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Turn Clear Plastic Shoe Bins into Cute Cheap Storage Solutions

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Here is a storage solution, by using a shoe bin in a creative way!

So I have to admit it. I am a little bit cheap. I don’t want to spend a fortune but I still want things to be nice.

Years ago, while shopping in Pottery Barn, my husband took one look at the price tags and told me “We aren’t Pottery Barn people. We’re Ikea people”. But I love Pottery Barn. Weep.

So what do you do when you still love that higher end look but it is out of your budget?

Just use a little DIY creativity and come up with some more reasonably priced solutions. Try some knock off décor, or make cheap things cute with a little crafty touch.

Like these clear plastic shoe bins that I turned into cute cheap storage solutions for my craft room. Much better then how they started out, don’t you think?

How to Make Cheap Clear Plastic Shoebins into Cute Storage at The Happy Housie-12

So I’ve been searching for cute and reasonably priced storage for the cube storage units in my craft for a LOOOOONNNG time. Like, well over a year.

I started out with some of the fabric “drawers” that you can purchase alongside a cube unit, but I have to say that I didn’t find them very functional. At least for my purposes. They were so big that they almost held too much stuff and you couldn’t properly find anything in them.

I searched and searched and searched for affordable baskets. I swoon over images of storage like this one…

Woven baskets with yarn and knitting needles in it.

and this woven basket…

Twine in a woven basket.And perfect open shelves like this…

Baskets on a white shelf with books in them.

 (all three images via Pottery Barn)

But my budget doesn’t allow for that. These baskets retail around $15-30 each. Best case scenario, I find really well priced baskets at somewhere like Target for $10 each. Well, these two cube units would require 18 of them. Yes, EIGHTEEN.

So that’s $180 bucks! On my craft room storage. The originals would have cost me somewhere between $270-$540.

That just ain’t gonna fly ’round here with my budget.

So since basket weaving isn’t a particular DIY skill of mine, knock off décor is out of the question on these.

Instead I moved onto trying to make some cute cheap storage solutions out of more readily available options. Like these inexpensive clear plastic shoe bins that I picked up {on sale} for $10 for a pack of 10!

Clear plastic shoe bins.

I started out by reorganizing (and slightly purging) many of my craft supplies into these bins. I used to have

Putting craft items in the clear bins.

It is a pretty straight forward tutorial…

I simply cut white cardstock to the appropriate size to fit inside the bin, then used some double sided tape to keep the cardstock secured in place inside the bin. Then I attached some Martha Stewart brand chalkboard labels (these are similar) to the outside of each bin, and used my chalk marker to write down the supplies that are inside.

Making labels for the bins.

Cutting the labels out for the bins.

Using glue on the labels.

Attaching the labels to the inside of the bins.

Martha Stewart labels.

A Martha Stewart label on the bin.

Easy! And so much less visual clutter!

A shelf with clear bins and labels on the bins.

Craft room supplies in the containers.

A home made shelf with the bins stacked in it.

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Turn cheap plastic shoebins into a cute storage solution at The Happy Housie poster.

So, I know they lack the warmth and beauty and character of the natural woven baskets, but I think they serve their storage purpose pretty darn well.

And these worked out to be $1 each – which is a good thing because I needed 36 of them for the two cube organizers on each side of my craft table. They are small enough that I was able to stack them two high in each cube.

The size was perfect too- I found I was able to organize my craft supplies much more easily in the smaller bins. And now I know exactly where everything is.

Do you have any cute cheap storage ideas to share? I am always on the lookout for more!

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21 Comments

    1. Hi Judy, I just used a little bit of double sided sticky (like scrapbook tape) to tack them gently in place, I believe. Krista

      1. I have had trouble getting paper to stick to the insides. The boxes I have aren’t square and have bends in the sides for rigidity.
        Plus I live in an area with variable, often humid weather.

  1. Nice ideas I’m just starting the purge and sort I have the bins and this is a great way to make them a little more appealing. I live, work, study,and craft in aprox 250 square space so with not a lot of space to hide bins I’m going to use some of my odds scrap book paper to give a muted bit of color

  2. You can find very cute sea grass and wooden looking baskets at Dollar General for$1-$9. Right now they are B1G1 50% off too- if you ever need them in the future.

  3. Love the white and black. I have been looking at different organizational ideas, but everything is WAY expensive!!! This is exactly what I have been looking for. Thank you!

  4. I bought my shoe box storage containers from the Dollar Store for $1.00 each also. I like the way you labeled yours! I need to jazz mine up!! Thank you!

  5. Here I was plotting to spray paint ALL of my boxes (on the inside) black and use the chalk lables (Walmart) on mine. Whew! Cutting some paper will be neater, quicker, and smarter. Thank You. I have two black bookcases behind my sewing table. I have thread stored by color in a bunch of the boxes, Zippers fit well in these, too. I also agree that the fabric baskets hold TOO much stuff. I only kept two of those. I have rolls of ribbon in one and a catch all for the oter. Pretty, not real practical. Thanks for the idea. Love it.

  6. Great minds think all me. Love your pretty white plastic bins! I was in the same situation last year when we turned a spare room into my laundry/craft room. I’m a Girl Scout leader so at the end of cookie season I saved about 12 empty cases and covered them in pretty contact paper from Dollar Tree, labeled them and I think the total cost was $3 (contact paper). Perfect size for all of my craft items!

    1. Hello Chelsea- that is a cube unit and I bought it at a big box store that is now out of business, but I have seen similar ones at Walmart, Target, and Home Depot before…

  7. Looking great. Very neat and tidy. Michael s Has their baskets 50% off right now. They have woven ones very similar to the pottery barn ones. I just was there today

  8. I’ve done similar things. I’ve taken shoe boxes and covered them on the outside with wallpaper …..either scraps or using a sample book….which has made for lively colored storage. I then use these boxes around the house as bookends, catchall containers, tea organizers in my cupboard (I have a very large tea collection), make-up organizer in the bathroom and I can go on forever. The idea being to cover the outside of the box. I cover it the way you would a gift box with the excess paper placed inside the shoebox and attached with tape. The top cover stays clear or not- that’s up to you. In that way I can also change colors for the seasons. Enjoy your postings regularly.

    1. Hi Janice! That sounds like a really cute idea – thanks so much for your tips and hints! I have seen it done on Pinterest with cardboard storage boxes as well…people recycle or upcycle old cardboard storage boxes by covering them with paper. I like your idea of using them as bookends! I thought about covering the outside of these boxes but with 36 of them to do I wasn’t quite up to the task:-) I will have to try out that idea soon, though. Thanks for your kind comments!

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