Call to Order: Personalized Storage Bins

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Personalized Storage Bins

Storage bins are the not the solution for everything. There I said it. whew. Throwing a storage bin at the problem doesn't always solve your problem. It may be a step in the right direction, but storage bins are not the end-all-be-all for storage problems.

You really need to take a few steps back and think about your issues. Should these things really reside in this room? Or maybe in another? Do we need to keep all 100 toys in the family room or could we move them all the kids bedroom?

If you skip this step, then your organizing solution (while very pretty and functional) won't last long term. It just won't. It has to fit your family's needs.

This is our family room (I have said it before and I will say it again, I am not a photographer).

Kind of blah. Nice built-ins, good space, but pretty blah. I wasn't really using the bins for anything besides taking up space.

Once I made up my organizing plan (after I was prompted by my husband to end the toy disaster), I decided to personalize these bins for each member of the family. 2 per kids and one for each grown-up.

Supplies I used:

Downloaded font
Printer to print out initials
Black Sharpee
Patience and time

I decided on a kind of swirly font instead of straight block letters. Whatever your heart desires, go with it. I printed each letter out (almost as large as it could be on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper). I wanted the initial to take up a good portion of the storage bin. You could even do a full name, but I just wanted to do initials so they would be nice and large and not quite as busy.

Then, place the letter on the basket and trace it. I tried to do this with contact paper and then laminating all for waste - just stick it on there and hold it while you trace around it carefully. Then color it in the color Sharpee you want. I wanted black so it would stand out against the color of the baskets.

Finished product - the girl side