Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Space ... The Final Frontier

by Maggie Franklin | July 6, 2009 | Bookmark +

The good news is, I think I've found a viable answer to my glitter and bling storage dilemma. The bad news is, I still don't have enough space!

 

When I did the "tech swap" article with Lois a couple of years ago, I fell in love with the little shelves her hubby had made for her to store all her colored acrylic and glitter. So I came home and dragged the BF to Lowe's for wood and glue, then brought it all home and proceeded to build my own version. I was so excited with my results I took them to work and hung them up without even painting them! The BF was quite surprised I would hang anything at my station that had not been properly decorated, but it was just so great to have all that stuff out in the open where people could see it. And I didn't have to dig through three drawers and six cabinets to find something!

 

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that my small room at the salon does not offer me enough wall space to adequately hold my growing collection. I have a grand scheme where two of the hairstylists relinquish their room and I get to move into their space — but they ain't goin' for it. So I have spent the last few months staring at my room, silently redecorating in my mind.

 

Turns out, I just don't have enough space. If I didn't actually need room to do nails, I might have enough room to store all my stuff for doing nails. It's an ancient conundrum. I'm pretty sure Buddhist monks have been pondering the answer for centuries.

 

I realized quite some time ago that I am not going to be able to keep all my beloved little jars of glitter and mylar and confetti proudly displayed on shelves where everyone can see them. So I invested in a gob of those little "Insyst Discs" and started the painstaking process of coating the tips on the disks with glitters and other assorted bling for display purposes. Well, never mind the tangent I could go off on about what a horrifying project that has turned out to be! Not to mention that some six months later I have exactly four of those discs covered with glitter — each disc has 20 tips on it, so that's 80 glitters that can easily be studied up close and personal while sitting at my desk.

 

Eighty sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Well it's not. If I ever find the time to finish the project, I estimate that I will have about 20 of those discs done. And that only includes the glitters, mylars, and confettis that are in stock, as in, the way I buy them. It does not include any of my custom-blended creations that I keep on hand.

 

So I had a brilliant idea: I would find stackable boxes of some sort that would be just the right size to hold exactly 20 of these little jars that I keep my glitters in. That way, each disc would have it's own box and when someone picked a color from a disc it would be easy for me to find the corresponding little jar.

 

So I was at the local Big Lots the other day (because it's still the cheapest place to buy cotton pads, and it's next to my bank) and I came across these adorable little drawer sets made by Sterilite. They are the same little plastic drawers that I keep my printer paper in here at home, but a miniature version. So I nabbed one, took it over to the tool aisle, and measured it with a tape measure. EUREKA! The drawers were just the right size I needed for my glitter storage! But, just in case I was wrong, I only bought one little set of drawers. I took it back to the salon, filled it with little jars of glitter and admired my genius.

 

Except, not only do I need a gazillion more of these little drawers sets, I don't have anywhere to put them.

 

The trunk of my car is now filled with an additional 12 little sets of small, plastic drawers. I will take them to the salon with me tomorrow and fill them with glitter. Hmmm, 12 times three (three drawers in each set) equals 36 Insyst Discs. Plus the original drawer set, for a total of 39 Insyst Discs’ worth of bling to display and store. I think that might actually hold me over till at least the end of the year. Now I guess I have to start buying some shelves to keep my drawers on.

 

Wait! Did I just hear myself correctly? I'm going to replace my shelves with shelves? Good grief! I think this it. This is rock bottom. It's time to join Angela's glitter addicts group.

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