DIY drawer organizers

I know I’ve expressed my deep love for organization on here before. It’s a real, legitimate love that makes my heart all sorts of happy. On the flip side, the opposite of organization, (would that be chaos?) is enough to make me crazy. I’m a straight lines person, everything in a place, in neat little rows. It’s something I really have to work on, because we all know life can’t be like that, all of the time.

Or so I’ve been told. Multiple times.

You can only imagine my level of frustration when I opened the drawer in my kitchen to find this disaster. Here’s the thing, I’ve organized this drawer (and the one below), the random kitchen utensils and gadgets drawers. But, then they always end up looking like this, a chaotic mess. I almost didn’t include this picture, then I almost told you it was a Google stock image.

I’m kidding, sort of.

Logically, I told Allen that I needed some organization in this drawer and asked him if he would pick me up a drawer organizer at Home Depot or Lowe’s the next time he was in the store. He agreed, but none of the drawer organizers would really do what I needed, or the size was wrong and there would be extra space in the drawer that wasn’t being used.

You know where this is going, he went downstairs and built one himself.

So I took pictures to show you, just in case your drawers are in need of a little organizing, too. Here’s how you can make your own:

1. Cut a piece of 1/4″ plywood to the size of the inside of the drawer. This is going to serve as your base and it’s important for a couple of reasons. It will steady the dividers by giving them a base, and you’ll be able to take this organizer our of the drawer if you ever need to. 
2. Based on what you need for the inside of your drawer, draw a grid on the plywood. 
3. Cut strips of 1/4″ plywood to the height of the drawer, length and quantity will be based on the grid that you have drawn on your base.  Don’t forget to cut the pieces for the edges and subtract the width of the plywood from the height of the drawer, since it will be nailed on top of the plywood. 
4. Using a 1/16″ drill bit, pre-drill holes for the finishing nails. Attach strips (the dividers you’ve already cut) to the base. This will be easy since you drew the grid onto the base to begin with. 

Once you’ve attached all of your pieces to the base, you’re ready to insert it into the drawer. The fit should be just right, so you won’t need to attach it to the drawer.

This is the first organizer we added to the kitchen for silverware. I love how it turned out and how it makes it easy to stay organized. Allen even added a slot for the knives, in the back of the drawer, far out of the reach of tiny toddler fingers.

Here is the finished product from the pictures above. I’m still waiting on one more to go in the drawer below this one. That drawer is still a mess. Most of the things in this drawer that didn’t have a place once the divider was added, went into the drawer below. I try not to even open it most days.