New Storage Always a Plus!

This summer during one of our garage sale treasure hunts my husband and I found a great plastic drawer storage unit.  It is one of the large heavy duty units and we only paid $2.00 for it.  I wasn't sure exactly where I was going to use it but for $2.00 I could not pass on such a great deal.  My fist thought was I would combine some smaller units we have in my husband's area of our shop.  But once it made it home I quickly tossed out that idea for a better use in my area.

The drawer unit was the perfect size to fit at the end of my crafting counter.  Placing it on the end allows it to block off the end of the counter so you cannot see the mess (I mean projects in progress) on the rest of the counter.  I love it.  Covering up your messiness is always a positive.

The outside casing for the drawers is white.  Well, it was once a bright white now it is more of an ecru color.  It did have a few rust stains on the top where it looked like a can had been left.  But, a little baking soda to the rescue and it really cleaned up nicely.

The unit has some large drawers which is much more functional than only having the small drawers.

The rust stains on the top.

Dry baking soda.  The trick is to only us a small amount of water.

Stains all gone!

 



If you are not aware of the magical cleaning powers of ordinary baking soda you are missing out on an extraordinary product.  I have found that baking soda will remove almost any kind of stain or baked on yuk from most things.  Do not use it on painted surfaces because it can remove the paint.  But on any non porous hard surface it works wonders.  Now back to the storage unit.  I was able to remove the rust stains and it brightened up the plastic slightly.

The position I placed the drawers on my counter meant that the back of the unit was facing out.  It does not have a solid back so I covered the back with a piece of poster board covered with black and white contact paper.  The contact paper coordinates with my color scheme really well and I had it in the closet. 

The open back was not attractive.

The poster board cut to fit the back.

I have had the black and white contact paper for a while in my closet.

The finished back of the drawer unit.  Much better!

 

The next step was probably one of the most important steps, labeling the drawers.  I do not like to take the time to search for something when I am in my creative process  Although I seem to be constantly looking for something.  I am trying to get myself well organized so I can spend more time creating and less time searching for my supplies.  Maybe someday I will finally achieve that goal.  Once I decided what items would go in each drawer I then used my label maker to label the drawers.

 

Labeling is a must!

My label maker has borders so all of the labels in my craft/sewing area has the flower border.

 



One last addition and the drawers were fully functional.  After knocking the drawer unit off the counter onto the floor I added some shelf liner underneath to give it some grip.  Yes, after I filled all the drawers I caught the end one day with a book and it went sailing off onto the floor.  Thankfully nothing broke and I knew what would keep it in place.  Gripping shelf liner might just be as magical as baking soda.  It will keep almost anything in place.  Since adding the shelf liner the drawer unit has stayed in place.

 

I use my new drawer unit every day and I love the feeling of being somewhat organized.  Hopefully you can find the perfect storage accessory for your crafting and sewing area.  Don't pass it up at a garage sale just because it has a few stains.  Remember the magic of baking soda and a little elbow grease.

 

Danna