How I store my stash!

Hi guys!  Hope you're all having a good week so far.  No nails today, so instead we're going to be talking about how I store all my bits and pieces :D I do already have a stash page, but it's a bit out of date now, and it only includes actual nail polishes, not any of the other things that come with a polish addiction.  Since there's a "Snoop in Your Stash" event going on this week in a Facebook group I'm in, I thought it was about time I updated it!  This will be a pretty long post, so grab a cuppa if you're not already armed with one, and we'll get into it.........

If you're anything like me, you don't put in more storage until you're practically drowning in overspill, so what you guys are about to see is a rarity - everything organised and put away.  I took these photos on Monday, and already there's a few things I haven't got around to putting back where they belong :p  But that's neither here nor there, so lets talk polish first......

First up - the untrieds.  These are all polishes that I haven't worn yet, so they're not really organised, but I have tried to group similar bottle shapes to save space.  As you can see, it's not completely full, since the rows are usually 2 bottles deep, but it's not exactly empty either.  This rack sits by itself near my bedroom door.

This second rack also sits alone, but on the opposite wall.  This is mostly LaFemme polishes, although I have my NYC's and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes, as well as my salon size Seche Vite and Seche Restore on the top shelf.  The bottom row is a few Color Clubs, as well as a few other odd brands.

  Then on the wall where my door is, I have 3 more racks side by side.  This first one is quite a random assortment of mainstream brands - Rimmel, Models Own, Technic, w7, Revlon, Sally Hansen CSM, MaxFactor, a couple of China Glaze, and my 3 OPI's , as well as a few others.

This middle rack is definitely the most organised of them all. The top row is all UK Indies, with UK and a few US indies on the next row down.  The bottom 2 rows are all Barry M's.  As you can see on the bottom row, the bottles fit really nicely in double rows, which is just one more reason why I love Barry's! I wouldn't be at all surprised if this rack is all Barry M's when I update this again :D

Then the 3rd rack in that row is another oddly organised one.  The bottom row is my texture shelf, as well as the Pretty Serious' on the next row up.  The rest of that row is my pathetic holo stash!  I'm almost embarrassed by that bit - considering how much I like holo's it's insane that I have so few.  I am working on that though :p  The 3rd row up is my A-England's on the left, with the OPI sheer tint mini's in front of them, as well as a couple of Mentality's and Revlon Chroma-Chameleon's.  Right on the end is the incredible ILNP - Birefringence.  The top row has a few Sinful's, as well as a a Layla, L'Oreal Confetti, an OPI DS, and a matte top coat, and GITD top coat.

The racks on the walls are just chrome spice racks I picked up on ebay here. At £8.99 each they were a lot cheaper than proper polish racks, and they didn't need me, or indeed someone more competent, to build them first.  They just turn up at the door, and get screwed onto the wall - lazy girl storage!  I have 2 slightly different types of rack, but I have linked you to the ones you see on the pink wall, as they're a lot better.  The other ones needed to be lined at the bottom with card to stop minis falling through the gaps :(
The walls in my flat are probably as cheap and crappy as they come, being up in a high-rise flat, so I used Self-Drive Plasterboard fixings to make sure they stay up.  The first rack has been up and full for about a year now, and the wall's showing no signs of strain whatsoever.  However, this is just my personal experience, with my walls.  Please do not put anything up on yours until you've confirmed you have the right tools and fixings, and it's safe to put up.  I will not be held responsible if you pull your house down! :p These are the fixings I used:

  You can find them in B&Q, or on ebay here.  On ebay I paid £4.49 for a pack of 12.  You can just screw them straight into the wall with a screwdriver, but I (by which I mean, my dad), used a drill to make it easier, since we were going through wooden supports for a few of them :)  Please, please, do make sure these are right for your walls before using them though :D

So, that's it for wall storage, but there's more than that.......

This is a clear acrylic stand (ebay here) that holds most of my stampers.  Until very recently I had these all shoved in a box, and they got pretty forgotten about, so it's great to have them displayed properly.  I only bought a 3-tier rack, as this sits on top of a bookshelf in front of my chrome racks, so I don't want to block off the polishes behind it too much, but you can get these in 4, 5, or 6-tier varieties on ebay too.

  This little Ferrero Rocher tub sits next to it, with all my base coats, treatments, cuticle removers and topcoats in it, as well as my crystal nail file tucked in at the back there.  For something I already had laying around the house, this does a great job. Everything fits in quite snugly, and I like being able to just grab them all with one hand.  It also kinda looks the part, sitting next to the matching clear acrylic stand.

Now you've seen all the polish, lets talk about other bits and pieces.  The 2 plastic tubs are small underbed storage tubs, and the bottom one is where I keep things like buffers, hand creams, spare tubs of cotton buds and balls, and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol.  The top tub is full of nail art bits and pieces including stickers, glitters, sponges, fimo, acrylic paints, straws, PVA glue and masking tape, as well as countless other random things :D  The silver box was originally a CD box, I just took all the wallets out of it, and now it holds empty bottles, emery boards, and other crap I rarely use, but just might need now and then.  The quality street tub is full of glitters and pigments for frankening - not as yummy as chocolate, but just as exciting if you're me :D

And finally, the little white box on top is my stamping box.  I'm pretty sure it's the bottom of my iphone box :D  It holds all my plates, stampers, and scraper, as well as an old acetone bottle lid.  I use that as a dappen dish for acetone when I'm stamping.  That way I can screw the actual bottle lid back on the acetone, and I don't have to cry when I knock it over!  The only other thing I didn't get a photo of, is a little cardboard box that holds my acetone, current hand cream, lemony flutter, cotton buds, and my brushes.  The brushes are actually kept in a little plastic cup for filling up an old iron, cotton balls in a Johnson's cotton buds tub.  I also keep all my Avojuice mini lotions in a round purple tub that used to hold a bag of champagne truffles haha!  Gotta love a bit of DIY storage :D  I also have a cosmetics bag where I keep all my studs and glitter shapes.
So, I hope you guys have enjoyed this little snoop around my stash.  Maybe I've even given you an idea or two.  Honestly, if just one person finds one helpful thing here, I'll be happy :D

I'll be back tomorrow with another mani for the A-Z of Polish, so I will see you gorgeous people then......