Organize It: Underbed Storage Solution
April 30, 2013 by Aimee • 22 Comments
IO contributor Samantha from Simply Organized is here to help us Organize It! I’m thrilled she has joined my contributor team! — I’m Samantha and am equally excited to share easy, fun, inexpensive and (most importantly) USEFUL organization projects with you each month…just as I do week in and week out over on my own little blog. As soon as Aimee gave me the first blog post deadline, I knew exactly what project to tackle – my secret magazine hoarding issue. Yes, it’s overflowing. Pun intended.
Magazines are a (mostly) free and easy means to gain inspiration. Whether it’s related to food, home decor or clothing, I love to thumb through magazines. They serve as inspiration to me in real life at home, which means the inspiration often carries over into my blog. So, while they stack up quickly, I like to keep them around. But I’m also a busy mommy to 3 small children, which means you typically won’t find me lounging around reading a magazine. My stack of un-read magazines was beginning to take over my bedside table…time to Organize It!
and a small corner of our master bedroom…
A few months ago, I went on a rare child-free trip and brought along a few magazines for fun reading. I happened upon this gorgeous underbed storage basket from Pottery Barn (of course!) and desperately wanted it. Badly. Like many of you I’m sure, I love the Pottery Barn look…but the price can be hard to swallow. I knew this basket would be the perfect answer to my magazine storage issue, but could I DIY one for myself?…
PB’s version is $69, plus tax and shipping (online only product). Turns out I was able to create not only one but TWO underbed rolling storage baskets for about $22 each!…
Much less than the PB version yet I still love the result. Here’s how I made them!
Supplies needed for each basket:
• A basket of your liking (found mine at Michael’s on sale 40% off) = $8.99 each
• 4 – 1 1/4″ caster’s (Home Depot) = $2.39 each
• 2 – 1/4 x 2″ x 2′s (Home Depot and cut down to size) = $.89 each
• Spray paint = $3.50
• Small screws (had on hand but these are only a few dollars)
• Drill
• Screwdriver
First thing is to be sure you measure your underbed clearance before shopping for the baskets. I measured our bed to floor clearance and it’s 11″…
The baskets I found at Michael’s are 5″ high, so they work perfectly and allow room for the casters to be attached. I chose 2 baskets in a dark walnut color…
I love the basket texture outside and inside…
And it was helpful having these additional structural wood pieces on the basket bottom. These allowed me to add the extra pieces of wood for a sturdier base for screwing in the caster wheels….
Before moving into the project, I also made sure the magazines would be a good fit. They are!…
Now that I know the baskets are a go and I had all of my supplies, I got to work. First up was a quick spray paint of the 1/4 x 2 x 2′s. I chose a dark walnut paint that matched the baskets perfectly. Since the wood was a much different color than the basket, I wanted to paint them. This helped everything blend in should I decide to later move the baskets to another spot in the house…
The finished painting project…
I also spritzed over the casters so they blended better. The silver stood out quite a bit before spraying…
Assembly couldn’t have been easier. I placed the 1/4 x 2 x 2′s along the length of the basket…
Then I set one caster on a corner and pre-drilled a small hole into 3 of the 4 caster holes. Pre-drilling a small hole should keep your wood from splitting…
Once the holes are drilled, you’ll screw in the small nails using a standard screwdriver…
That’s it! First basket done-zo…
Each basket took about 10 minutes to assemble and we are now ready to load em up with magazines!
And roll them away under the bed…
My side of the bed looks pretty happy and organized now…
And for a lot less money than I would have spent at Pottery Barn for 2 Underbed Storage Solution Baskets. In case you are wondering about the dimensions of my basket version: 18.5″ wide x 13″ deep x 7″ high (with wood and casters attached). I hope this little organization project inspires you to create your own storage and save a little money. Thank you again to Aimee for hosting me today and I look forward to seeing you guys next month for a new organization project! A big hello and virtual (hug) to Aimee’s reader. xo, Samantha
You can see more of my organization ideas at Simply Organized.
I love this idea. I have been searching for a solution for my underbed storage and came up with a few ideas to do a much more elaborate build, but this is perfect!!!
I only have 7 inches of clearance, so I’ve been struggling
Yes, Samantha is full of such great ideas! XO, Aimee