So my favorite Berenstain Bears book as a child was Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room. Remember that one... the room starts off as a disaster area, and they get all new containers with labels, and all of their toys are neatly organized and sparkling and you could see everything? Well you would think as a child that would have encouraged me to keep a clean room, that wasn’t really the case at all actually. But as an adult with a place of my own that I take pride in, I am always reminded of that book, which I believe has lead me to a mild fixation with containers. I freaking love The Container Store. Thank God there is not one within a two hour driving distance, or else I might have a problem. I’d buy up that entire store if I could. But that’s neither here nor there.
I’ve been trying to create a nice little laundry area in our basement ( which is still not finished.) We have some nice upper cabinets for storage, and I recently added a bar for hanging clothes straight out of the dryer and and a shelf above it which would be perfect for some little bins.(*He-yay!!!*) So, of course I’ve been on the quest for some cool bins that I feel are affordably priced. I’ve been all over, and for what they are made of, I just can’t seem to justify what they are asking for these bins!
I decided I’m going to try making my own for a much better price. So I set off to the dollar store to see what I could find. Basically, all they had were some little plastic bins, but they were the perfect size for what I was looking for. I snatched up three of them for a total of $3. Being the fabric hoarder that I am, I thought I’d use up some of the fabric that I already have. I love to find fabric at the thrift store for next to nothing, and so much of it is pretty vintage prints.
I busted out my best friend of the crafting world, spray adhesive, my scissors, and got to it!
1. Measure enough fabric as if you were gift wrapping a present to cover the whole bin.
2. Spray the bottom of the bin generously with spray adhesive and place it in the middle of the fabric.
3. Cut diagonally into each corner from the edge of the fabric, stopping about half an inch or so before reaching the corner of the bin.
4. On two parallel sides, ( I chose the longest side of my bin), cut away the excess fabric on each side and fold, so as to create a nice straight line. Spray each fold with spray adhesive.
5. Spray adhesive on the smaller ends of the bin covering completely. Fold and smooth the angled pieces of fabric up along the sides of the bin, and even overlap onto the longer sides a bit. You may need to pull it off a couple of times until you get it nice and smooth. Repeat on the opposite short side of the bin.
6. Spray the longer side of the bin and the inside with spray adhesive. Fold and smooth the pre-folded sides up along the side of the bin and into the center of the bin. This should overlap the fabric that you previously secured. Repeat on both sides.
7. Depending on how much fabric you cut, you may need to fill in some areas on the inside. I cut a couple squares to fit over the ends of the insides of my bin, pre-folded and secured them with spray adhesive to give it a more polished look. I then sprayed it and placed over the exposed area.
A good trick for fitting the fabric into the rounded areas is to cut a small diagonal cut along the bottom or top to help you overlap the fabric a little better and keep it flush. Also, if you want to get REALLY professional, you could line up the patterns perfectly, but I was too giddy about my project that my patience went out the window on that step. But it would look really nice if you took the time to do that.
I am sooooo excited about how they turned out!!! I saw some chevron bins like this at Target, wouldn’t these be cool in a print like that, or even a solid color with some ribbon or burlap detail?! My mind is about to explode thinking about all of the extra rubbermaid tubs and plastic drawer dividers sitting unused up in my attic, because they weren’t “pretty enough” to put out. Just wait till I get my hands on them now , Ha! Ha! Ha! *Evil laugh. What kind of of things would you turn into fabric bins? I would love to hear your ideas!!!