My New Storage System

For the past year or so, I've been rethinking how I store my cheese spreader collection. Since the beginning, I've had several white cardboard boxes which I made into display cases by cutting slits in the top (see first photo) in which to display individual spreaders not in the original boxes in which they are sold, plus I've had a growing collection of spreaders that I have found (and want to keep) in the original boxes. Here is a photo of my collection at the end of 2012:

My collection has grown considerably since I took this photo in late 2012.

I have kept the four white cardboard box display cases in my china cabinet in my kitchen, shown below. This has been a good place to keep them as they are right in my kitchen and can be easily accessed if I want to use the spreaders for parties.

My china cabinet.

The left door conceals my spreaders,
which are sorted by subject:
"Foods" (above) and "Drinks" (below).

The right side of the cabinet contains spreaders in
"Holidays Other Than Xmas" (above) and
"Miscellaneous, Including Animals" (below).

But these display boxes only held the loose, individual spreaders, those without their original boxes. I was at a loss about how to store the spreaders still in their original boxes, and "temporarily" put them in some large cardboard boxes stacked in a corner of my study, until I could figure out a better place to put them. This hastily planned "system" lasted for nearly two years, but was unsatisfactory for several reasons:

1. It was hard to access the spreaders in the stacked boxes in order to use them
2. It was hard to see the collection in the boxes in order to enjoy looking at them (and to remember which ones I already have in my collection, in order to avoid purchasing the same sets when I run across them)
3. The stack of boxes took up a corner of my study and looked disorganized and unattractive

I thought about putting some shelves or storage crates in that same corner of my study on which to display them, but I was afraid that open shelves would allow dust to collect on the spreaders and cases, plus I wanted to leave that corner of the room free. How to avoid the dust? Then I realized that my study has an old built-in cupboard in it, in which I store my sewing machine and various odds and ends. Perhaps I could put storage crates in there, which would reduce the amount of dust able to settle on the cheese spreaders.

Storage crates are usually found only at back-to-school time at the end of summer, which was convenient, since it was at the end of August that I decided on using crates. However, I had missed out on Wal-Mart's back-to-school period and they had sold all of their crates by the end of August. Luckily, Menard's had some left, so I bought half a dozen of them.

I cleared out the cupboard in my study, stacked the crates in there, and put my collected spreader sets in the crates, organized by theme. I then put labels above each theme.

My new storage system.

I'm pretty happy with my system, and I'm glad that I have finally figured out an acceptable way to store them. The spreaders still aren't exactly displayed, because they are not visible unless I sort through the individual spreader boxes, but it is easy to access them to do this, so I think it's as good a system as I could hope for. I may eventually come up with a better way to store them, but this is certainly an improvement and works pretty well.

Thanks for reading! -Beth