How to Spruce Up Cloth Storage Bins with Fabric

Hola! Happy Monday, friends. We had a great weekend spent with friends and family, crafting for my sister's wedding and finally tackling (most) of the ridiculous pile of laundry that's been scaring me from my laundry room for the last couple of weeks. And I tackled a fun project that I'm excited to share... an easy DIY spruce up of a cloth storage bin with nothing but a little fabric.

At the Haven conference this year, I sat in on a great session about organizing by Jen and Chris. They were totally inspiring and basically motivated me so much with their great tips that I wanted to rush home and organize my little life away. One big tip that I took away from them, though, was to modify any ugly storage containers you have (paint! fabric! whatever!) in order to make them prettier to you. Storage and organization doesn't have to be ugly. In fact, it can be cuuuuute.

My first thought? These ugly guys.


I've actually spent a lot of time organizing and re-organizing this space in HDawg's nursery. If you remember, I repainted a bookshelf in green with chevron stripes and then set it up along this wall in the nursery. I quickly realized that the shelf didn't provide enough storage, so I switched the chevron shelf with the Expedit-ish white bookshelf that you see in this picture. We really like the white shelf in here, but H's toys are all jumbled in the boxes. The ugly brown boxes. Half of the time his toys were all over the living room... half of the time they were in his nursery... let's just say that this was a typical scene at our house.


And yes, we use my great-grandmother's vintage quilt as a brick fireplace safety buffer. Use what works!

With all that said, I figured it was high time I get to work sprucing up this space and making it organized once again.


I decided to cover one side of the cloth storage bin with a scrap of fabric. I bought this fabric last year when I was prepping H's nursery at our old house. I thought I might use it for a pillow, but never ended up needing the scrap. The colors work great in his nursery, though, so I'm glad to finally use it now!

I measured the side of my cloth bin (a standard bin I bought from Target a couple of years ago) and the measurement was 10.5" by 11". I added one inch to each measurement in order to give myself a half inch to hem around each side.


Four squares later, I was ready to hem.

Oh and as a side note, I wanted to add some fun trim like this, but David nixed it. "Ruffles in a boys room?" Mhm, babe. It's called style. Geez. ; )


I took the easy, no-sew route and simply used iron-on hem tape to hem each side of my fabric squares. Then I used this adhesive spray to spray the flat side of each canvas bin. I carefully smoothed out each piece of fabric onto the storage bin... and boom! You've got a fabric covered, prettified organizational tool.


I decided to label each bin with a chalkboard label that I found in the dollar aisle at Target. The chalkboard label gives me the ability to switch out the name for the contents of each box as he acquires more toys and we re-organize.


I love the way the striped fabric looks in the space!


And it makes me soooo happy that the contents of each bin are actually organized by category. Ahhh.


This is the perfect, easy makeover for those of you who are looking to make a cheap (mine was free!), quick fix in any room of your house. This is especially a great idea for us renters out there who can use temporary changes like this to make a big impact.

Now let's just see how long baby H helps me keep this space organized ; )


Have you added fabric to spruce up anything lately?!

PS. Prayers are appreciated... little H is getting tubes in his ears tomorrow morning! I know that he will be fine and that this is a wonderful answer to his constant ear problems... but this momma can't help but be a little nervous. My sweet little boy having surgery?! Yikes.

17 comments:

  1. My little one had to be put under at 6 months and while it's normal to be worried it will be okay! I've heard so many good things about tubes, including when my younger brother finally got them!

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  2. What a great idea to bring some extra colors into a room. Sorry to hear about your son. I know how you feel. My daughter had surgery at 2 and was in the hospital for 5 days - they were the worst 5 days of my life. He's going to be ok. My thoughts are with you guys

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  3. Look at you! I love that you were inspired and busted it out. They are darling. Saying an extra prayer for little man. HUGS.

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  4. These turned out great! I was just looking at the same bins in our boys' shared room thinking they need an update and now I know what to do :) Prayers for your little man and peace for mom and dad too. My nephew had that same procedure done pretty young and it made a world of difference.

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  5. That looks so pretty! Someone could also do the cutout for the handle so that can still be used. Those suckers fit in there so tight, I know I'd miss the handle if it was gone!

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  6. Oh I love it - great idea! We have some bins like this that I'd love to spruce up! :-) Also, praying for your little guy!

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  7. Super cute! What a quick, easy fix!

    Prayers for Little H!

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  8. Sending good thoughts for the surgery! We have been through two, one included tubes. It is the toughest thing in the world to hand your sweet pea over to the doctors in that hallway, but know that ENT surgeons are good at what they do. H will do great! These little beings recover soooo fast - all those fabulous stem cells working away. Hang in there!

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  9. That new fabric looks so much better with your lovely lemon carpet!

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  10. Great idea, Michelle -- love the stripes! I'll be praying for smooth sailing this morning and peace of mind for you.
    Hugs!
    xo Heidi

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  11. what a great room!! you are talent!! love those banners!!

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  12. You literally read my mind! I wanted to do this because the bins are so plain and boring. Aptly timed post!

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  13. Such a clever solution & it looks SO awesome! I've got ugly beige bins that I'm dying to do this for.
    Hope HDawg is still doing well post-op. The kids I know who've had tubes put are so much more comfortable now. It made all the difference.

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  14. Oh Michelle, I can only imagine the emotions when your little guys needs surgery. I'm lifting y'all up in prayer, knowing it will be just fine, but also knowing y'all can use some comfort and peace.

    Those bins are so cute- I've never seen them spruced up that way! :)

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  15. That shot looks straight out of Land of Nod catalog!! not kidding...so cute! love the project, love the styling, love you!

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  16. So perfect! Love the color it added! Prayed for H!

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  17. Such an innovative idea! With such simple tools and materials, the plain-looking storage bins have been transformed to something so unique and are able to be properly labelled too. I like how they can be customized according to a person's individual tastes and preferences as well, to complement other furnishings in any particular room.

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