Writer's Block: Decision Time/hivemind: fabric storage

[anotheranon]

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Hi there ;)

D. has long lamented on the aesthetics (or lack thereof) of my fabric/garb storage.

This consists of 4-5 large (2 ft/1 yard cubed; the garb is in a long plastic trunk) boxes. Brown cardboard and large grayish Tupperware tubs. Without the common decency to be in the unfinished part of the basement (yes, they're in what could be considered a social/common area).

I am looking into possible solutions. What I require:

• Large - these peewee things look great but can't hold more than a couple of yards each
  
  
• Opaque - light can damage some fibers.
  
  
• Nice looking - not cardboard. Not giant Tupperware or other cheap plastic (though better quality I'll consider).
  

What I'm considering:

• Stuff that doubles as furniture
- again, if it's big enough (lamentably, this is not).


• Actual furniture (chest of drawers? Trunks?)
  
  
• Cloth bags/cubes
  

In an ideal world I'd have a single large wardrobe with inner shelves and doors, but we'd like to move sometime in the near future and don't want to have to move something that big and heavy.

What I'm asking from y'all is: for or against any of the above; your own personal solutions; and/or anything I've not thought of yet.

And yes, I've heard of Dream Sewing Spaces and might get it if I'm really flailing for ideas, but I'm also trying not to buy books right now - they're a whole separate storage issue :P

Comments

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

My two favorite ways to store fabric are cedar chests (where some of my wool currently lives) and proper chests of drawers (where some of my stash lived when we lived in Alexandria).

My current methods are the plastic bins. Most of mine are either in the basement or in a closet so aren't out in the open.

In the past, I've stored fabric in old suitcases, milk crate shelving, and folded on shelves in a closet.

What about wicker baskets on shelves? Under the bed storage?

Do you need end tables? (I've seen laundry baskets with a piece of plywood over top and then covered with a floor length table skirt used as hidden storage.)

What about those vacuum bags that you load up with stuff (like clothes) and then suck the air out so that it sucks all together and gets a lot smaller?

Sew more? ;-p

Hope some of this is useful!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously leaning towards wicker baskets, provided they have lids. Michaels seems to have an infinite variety of sizes and styles, and I even found a bonafide trunk (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50146458), albeit a small one. Thanks!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

I've been very happy with the cabinet I bought at IKEA (photo is dark ... the doors are a glossy brick red) ... it has two adjustable shelves inside and holds a respectable amount of folded fabric (this is an old photo ... it's much fuller now). Advantage over bins (to me anyway) ... I can see at least an edge of everything in there without having to shuffle or unpack. There's a separate hutch available (which I'm going to buy one of these days) that adds another foot in height/turns the current top into another shelf.

This cabinet is part of a very flexible mix 'n' match series of office furniture called Effektiv ... look at the first photo that comes up and there's my same cabinet on the right, on legs instead of a plinth, with smaller doors and two drawers, and with a doored hutch on top instead of the shelves and big doors I have. Basically you choose your shell piece and then pick the interior arrangement, closures, and supports you like best, as well as your preferred colours & materials (and, best of all, you can buy in bits and pieces, at your monetary convenience)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Starting to look like Ikea definitely has some possibilities, especially if I think outside the box re: what the furniture is designed for ;) Thank you!

Box? What box? ;p

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Their office furniture is definitely useful for more than just a mere "office". :-) And if, as you said, your ideal is a large wardrobe, then something like this is likely your best compromise ... the customizable wardrobe-like storage you want, yet can be disassembled for moving.