Organizing: Putting Away In Plain Sight, Part 2

Please refer to my earlier post here for clarification on my love of fabric bins -- it is extensive. But moving on . . .

This week, HOW TO use cereal boxes as storage without looking like a preschooler and/or hoarder.

While you have now learned of my love of fabric bins, it may help to remind yourself of my love of yarn. It is also extensive. I LOVE yarn. I would like to clarify that I am not a "yarn snob"; I define "yarn snob" as someone who 1) knows the difference between alpaca, merino, and llama by blind smell-test; 2) cares about the difference; and 3) would never be caught dead in the vicinity of Red Heart Yarn and/or a Michaels store. Now, some yarn snobs are lovely people, I'm sure, and probably got their start on acrylic yarn like the rest of us. I just don't have the time or budget for their kind of stash. That being said, I will tell you of MY love of yarn . . . every color ever! For some reason, I forget that yarn comes in every color imaginable. For example, on a recent trip to Michaels (I do not hide my love of Michaels, and often schedule dates with my girlfriends that center around the newly opened uptown store) I had only two things on my list -- Ninja Turtle Green yarn and Candy Melts. I turned the corner to the yarn aisle, and I swear, I had a tiny little orgasm. Vanna's Choice, my preferred brand, had expanded its section to include not just the basic colors, but now multi-prints, one that may or may not have been the exact shade I wanted in my nursery. Due to my stupid, grown-up budget however, I put down the perfect, orgasmic color, gathered by Ninja Turtle Green ("olive"), and walked away. And died a little inside.

As you can imagine, I have not always been so disciplined, and my stash has grown and grown. According to my Ravelry stash, I have 101 different varieties (102, if you count the new Olive from last weekend). I have gone through a great deal lately, with my Alphabet Blanket project, and I've been careful to only buy new yarn when I need it for a specific project (stay tuned for the reasoning behind "Ninja Turtle Green"). The main reason for this is that I was running out of places to put all this yarn, and promised myself I'd use up a majority before buying more.

When we moved into the new apartment, the yarn ended up in piles in the 2nd bedroom. Now that that bedroom will soon be renamed "the baby's room", the yarn had to to go. Also, in an on-going attempt to make it look like grown-ups live in our apartment, I needed to plan for how to store/display this yarn in an organized fashion. Cue the cereal boxes!!!

. . . the what?

What's the easiest way to get a lot of boxes? Marry someone who eats a lot of cereal (it also helps if the only thing you can keep down/don't mind coming back up during your many many weeks of morning sickness is Chocolate Cheerios). How do you make these boxes look good? A trip to Party City will suffice.

HOW TO:  Turn Cereal Boxes into a Pretty Storage System

1) Start with the thing you want to store and a few month's worth of assorted cereal boxes of various sizes. You'll want a few large (big ol' box of Plain Cheerios) and a few small (not sure if the Chocolate Cheerios only come in smaller boxes, or if I just refused to succumb to the desire to by like 64oz of breakfast chocolate).

Thing I need to store: Yarn

My cereal of choice

2) Gather Materials

• Cereal boxes, flattened
• Various rolls of wrapping paper, perhaps in complementary patterns or colors
• Tape
• Scissors
• Ruler (optional, depending on your degree of anal-ness)

3) Cut cereal boxes into desired shape. You may wish to create Magazine Files, where you would cut the sides diagonally. I just cut each box in half, creating smaller rectangular boxes. Tape up top and bottom flaps to close the boxes on one end.

4) Cover with wrapping paper as you would a present, folding the end of the paper down into the open side of the box.

Tip: If the folded edge of the paper will be showing on your shelf, and you do not have good "invisible" scotch tape, roll the tape the put it on the inside of your folded edge.

You can also use glue or a tape roller, which may seal the edge more completely.

This will keep the edge clean and less present-looking.

5) Repeat with all boxes in various papers. Stuff with stuff. Admire.