Creating a Home Decor Inventory

Welcome to the Blog today, Friends. I hope you are enjoying your summer and staying cool and dry amidst the heat and storms we’ve been having lately. Being indoors the last few days gave me time to start rearranging and sorting which led me to think about making a home decor inventory. I would know exactly what I had and where it was located…if I only had an inventory.

A few years ago my daughter was storing some of her things in a storage unit and a pipe burst. There was considerable water damage especially to some art work she had stored there. she had a complete inventory with prices and pictures. She had no trouble collecting on the insurance for the value of the damaged items.

It is definitely time to start cataloging some of my thrifted treasures. Fortunately, I had already worked out a system when I inventoried our Christmas decorations. The Lenox and Waterford ornaments were all inventoried with prices, box numbers and storage locations. It was a start. Now on to the flatware.

Above you can see a set of silver-plated flatware that I purchased some years ago. It’s quite baroque in appearance. I made a list of the information that I would like to know about this set. The manufacturer, the pattern name, the number of knives, forks, etc., the cost of each piece and the total cost would all be important information. I also wanted to include a picture of the flatware. Other possibilities could be the date of manufacture and if the pattern was retired. this seemed like a good start so the next step was creating the inventory.

I set up a chart in “Numbers” an apple spread sheet program, put in the headings and then went to Replacements, LTD. to get some prices. Fortunately, this set was listed as one of their patterns. This is a 12 place setting set with extra pieces and serving pieces. As you can see I priced each piece than added up the total for the number of pieces in a category. After everything was priced I added up the total amount for a total price for the set. This would constitute an “Insurance” price not necessarily a “selling” price.

Next I added a picture to the price sheet. That would help make sure that the correct flatware was being identified.

I have a list started for china and crystal as well.

The final step will be printing out a label to identify each of the silver boxes by the pattern name and subscribe a number to each box that will correspond with the inventory box number. The location of the box will be the last thing included in the information on the spreadsheet. It’s really not very complicated but takes some time to organize.

I decided to start with the largest sets and then move on to sets with fewer pieces. This is another really beautiful set of silver-plate. You can see how bright and polished it looks in the picture. The silver boxes don’t always accompany the flatware you buy so when I see one in a thrift store in good condition I pick it up for future use.

Here’s another set for eight with a few extra pieces and a couple of serving pieces. When you find sets at thrift stores or estate sales they are in variable condition. Make sure you count pieces, look them up on line and inspect their condition before you purchase.

Your family will thank you for doing all the work up front and you will know exactly what you have in your cupboards. Keep a copy of your inventory with other important papers that are protected from Fire and Water damage.

I’m going to be working hard on this project for the remainder of the summer. It will definitely keep me busy. There are also a number of apps on line that can help with this type of project. You might want to look at some of them. Search under storage or household inventory.

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope your inventory goes well.