Creative Storage Solutions

We lived in NYC for a year, and while we learned many life lessons through that experience, one of the things that I developed a true appreciation for was storage.  Living in a small space makes you get really creative with how you store things.  With all of that said, I'm proud to say that most of the ideas I'm about to share were things I employed prior to our stint in the big apple but sharing a craft room with a little person keeps me on my toes to ensure I'm using all available resources for storage.  If I had a zillion dollars, I'd probably have one of those rooms where everything matched, but I don't have a zillion dollars and I have an affinity for clearance sales, garage sales and junk shops so my storage solutions are a bit more hodge podge.

Case in point.  My halloween baskets from Pier One.  I got these (plus 2 more) for 10 cents each.  Seriously.  You wouldn't have walked by either.  The baskets sat unused last Halloween, but since then I've decided to put them to work in my paint room closet.  I used those temporary hooks on the bottom side of the top shelf, and they hang great.  Frankie there currently holds crepe paper, while the Jack-o-lantern holds our washable markers.  The pumpkin sees a ton of action.  The thing in the bottom left corner is an old bread/coffee/flour/tea box.  I found it a few years ago, and while I've threatened a few times to paint it, it sits as I bought it for a cool $20.

More closet storage.  Lime green is one of my favorite colors, and when the paint room lived downstairs (prior to the NYC thing), three of the four walls were lime green.  I found these cookie/flour jars at a garage sale I think.  The smallest one holds buttons, the middle one holds wine corks and the big one holds decorative scissors.  Every time I look at them I smile.

As I have gotten older, I've come to appreciate the dollar store.  We got this coat hook rack forever ago for a buck.  When I moved the paint room in to the spare bedroom upstairs, this hook was in the closet, so I use it to hold anything that has a hole or strap.  It's currently holding a bunch of skeleton heads that I got after Halloween last year.

Flower pots are rad.  They are so versatile and you can use them for so many things.  I've had this pot for years - at least 10 if not more.  It once held a plant, but now it holds court on the corner of my paint room table and keeps my pens, x-acto knives and scissors mostly in order.  It's another thing that just makes me happy.

What creative storage solutions have you used?