DIY Custom Storage Cubes

When we moved into our house it didn't have any closets, not one! We have gradually added closets and cupboards as we have remodeled but there is still a serious storage issue in our house. I love the storage cubes that can double as ottomans and be set together for a type of coffee table; but I haven't ever seen any that I like for my house, and are affordable.

What's a girl to do? Make my own, of course. I used the same fabric and milk crates from this post and they look suspiciously similar. I originally took pictures to put a tutorial together, but with all my picture re-organization this last month, these are the only two that survived.

I started with this:

I wrapped the crate with thin batting, it is just hot glued onto the basket. After the batting was on the crate, I set it in the middle of the upholstery fabric and wrapped the basket like a present. I didn't worry too much about the edges on the inside, because I planned to line the basket. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of starting to use them right away because I had run out of fabric; and now I have never gotten around to lining them.

After the outside was covered and the corners were folded in nicely (just like making a bed), I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood just a bit larger than the top of the crate for the lid. Using a piece of 1"seat cushion foam, and more fabric I covered the top of the plywood lid just like you would cover a seat cushion for a chair.

I used two hinges screwed directly into the plywood and the top edge of the crate to attach the lid. I was nervous that the screws would work out of the crate since it is just plastic but I couldn't think of another way to attach them.

After the lid was on, I folded the edges under on and lined the lid with another piece of fabric, this edge does show a lot so it was important to make sure it was lined well.

We have enjoyed these boxes, they are used for extra seating, particularly for playing video games, I store magazines and toys in them. And amazingly enough, they have held up to my crazy crew. Now that we have lived with them for a while, the only thing that I will change when I make some for my kids' rooms is to add small wooden feet. I lift and carry them, but of course, my kids scoot them across the floor, and the fabric on the bottom is beginning to wear.

What do you think? I would love to see any ideas you have for storage issues, especially in small spaces.

I am linking to:

Storage Cubes?

I have been trying to convert our back hallway into a makeshift mud room since we don't have any room for a proper one. I purchased a very inexpensive bookshelf to store our mittens and hats in the winter and baseball gloves, shinguards, and balls in the summertime.

I have been using dairy baskets (I think that's what they are called) --they are the baskets that gallons of milk are delivered to the stores in-- to store the equipment up until now. The upside is that they are very durable and stack well; the downside is that they are really ugly.

I have been looking for cute baskets to replace them but I haven't been able to find anything durable enough that is also inexpensive. After I saw some recovered storage cubes on a blog that I am sorry I can't find-I'll keep looking and give credit when I find it- I thought that I could just recover these to make them cute.

I purchased some coordinating upholstery fabric and pulled out my handy-dandy glue gun. I wrapped the outside of the baskets in thin batting so the texture of the basket wasn't so obvious and then started cutting and glueing to fit. I didn't use any sort of a pattern but I did line them with the opposite fabric on the inside of the basket. I am still looking for a cute ribbon that will look good on the striped basket.

This fabric coordinates so well with my living room that I was tempted to put them in there instead but I think I will cover some more, and make lids for them to store our scriptures and a few small toys for Addyson.

I "heart" magnet boards!

One of my favorite new organizational projects is a magnet board inside my bathroom cupboard. My cute girly girls love hair bows, flowers and clippies and our drawer had been overrun with them. Searching for the right accessory sometimes took longer than the hairstyle and when I am trying to balance a 10 month old on the counter at the same time...it can be precarious.

My fantastic husband had this one up for me very quickly with only a minimum of eye rolling (he couldn't believe that this was all for hair stuff!). I used leftover babyfood containers -I love those! for the tiny little elastics and clippies and some cute ribbon from Michaels dollar bins for the long bow holders. E6000 adhesive is my favorite for attaching plastics or glass and it worked like a charm for the magnets on the containers and the ribbons.

KC used contact cement to put the flashing right on the cupboard door and then trimmed it out with molding--it still needs to be caulked and painted, but that is for another day.

Each of my older kids also have magnet boards in their room. This isn't a great picture of the one in Cort and Chan's room but you can get the general idea. I love that they can display all of their artwork on it; they can also use dry erase markers on it but I haven't told them about that possibility. I don't need dry erase marker all over everything else. My boys love BYU so I used vinyl lettering to decorate the board.

I have seen this flashing used for backsplashes in kitchens. I love the idea of being able to stick my recipe right to the backsplash up above my workspace...hmmm maybe that will be a project for another day.