How to Make a Custom Drawer Organizer Using a Box and Duct Tape

If you have an old box and some duct tape handy, you can design your own custom-made drawer organizer!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Medium to large box/boxes depending on size of drawer.
• duct tape
• Measuring tape/ruler
• Something to cut the boxes with.

1. Gather all your supplies. In case you didn't know, duct tape now comes not only in metallic grey, but also in designer colors such as red, pink, and blue so you can choose the color tape that best matches the decor of your room, the one that is your favorite color, or one that's simply neutral.

2. 
    
   Measure inside drawer

   The next step is to measure the inside of the drawer you want to organize. measure top to bottom, front to back, and left to right on the inside of the drawer. You also want to make sure that the cardboard you cut from top to bottom is shorter than your drawer so you don't have clearance issues when you shut the drawer.

3. 
    

   Cut one long piece to fit the measurements in the long area of the drawer (Front to back)and then place it inside the drawer to make sure it fits correctly and closes easily. You will then use this piece as a template to make the other long pieces and to measure the height of the shorter cross pieces.

4. 
    
   Design the spaces around your stuff.

   Now you want to decide what you are going to store in the drawer and then design the spaces using your cardboard to put them in. Do you have larger or smaller items? Smaller items may need a lower wall height and a wider space to make them easily retrievable. Whatever you decide, make sure your hand can easily maneuver inside the spaces. Little tiny items inside a tall narrow space would be extremely difficult to get at.

5. 
    

   Once you decide on the configuration, cut the amount of pieces you will need and then mark the places where the pieces will intersect. If you want to completely color the whole divider with duct tape, be sure to cover the pieces before measuring and cutting your half-way lines.

6. 
    

   Measure and cut halfway down on the short pieces.

7. 
    

   Measure and cut halfway up on the longer pieces, then slide the pieces together.

8. 
    

   Put duct tape into corners to secure and strengthen your dividers. It helps to take a smaller piece and fold the tape sticky-side out to get into the corners more easily. Attach tape along one side, follow along box to inside corner and press tape down.

Tips & Warnings

• These dividers are good for organizing smaller drawers that house things like socks, scarves, etc. Really small loose items such as jewelry tend to slide under the divisions and roll around, so if you need to store these items in the drawer, it would be a good idea to place them in a box, fabric bag, bowl, etc.
• This could be a really fun way to surprise the guy who loves duct tape. Organize his sock and underwear drawers with it!
• This may not be the best looking or strongest drawer organizer you've ever had.

[lisalet]

on 6/9/2009 Cut-up milk jugs and cardboard? For a few bucks you can get a nice, expandable wood divider at sites like Cimple Wood, Orderly Drawer, or Custom Inserts. Isn't your time worth something?

[gapotter]

on 5/29/2009 This is one of those "smack your forehead" ideas. I love it! That being said, I wonder... could you use cut-up milk jugs for the dividers?