My Nail Polish Storage

By Nicole

Hey There Polished People!!

Today’s post is going to be a long one, so I’m just going to get right to it. I don’t know if you remember, but I used to keep my nail polish in a two-story plastic bin that I found at Target. You can find a picture of that old storage here. That got filled up in no time flat so eventually I moved from that little box to my revolving nail polish tower, which you can find the original post for here. Well, soon enough that got too small (it’s funny how these things shrink seemingly over night!) and I upgraded to my latest form of storage- Michael’s (craft store) Storage Cubes, widely known around the nail community as “Melmers.” I got them for Christmas from my mom and dad so don’t mind the Christmas decorations in the background. 🙂

Michael's Drawer Cube for nail polish storage

This is how you find the drawer cubes at Michael’s in the craft storage section. The only things you need to assemble these drawers are a screwdriver and some patience.

Here are all the parts set out.

Here are all the parts set out.

I soon discovered that a ratcheting screw driver cuts down on assembly time significantly.

I soon discovered that a ratcheting screw driver cuts down on assembly time significantly.

It took me about an hour and a half to assemble the first drawer cube, this was without the ratcheting screwdriver.

It took me about an hour and a half to assemble the first drawer cube, this was without the ratcheting screwdriver.

It took me about an hour and ten minutes to assemble the second cube with a ratcheting screwdriver, and about an hour or a little under to assemble the third.

It took me about an hour and ten minutes to assemble the second cube with a ratcheting screwdriver, and about an hour or a little under to assemble the third.

Here is what my nail polish used to look like. Rotating nail polish tower full, polishes spilling out into buckets and bags and boxes.

Here is what my nail polish used to look like. Rotating nail polish tower full, polishes spilling out into buckets and bags and boxes.

Here are all my polishes out of the tower, box, bucket and bag.

Here are all my polishes out of the tower, box, bucket and bag.

I swapped out my craft storage drawers and the tower for my three drawer cubes :) It already looks better. Now I just need to fill up those drawers.

I swapped out my craft storage drawers and the tower for my three drawer cubes 🙂 It already looks better. Now I just need to fill up those drawers.

Here is my top drawer- random manicure tools. All my stamping stuff is in a wooden cigar box so this plate is just here because it's for Christmas and I wont need it till next year.

Here is my top drawer- random manicure tools. All my stamping stuff is in a wooden cigar box so this plate is just here because it’s for Christmas and I wont need it till next year.

My second drawer (which I forgot to photograph) is full of my base/tops, whites and nudes. This is my third drawer and it is the home to GLITTER!!!!

My second drawer (which I forgot to photograph) is full of my base/tops, whites, nudes, metallics and specials. This is my third drawer and it is the home to GLITTER!!!! Oh, and my shatters banished to the corner.

Drawer four holds greens, blues, blacks and greys.

Drawer four holds greens, blues, blacks. greys and browns.

Drawer five holds reds, pinks, purples, oranges and yellows.

Drawer five holds reds, pinks, purples, oranges and yellows.

Drawer six holds my minis, loose glitter pots and some little foil pieces I have yet to use.

Drawer six holds my minis, loose glitter pots and some little foil pieces I have yet to use.

Drawers seven and eight are empty for now to make room for future expansion and then drawer nine has my extras. Extra base and top coat, extra acetone, extra nail polish remover, etc. The polish that I keep for trading, giving away, etc is in a different basket, just FYI.

Drawers seven and eight are empty for now to make room for future expansion and then drawer nine has my extras. Extra base and top coat, extra acetone, extra nail polish remover, etc. The polish that I keep for trading, giving away, etc is in a different basket, just FYI.

I can’t believe in just about a year I went from this:

IMG_4343

To this:

IMG_4342Doesn’t it look so much better than that overflowing rotating tower??? I know a lot of people don’t have the luxury of having an entire room dedicated to polish and crafts, so this may not be a super viable option for you, but the Drawer Cubes/Melmers are nice because you can just get one and sit it on a table somewhere and then expand when you need a second or third one. Each drawer is supposed to hold about 100 OPI-sized bottles of polish, so obviously one cube would hold around 300. Plus, you can decorate them with craft paper (which I will be doing in the future) and they look SO CUTE!! 🙂

How do you store your nail polish? Do you like my new storage units? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thank you all for reading and commenting and till next time- Happy Polishing!! 😀

40 thoughts on “My Nail Polish Storage”

  1. Love your new Melmers – I so need something – I am in about 15 or more both double shoe box and single show box Rubbermaid boxes and a bunch of gallon size zip lock bags that I cannot find anything in most of the time if I am looking – used to be OK as they all went alone with the way they got entered into my Access database. I have to get rid of a couple pieces of furniture to even make room for a set of these, my house is a tiny tiny beach cottage with only 2 drawers in the cupboard that is called a kitchen! I am thinking to getting rid of the old TV in the LR as I don’t watch it – it’s an old 27″ CRT and not even hooked up. I need the space – but it’s in a corner and I use the space behind it for lawn and leaf bags with either summer or winter clothing in them…take away that TV cabinet and see all my bags – ugh! I am surprised you got 3 of these to not be top heavy…and watch out – you think you have a lot of room now – just wait – they fill up too! I need to start a blog if for no other reason to do super silly blog sale prices to help me find homes for more than half of my over 1500 bottles of polish (not counting any duplicate bottles)

    • Oh my goodness!!! You have a LOT of polishes!!! I would think, too, that thinning the herd a bit would be a good idea before organizing it all. 🙂 I suppose w limited space it’s hard to fit in a one-stop-shop so to speak of nail polish storage. The boxes seem like they would be portable and could fit in small places easily so as long as you can find things the boxes sound like a good plan. I’d be worried about things breaking in bags but as long as you’re careful I’m sure those work too. 🙂 We have a really small house too, but we have this extra bedroom so I’m lucky to have room for all my creative stuff. 😉 And surprisingly they’re super sturdy, not top heavy at all. They kind of attach together w these little plugs so maybe that helps. They definitely don’t move at all!

  2. Oh my goodness, if this is to come in the near future for all is novices, holly nails! I love the new storage containers because they’re neat, portable, and contained. Those Melmers can look great in any room or space & no one would be the wiser of what lurks inside the drawers. I applaud your growth & artistry.

    • Exactly!!! Thank you. I wanted my nail polish out of sight and contained. Also- the rotating thing allowed them to get dusty and also left them exposed to light which was VERY annoying to me. It served its purpose but now on to the bigger and better. 🙂

  3. Job well done! Keeping track of your stash is almost as important as how you use it on your nails. lol The tower could still be useful in that it could sit on top on hold untrieds, special collections &/or frequently used supplies. Oh! If you take the label/pulls off, you can glue pretty paper to the drawer fronts to customize your storage, then put the label/pulls back on. ❤

    • Yes!!! I know, that’s what I was talking about when I said I am going to decorate them eventually w craft paper. They’ll look so cute!! That’s something I definitely want to do. 🙂 And I agree about organization being key. I like my things to have a place to go when I don’t want them sitting all over the place. 🙂

  4. Oooh, yay, thanks for sharing! Ideally, I would like to have these someday, but I’m not in a huge rush. Right now I am using some plastic drawers from Target. Kind of like what you had, but they’re individual. I have four, stacked two and two, and I added the grippy drawer linings inside. They are OK, but what I don’t like about them is when you pull out the drawers, they can be a little unsturdy with the weight of all the polishes. But, 1. the cost of the Melmers (they are reasonable, but it’s still $), 2. the assembly of the Melmers (I suck at that stuff – I try to do it myself, but it’s just not my thing), and 3. the fact that I feel like it’s kind of wasteful to have the drawers I am using now not in use will prevent me from re-organizing for a while. I may cave when I see yours decorated, though…they’re going to be so cute! Please share! 😉

    • I will definitely share when I do that. 🙂 I know exactly what you’re talking about. The Rubbermaid drawer things below the rotating nail polish rack hold all my scrapbooking stuff and paints and random art stuff and the paper especially is so heavy I know what you mean about your individual drawers getting a little too heavy w the polishes. My drawers feel like they’re just about gonna snap loose if I pull them out too far. I suppose I should reorganize my craft stuff too but ugh… That’s too big of a job. :p I think I’ll let Daniel use this rotating rack out in the garage for tools or something although I don’t think he needs it so…. I’ll have to find something for it. 🙂

    • I do like those helmers… They look so slick. I decided to organize by color just cuz that’s what made sense to me. When I want to find a certain polish for my nails I want to have all the same color together so I can decide which shade is best. Also- although I’m pretty sure I know all my polishes by brand, I KNOW I know what color they are. 🙂 I think this is not how I’ve seen most people organize but like I said- it’s the only way that made sense to me. 🙂

  7. Something has GOT to be wrong with me because when I saw your pile of polishes all laid out on the table, I thought to myself… “She doesn’t have near as many bottles as I thought she would!” lol

  8. i want a melmer..! i have 2 boxes of polishes, one with all the plain colors and other with all the base coat, glitters, crackled and thin brushed polishes. and another box full of nail art stuff.. i have too many rhinestones, stickers and stuff i never use, but they’re there.. just in case.

    • YOU have shoe boxes?? I’m shocked!! I imagined you already would have something like this. I am a sucker for anything organization-wise so putting all my polish in here was just heaven!! 🙂

  10. They’re alive! They’re alive! I’m glad that your melmers are not up and running and all organized and crap. 😛 You know, one of the very first posts I remember reading on your blog was about the rotating polish thingy. I have something similar to that but for make up that I got from that organizing lady on QVC (Lori Greiner??) Anyway, I found it completely useless and now it’s banished somewhere. It was such a biatch to put the first one together but I did have a much easier time putting the second and third one together as well. I’ve been wanting to decorate my melmers too but since they are inside my closet, I figure no one will ever see them anyway so I left them alone for the time being.

    • Yep yep they’re been up and in use, I just procrastinated on the posting. As usual. Haha. I think Lori Greiner is the lady who is on Shark Tank when Barbara isn’t there. I LOVE that show and she’s just fine. I never watch QVC tho so I didn’t even know she was all about organization. My rotating thing served it’s purpose but it’s past it’s prime. I’m kinda jealous you have room for yours in your closet. My closet in that room is full of other drawer units and Rubbermaid things with my wedding stuff, Christmas wrapping stuff and other various stuff in them. :-/

  11. I love yours drawers and it’s so organised!!!
    I have a wooden box that G put a shelf in which houses most of my Tip Tops and on top of it I have my glitters.
    Then have those clear vanity cases that holds the rest of my stash… I need new space. Want to get a bigger wooden box and have G shelf it for me then I have no space problems

    • Ugh.. I asked Daniel for shelves for my Christmas present and he didn’t get them for me! He said they’re too boring for Christmas presents, which I appreciate, but I really do want some. I want shelves lining my entire craft room. I love things to look organized but I think I have enough stuff for a house about 5x the size of mine. I hope G hangs your new box up for you when you get it. 🙂

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