How to Build a Bead Storage Cabinet
- 1). Clean and wash baby food jars thoroughly. Scrape off all labels and adhesive and let the jars air dry. Fill each jar with a different kind of bead. Separate your beads by color, shape, size and style. For instance, all of your silver seed beads should go in one jar, while all of the black glass 10mm rounds go in another. Screw the lids on tightly.
- 2). Measure the height of a baby food jar. Measure the height of one of the shelves in your shelving unit. Divide the height of the jar into the height of the shelf. This is how many shelves you may have. For instance, if your jars are 3 inches high and your shelf is 15 inches high, you can have five shelves.
- 3). Measure the width and depth of your shelf. This is how wide and deep your drawers must be. Subtract 1 inch from the height of your baby food jars to get the height of the drawers' sides. For instance, if your shelf is 25 inches wide and 10 inches deep, you'll need five shelves 25 inches long, 10 inches deep and 2 inches high.
- 4). Cut five cardboard rectangles 27 inches long and 12 inches wide, in this case. Cut a 2-inch square from each corner of each rectangle, which will form four flaps. Fold the flaps up to make your drawers. Tape the corners of the drawers with masking tape.
- 5). Spray-paint your cardboard drawers any color or colors you like. The colors should complement or match the decor in your craft space. The drawers needn't be all the same color, but the colors shouldn't clash. Coat each drawer inside and out with paint. Let them dry overnight.
- 6). Measure 3 inches up from the bottom edge of your shelf and make a mark with chalk. Measure 3 inches up from that and make a second mark. Continue making marks this way until you have four marks (on a 15-inch-high shelf) on both sides of your shelf. These mark where the drawers will be.
- 7). Cut eight 10-inch-long pieces (for the sample dimensions given in Step 3) of 1-inch-by-2-inch board. Place a 1-inch side of each board so that the top is even with each chalk mark, and screw them into the inside of the shelf with 2½-inch screws. The boards are slats for your drawers to sit on.
- 8). Arrange the baby food jars upside-down in the drawers, away from the sides; they won't fit under the 1-by-2 slats. This way, when you slide the drawers out, you can see the beads right away. Slide the drawers into place on the slats. One drawer will sit on the bottom of the shelf.
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