Hardware Storage System

When we moved into our house, there was a lot of stuff left behind in the garage including various hardware storage cabinets, partially full of miscellaneous hardware. I consolidated a lot of it and co-opted them for my own stuff, but breaking hardware down to this high level of resolution (tiny drawers) is an organizational task beyond me. I don't want five drawers with five different types of drywall anchors in them; I want a single container with all sorts of different sizes in them. I needed decent size containers, and had accumulated enough empty laundry detergent bottles to prompt me to make my own storage system.

This was what the area looked like before I started.

Collect some empty plastic bottles. I used laundry detergent bottles, which are nice and big (2.2 L, 75 oz) and we have a regular supply of. I co-opted some help to rinse them out and dry them before use. I cut them down with a saw and scissors - just scissors would be fine too.

I had some wall space that I could use for hardware storage - enough, it turns out, for 12 layers of 5 containers. I only had 28 saved at the time I built the shelves, but I decided I'd accumulate the remaining 32 over time and could use the shelves with miscellaneous other containers in the meantime. I had a low-grade piece of 5/8" plywood from a demolition, and ripped it lengthwise into 190 mm wide strips. These I crosscut into two long pieces (1400 mm) and twelve short pieces (480 mm). Assembly was with wood glue and a nailgun - I didn't measure anything except for a 100 mm spacer which I clamped in place between each shelf as I went. The whole cabinet took about half an hour to cut and assemble.

I sat the shelves in place on my workbench and screwed it to the wall with a couple of plywood screws. The saws that used to hang there got moved to the side of the cabinet, and I added additional plywood backing at the side for more tool storage and to cover up the electrical panel with a door.

I could then transfer my collected hardware to the new bins. I used stickers and a permanent marker to label the bins with a mixture of text and symbols, and hot-glued examples of the hardware to the front. This has made it easier when I send someone to fetch something for me, and easier for me to find things, too.