Saturday, March 4, 2017

Firewood ~ How We Store and Organize Our Wood




I'm not sure if you can tell how small this room is from the photos.  I recently had some friends from work over for a Ladies Night.  They had seen the  house on the blog, but had not yet seen it in person.  One friend said it appears larger in photos.  Because this house is so small, we need to get creative in how we use the space and especially in how we organize and store things we need to live comfortably here.




Living in New England, we use our wood stove all winter and need to keep a good supply of wood, kindling, fire starters, fat wood, newspapers, and matches easily accessible.  To store a large supply of wood indoors, my husband used some scrap wood to build this large storage box.  We have tried lots of different ways to store wood indoors, and this is working the best.  It holds a lot of wood and keeps the debris from getting all over the floor. 



We use this old fisherman's basket to hold the fat wood and matches high above where our dogs can reach it.  


We simply hook the strap over the stair post.  The handle for the match container is hung over the buckle for the basket.


We take the matches out of the original box and put them in this holder, then we rip off the bottom of the box where you strike the match and tape it to the bottom of this holder.

It looks like this one needs to be replaced.

The kindling is stored in one of these large baskets that I believe came from Target several years ago.  They are holding up to lots of use and I like the little blackboards for labeling.



Extra bags of kindling are stored in this giant crate I found at Brimfield Fair.


The top comes off and you can store quite a bit of extra bags in here.


As you can tell, our extra supplies are funning low!



We have another basket for storing newspapers.  This is getting low too!




So this is how we store our wood stove supplies without it getting too cluttered and overwhelming.



We also keep a rack of wood right outside the mudroom door.



We feed this rack from our woodpile.


And here is where things get really messy.



We originally stacked wood in the back, under the large maple tree.  Our supplier wood dump the cords where that deck is now, and we would all stack it.  This summer, my husband built the deck connecting the house to the garage.  We really should have moved that woodpile first!




The new wood that was delivered was dumped here, and we stacked it neatly along the deck.  We tried to use the old pile first, and did use quite a bit, but we also got lazy a lot and it was easier to take from the newer pile.  Now, the newer pile is almost gone (and quite a mess).  And the older pile is still there, behind the deck where it was buried in snow for most of the winter.



We will get this moved, now that all the snow has melted.  



So that is how we deal with all the wood that goes along with owning a wood stove.  It's a lot of work, and really messy, but there is nothing like a wood fire on a cold New England winter day.

Linking Up ~






9 comments:

  1. At least the old pile will be nice and dry! You have come up with attractive and
    functional ways to store your woodstove supplies.

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    1. That old wood pile is buried under a mountain of snow right now Vee! Hopefully it will dry out again by spring!
      Warmly, Gloria

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  2. It may be small but it looks so cozy and pretty and inviting! Not everyone has a huge home, ours is 1100 square feet and we added 500 sq ft. of that ourselves. We raised two daughters in this little (one bath) house and we thrived. Your home is beautiful, I look forward to seeing more :)

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    1. Growing up, I didn't know any families who lived in really big homes and most of the families were bigger than they are now! Everyone seemed to do ok back then. I read a story recently that millennials are not interested (and cannot afford) large homes in the suburbs so things really do come around again. Thanks for visiting Kathleen!
      Warmly, Gloria

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  3. How cozy! I love a wood stove! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!

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  4. Lots of great ideas -- thank you! What is that black pot on top of the wood stove? What do you use it for?

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    1. Thank you for visiting my blog! It is a steamer/humidifier. We keep it full of water at all times and add a few drops of essential oils sometimes. The air becomes way too dry from the wood stove if we don't do this. I found this pot at a yard sale, but this is the same one at Target (you can only get it online). http://www.target.com/p/pleasant-hearth-2-5qt-cast-steamer-humidifier-black/

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    2. That link is not working. Just google "wood stove steamer" and you should be able to find it.
      Warmly, Gloria

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Thank you for your lovely comments - they make my day!

Gloria