see where they’re going but too dark for them to see what’s in the jars. Ask your visitors to gather around the table and reach into the jars to feel the “brains” and “organs” that you’ve harvested from your experiments. You can even include jelly-filled gummy treats and other delicious goodies that your visitors can – reluctantly at first – ghoulishly sample!

Do you decorate your house for halloween? Have you ever designed a haunted basement? What’s your favorite holiday decoration? Tell us in a comment below!

Is The Water In Your Basement From Condensation Or Penetration? [Infographic]

Most homeowners who contact us about their wet basements know two things: there’s water on their basement walls, and they need to do something about it. However, most are unsure of where the water came from: whether it’s a result of condensation and penetration. Finding the answer to this question, and the source of the water, is actually an important indicator of the severity of your foundation damage.

We’ve put together an infographic that not only tells you everything you need to know about the two, but also provides an easy test you can do to determine whether penetration or condensation is responsible for the water droplets on your basement walls. For even more assistance with the test, check out our Basement Water Penetration VS Water Condensation Test video guide.

Build Your Own Wine Cellar

When picturing a finished basement, images of home theatres, family rooms, or furnished bars often come to mind. But your dream basement can include more than just the conventional furnishings. How about your own wine cellar? Your friends are sure to be impressed when you go downstairs to choose a finely aged Merlot to pair with dinner from your custom-built wine cellar. Here’s what you’ll need and how to get started if you want to build your own wine cellar.

What you’ll need

• wine racks
• full glass door
• ¼” a/c plywood (15 sheets)
• 1x3 furring strips (35)
• ¼” x 1-½” flat trim-molding, 8-foots lengths (35)
• 2x4x8 lumber (12)
• track lights (1 set)
• 1 gallon floor paint
• 2 gallons wall paint
• 2 gallons primer/sealer
• switch box
• switch with dimmer
• framing nail gun
• pneumatic finish nailer
• powder-actuated nailer (with charges and nails)
• air compressor with hoses
• power miter saw (chop saw)
• hammer
• chalk line
• measuring tape
• level
• pencil
• safety glasses

Let’s get started

In order for your wine cellar to look custom built, you may have to build a new wall and install a new door. The following steps will begin with the demolition of current walls to the completion of your wine cellar.

Note: Be sure to use pressure-treated lumber for anything that sits directly on the floor. This type of lumber can resist moisture deterioration and insect damage.

Step 1: Remove the old wall and any shelving units.

Step 2:  Frame the new wall by laying a pressure treated sill plate for the wall.  Be sure to leave a gap for the door. Then, starting at one end, place studs on 16-inch centers within the area framing the door. Use nails to secure the framing.  

Step 3: Use either a framing gun (if applying to wood) or a powder actuated nailer (if applying to concrete) to nail the 1x3 furring strips to the interior walls of the wine room.

Step 4: Sheet all the walls and the ceiling with the 1/4” a/c plywood. Secure the plywood to the studs and furring strips using the finish nailer. Using plywood as opposed to drywall is effective because a/c plywood is moisture resistant and faster to install than drywall.

Step 5: Cover all the seams and corners of your walls and ceiling with the ¼” x 1 ½” trim.  Use a power miter box to cut the trim and a nail finisher to nail it in place.

Step 6: Prime and paint the walls. Then prime and stain the floor for a more custom look.

Step 7: Assemble and hang the wine racks. Then place the door in the framed opening. Once the door is level, secure its position with screws. 
Step 8: For an even more put-together look, install track lighting to the ceiling of the wine cellar. 
 
Final Step: Break out a bottle of wine and celebrate your brand new DIY wine cellar.

Have you built your own basement wine cellar? Send us photos of your renovation at keystonebasementspgh@gmail.com, and your basement may be featured in a future article.

Is Your Foundation Able To Support The Weight?

Whether you realize it or not, your home's foundation does a ton of work, literally, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's constantly bearing the weight of not only the structure above, but all of your belongings as well as the family that resides in the home.

Silently, like the mythological Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, your foundation works, supporting, protecting and ensuring the structural integrity of your house.  Not an easy job when you think about it. Your foundation has to battle with soil erosion, the possibility of subsidence, the potential for more and more weight to be added to its already possibly sixty, seventy, maybe even one hundred year old frame. The list of issues your foundation silently deals with daily is wide and long.

However, no need to be overly concerned about it. That's what it is intended to do! Every weight lifter knows that they need a spotter in order to be safe, just ensure that you're doing as good of a job as your foundation. What we mean by this is be alert to any symptoms that your foundation could be weakening.

If you spot any of these symptoms, your foundation could be in need of some assistance:

• Cracked Floors 
• Bowing Walls 
• Cracked Exterior Brick
• Stair Step Cracks In Basement Walls Water Damage
• Uneven Floors 
• Doors/Windows That Won't Shut or Open Properly
• Leaning Chimney

Learn aboutsome causes of foundation damage

Any of these discoveries may mean your foundation is begging for assistance. Fortunately, help is available! Underpinning is one of the most effective ways to secure the integrity of your home’s foundation. Click here to learn more.