Get It Done: Whip That Junk Drawer Into Shape

Design For Less I forgot about a complete mold of my mouth/teeth from a dentist visit prior to getting 2 crowns done. Yup, image a complete 3-D image in haard clay of your teeth staring back at you. Frightening.

Becky Harris That is hilarious!

Design For Less Yes Becky, junk drawers are somehting I usually try to avoid at all costs:)

Becky Harris I'm afraid of the batteries that have corroded and turned into some other form of matter. Also, old gum, which also turns into another kind of matter.

Lynn Nice Job! Very Inspiring!

New Seabury Thanks so much Becky for adding my "Mom Drawer" to this piece! I'm a huge follower of all the great info you provide us Houzz addicts. I also appreciate all the additional options you featured to help us all try to stay organized! Eileen

olldbobbi Liquid Paper? OMG, I forgot that stuff even exists! I knew it was time to clean out my junk drawer when I was stabbed by my meat thermometer when I was looking for the stapler. A few drops of blood later, my drawer was clean.

astraea These ideas are great, but when I start going thru my kitchen "junk drawer", or the 2 upper drawers in my office desk, everything isn't easily categorized, and put into bins; often you just have 1 or 2 of a particular item. I really do like the idea of a 2-layer drawer, because small things do get buried, in a drawers that's even 3" high! I wish the upper drawer was clear, so you could see what's under it!

Casart Coverings Here's the all-time funniest story about why you should clean out your junk drawer, which in my case is in an extra deep built in desk. Short story: couldn't find diamond engagement ring on ring stand, kept taking other rings on and off as if it would magically appear. Finally filed insurance claim and haggled with them over what they wanted to pay. Kept check for about a month before depositing. A week later decided to clean out drawer. Cat was sitting on desk watching me. I reached waaaay back in drawer, felt something, pulled it out and put my diamond ring on desk top. Cat looked at it and promptly swatted that shiny thing right back into the opened drawer. Mystery solved but you can imagine my embarrassment when I had to call my agent and explain why I'd be sending him a rather sizeable check! Molly Brandenburg and all you cat lovers please note!

shergar4 Be very careful with batteries, especially the 9 volt type as they have both the positive and negative contacts on the same side, they can come into contact with a pen's metal clip or paper clip and some paper and start a fire. To avoid this simply put a piece of tape over the contacts. Keep all of your batteries separate and apart from anything else in the drawer for safety sake.

retromomma Great article.

Mary Friend "Shouldn't that raffia be hanging out with the other wrapping supplies?" LOL. I have 2 bundles of raffia floating around my house right now...

9numv I save boxes and small containers. I use them to organize drawers, shelves with doors, desk tops, closets, the garage. Rarely do I need to purchase any organizing item. It's great fun and oh so satisfying. (At gift wrapping time I go to my shelf of ribbons, bows, tags, scissors, tape, paper—all in labeled boxes.)

Lisa Hall Your before and after went from mesh bins to a wood organizer. Is the wood insert custom? Looks great!!

New Seabury Hi Lisa - my picture is only the first one in this article with the wood inserts. Yes it is something we made ourselves. Just bought the clear maple for it at Home Depot. I knew what I wanted to keep in my "Mom Drawer" so it was pretty easy to do. And if I ever want to change it, it could lift right out. I also did some other drawers For the kitchen. It was WAY cheaper to ourselves than through the cabinet company. I love being able to find everything and not have it be a hot mess in each drawer:). If you click on the picture you can see other drawers I've organized. Thanks so much for your compliment!

Lynette O.k. I've been p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-n-g-- but thanks for the reminder and jumpstarting this task with great ideas! :o))

Becky Harris Shergar - thanks for the warning!!! Casart, you know that you NEVER would have found the ring until you got your check - it's Murphy's Law.

Lisa, my "after" has yet to happen - I wish that was my drawer - only the wire mesh one is mine!

Casart Coverings You made me laugh, Becky. And I needed one. Waiting to learn more definitively just where Isaac is going to make landfall. Folks here in the Big Easy, as you can imagine, are jumpy and preparing for worse case scenario. Trajectory keeps moving further west and closer to us. How true about Murphy's Law. The agent was surprised that I called and returned the check. I told him I didn't want anything that wasn't mine, but I did want EVERYTHING that was my due!

beeje Yes, I got some good chuckles out of this post as well. Becky, you are always a breath of fresh air! Next time I clean out the household junk drawer I hope to figure out a way to put a lock on it so hubby can't "borrow" my tape measure, tiny hammer/screwdriver combo and Krazy Glue and take them away to the black hole that is his domain, the garage.

valleymom7 Casart - my diamond necklace and earrings have been missing for two years. Can't file insurance claim as it will be our 3rd claim in 5 years, which will lead to being dropped by the insur. company (never mind that we have 4 houses insured, and it also is only our 3rd claim in 20 years!). Sure wish mine would show up in the junk drawer!
Impressive job organizing drawers. Maybe I'll work on that tomorrow.

Ferah Tanatar_Soner Becky, you are a true inspiration for me; the ultimate maybe-I'll-need-it-for-something hoarder... needless to say the drawers, closets and all available spaces are cluttering over into the rooms.. However, I must start reading these articles on weekend mornings instead of during workdays so that the inspiration hasn't drained away before the weekend cleaning!

DreamMaker Kitchen and Bath Great article! I am guilty of not doing this. I loved the charging station.

Becky Harris Ferah, don't let the ideabooks fool you, I definitely share those "maybe I'll need it for later" hoarder types too. Though I must say, every time I open up my newly cleaned out pantry my heart sings. It's also excited about the bag of Wethers candy I found during the clean out too I suppose.

girlfriend2012 They have those mesh drawer organizers at Family Dollar for $1.00 each. All sizes.

mini4679 Becky you've stirred up a hornet's nest ...

keimelnie You should check our the DrawerDecor system for organizing. www.kmnhome.com

Sue Paul

mmmmk love the idea of a husband lock. Hubby has huge supply of measuring tapes and tools but always goes to my organized group of kitchen tools.

bgiteach New Seabury, please tell us more about where to find the clear maple at Home Depot to make our own Drawer organizers. Which department? What size to purchase? Thanks

bgiteach New Seabury, please tell us more about where to find the clear maple at Home Depot to make our own Drawer organizers. Which department? What size to purchase? Thanks

Chicago ReDesign Love these "Get It Done" ideabooks Becky! Thanks for sharing.

frenchdecor @bgiteach If you are not DIY person you'll find it challenging. We did many drawers and customized furniture, but first, I did Christmas present to my husband, a good circular saw. I am Mechanical Engineer and do for simple design drawings in AutoCAD (Eng.design program) or 3D for complex designs. My husband is builder and very handy, so we do team work smooth and in no time. My suggestion to you is -- any project you do first time find good Youtube video demo and then decide whether you can do it. You have to know what size and height drawer or organizer you need (always a bit smaller for easy fit), do manual drawing (sketch) with dimensions of all parts (consider thickness of the wood as well) and calculate rough total material length. Only then you are ready to go buy wood (for novice better cheapest) which comes in various length, mostly 2-3-4-6-8' in any home improvement big box store, ask store associates. They can do also cut, but before cutting you have to revise your drawing and adjust parts' length considering exact purchased wood thickness. It wouldn't worth to pay for each cut about $2 and 1/8" tolerance, you'll have fitting problem and too expensive project at the end. You'll need screws, perhaps wood pins for inner part connection, bottom panel if you want, and some more tools.

jkristamagee Oh how I would love to just slap the person who invented the junk drawer while asking them " WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST PUT IT AWAY!" Lol- every drawer that belongs to my husband is a junk drawer--- my teeth constantly hurt from grinding in aggravation