Storing scrapbook papers - Ikea Expedit Hack!

Like a lot of people around the World I use the Expedit shelving unit from Ikea to house my art and craft supplies amongst other things. When I first got it I loved it because it was exactly what I needed and I had great fun stocking it all up and getting things how I wanted. As time has gone on and I have lived with it for a while I realised that it wasn't working for me quite the way in which I wanted it to.

Looking on the Ikea website the seem to have changed the name to Kallax but this is what came up when I searched for Expedit.

I love the large square spaces but sometimes they are just a bit too large. I do have boxes and drawers but sometimes they don't quite work for me.

I was expressing my frustrations with Mr B and after nearly risking his own life on opening my paper cupboard (well he did ask if I had any paper!!) we came up with an idea to customise or 'hack' my Ikea unit to suit me.

I filmed the making of it as it is so much easier to talk my way around the unit and show you how it is all looking and what goes where etc.

Basically what Mr B did was cut some wood down into just a little bit larger than 12x12 paper. He then drilled some holes into the side of my unit, pushed shelf supports in and then placed the wood on top.  Rather than my messy cupboard of paper that was turning into a right old jumbled up mess and the paper was getting ruined, I now have a nice neat stack of shelves for my papers to go on.

Each shelf houses a different kind of paper, for example one shelf is plain card, another is glitter card etc. Each thing is seperated so I can easily find what I need when I need it.

I liked it so much that I got him to convert another space for me and in this space I am storing my paper cutter on one shelf, substrates for painting and on the lowest shelf I have 12x12 sheets that are not complete but are still quite large. I have moved my scraps into one of the draws.

This simple project has given me so much peace it is unbelievable. I never knew looking for paper could be so stressful until this system came along. Thank you so much Mr B!!

The only downside is that this has given me lots of ideas in which I could further customise my unit but if it works that can only be a good thing.

Do you have any tips, tricks or storgae solutions for your art and craft materials? I would love to know!