Thursday, September 6, 2012

55 UHeart Organizing: A Super Solution for Deep Drawer Storage

Today I am excited to extend a warm welcome to my pal Ashli.  Ashli has a love for organizing and an eye to make it lovely, and today she is stopping over from Mini Manor Blog to share with us her genius solution for storing items in those super deep drawers. 


Hi Guys! I'm so excited to be on I Heart Organizing today! I tackled a project that has been bothering me since the day I moved into my home 2 years ago.

You see I have no room in my dining room for a sideboard.


So logically I moved all of our fancy pants dishes and serving trays into the kitchen. I had two drawers to be used as a "sideboard".

The first drawer is a wide shallow drawer perfect for napkins and small side plates.


But it was the larger second drawer that needed some work. Don't get me wrong... big deep pot drawers are great, if you're storing pots in them. But if you're storing spare dishes, there is a lot of wasted space. Since we would also need to store our fancy pants cutlery I thought about sliding cutlery trays!!!


It was really simple to do, a few supplies from home depot and about an hour of time.

1.  You'll need some trim from the molding department. This L shaped edging works really well. We just glued it on to the edges, making sure to keep it clamped overnight!



2.  Spray paint them whatever color you like. We chose Sun Yellow by Rustoleum!

3.  You'll need two boards . . . one for the front of your drawer and one for the back. Cut them to size, paint them white, and screw them to the inside of your drawer.


4.  Your newly sprayed {and hopefully dry} trays should fit right in. I can easily push them to the left or right to reach dishes below!


Everything fit in perfectly. We have room for our plates, chargers, place mats, serving spoons, napkin rings, cutlery and a couple serving platters.


And the best part is no wasted space!


Thank you so much Jen!!!


"I’m Ashli from Mini Manor Blog.  I live in Big Beautiful British Columbia with my Husband Lee and our 5 lb yorkie Max.  I have an organizers heart, I am a bin-aholic, and I’ve never met a wicker basket I didn’t love. During the summer I can be found lounging in the garden or at the gym . . . one of those was a lie. And in the last 5 years I’ve made more than 2000 cupcakes. I want to bake, eat and organize. Hand me some eggs, flour and an unorganized kitchen, that’s my idea of a great weekend, okay go ahead throw Ryan Gosling in there too."


55 comments:

  1. Fantastic idea!!! I have 2 deep drawers that I currently use for tupperwear, but I'm thinking about purging some and making the other storage for "fancy pants" items. I might have to borrow your ideas!

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  2. The link to the Mini Manor Blog resulted in a virus download on my computer!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jaime!

      It might be something that you already had on your computer? I have tested the link multiple times, and there isn't anything that is affecting my personal computer.

      xo!
      Jen

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    2. Happened on my computer multiple times yesterday too. Now that I'm off my work network it is fine, but I'm not so sure my home security pc is as good as my work one! It's a first though with Ashli's blog!
      _Michelle.

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  3. Ashli rocks!

    I was wondering where she stored all those fun patterned dishes and napkins she uses. What a great use of space adding those souped up trays :). Love it!

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  4. I also enjoy both you and Ashli's blog! Thank you! Love the posts.

    Jennifer ~

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  5. Ahhh, the link gave me a virus scan too!!

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  6. Forgot to mention ... it's the link at the bottom, in Ashli's bio.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so for letting me know which link, I just deleted the link completely and re-added it, hopefully that fixes the problem.

      xo!
      Jen

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  7. Great idea Ashli! We have a deep drawer we use to store odds and ends. This would make it much more functional.

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  8. Forgot to ask, do you really need to use an entire panel at the front and back? Couldn't you just use say a 1X1 piece either screwed or glued to the top of the drawer for the trays to slide on?

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    Replies
    1. You could totally Use small pieces of trim!!! The back of our drawers are lower than the front so we used full pieces!!! Thanks for asking Lauren!!!
      Lots of Love
      Ashli

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  9. Oh my gosh this is brilliant and so original. I'm so glad I found this post.

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  10. Cute idea, but since those are spray painted it's probably a good idea to give them a wash before you use them. Perfect idea for deep craft drawers though and I love how all of the space is utilized.

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  11. Love Ashli! Way to go girl! Awesome idea!

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  12. I am going to try this over the weekend!

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  13. Oh, I am so doing this on the deep drawers in my bathroom. All that wasted space, and all the little stuff with no where to go!

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  14. This idea is perfection! I also loved that she spray painted the trays such fun colors for a little surprise of color.

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  15. This an awesome idea!!! What a lovely pop of color, this would be a fab winter project here in rainy Washington in the winter :)

    xoxo, Tanya

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  16. One of your MANY great ideas! Thanks for sharing and very excited to see two of my favorite blogs collaborating!

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  17. Love the special cutlery tray! Brilliant idea. Not everyone understands the need for special colors for trays that will be closed up in drawers but those of us who do LOVE the yellow paint. :)

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  18. What a great idea!!!!! Lovin this and needing to do this idea to several drawers! I have one that I use for wrapping paper- this would be great to have some trays similar but not cutlery ones, for bows, tape, scissors etc!

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  19. Dont you think it would be heavy for a drawer for regular use.

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    1. Not at all, it slides in and out just as well as it did before we installed the trays!!
      You could also use smaller trim pieces instead of the two wood pieces at the front and the back and that would lighten it up even more!!
      Hope that helps!
      Ashli

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  20. I love this Ashli. What a great idea. I have some deep drawers in my bathroom that I might have to adapt this to. Thank you!

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  21. great idea going try this one...

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  22. Not to be odd, but in Ashli's ending "about me" bit, she says she " has made more then 2000 cupcakes" - the word should be than, not then. : )

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    Replies
    1. Oh, please, for Heaven's sake. Next time you want to be the grammar police, just go to the source. You should have emailed Ashli privately rather than attempt to make a public comment. It would be a good idea to sign your name, as well, instead of hiding behind "Anonymous". Had you done so, I could have emailed you this comment privately myself.

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  23. This is a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  24. Fabulous work Ashli! Love the colours as well - looks gorgeous. This could work in so many drawers - hooray for such a great idea :)

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  25. Where did you get the adorable bird dishes in the drawer? I must have them!!

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    Replies
    1. They're from Homesense (homegoods). Almost all of our little accessories are from Homesense. But I can almost always find them on Amazon as well!
      Hope that helps
      Ashli

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  26. This is such a creative solution! And I love that sweet pop of yellow!

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  27. Your dining room is so cute. May I ask where you got your hanging light fixture?

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    Replies
    1. Vancouver lighting here in Vancouver.
      Shades of light has really similar ones as well!
      Hope that helps a bit!
      Lots of Love
      Ashli

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  28. I just found your post and will now be following your wonderful blog, Ashli! I am smitten with all of your cute bird dishes as well. Where did you get them?

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    Replies
    1. Homesense (homegoods) But definitely check amazon as well!!!
      Lots of Love
      Ashli

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  29. That is so awesome Ashli! I love it! The dining room is so fabulous, especially with those doors y'all installed.

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  30. Love this idea, Ashli!! Great idea! I love that you painted them fun colors, too...such a fun surprise when you open the drawer!

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  31. where is your dining room table from? i love it!

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    Replies
    1. It's just an old hand me down from my parents house!! I've seen one really similar on Overstock.com!
      Hope that helps a bit!
      Ashli

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  32. Awesome! Our vanity drawers are super deep and I've been trying to figure out a solution. So excited to try this out! Thanks so much!
    -Sandy

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  33. Wow, what a great idea! You should really invent that and patent it... I think you'd have a big hit. :)

    We offer bamboo cutlery trays at Seville, but this little innovation never occurred to us! Very neat...

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  34. GReAT idea! I might use it in a deeper dresser drawer to put jewelry in. Thanks for sharing! (And TOTALLY agree that you should patent this!)

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  35. Love your idea but my eyes are totally attracted to the barn door windows! It's gorgeous!! Was it a DIY project?

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  36. OMG .. what a GREAT idea!!!! Thanks!

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  37. I love this idea. I want to create a shallow spice drawer inside an existing deep drawer. This might actually work!

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