I love watches. In fact, I have many watches that I don't wear because when I purchased the Apple Watch I was hooked!
If you are not familiar with the Apple Watch, it's a separate case which houses the watch that is synched to your I-Phone. You can get messages on your watch, talk on the phone on your watch (very James Bondish!), track your steps and workouts, listen to music...
Everything you can do on your I-Phone.
What makes it especially versatile is that you can change the bands to match your mood, outfit, style, and season. They slip on and off with the help of little magnets.
So, instead of having watches for all those different "needs," I now wear one watch and have many bands.
These are what I've collected so far. Most of them have come from Amazon and are very affordable. I have silicone ones that I probably wear most often. A few are more of the sporty type bands that I like to put on for yoga class. The "leather" and fabric ones are great for dressing up or wearing casual clothing.
Up until now, I stored them in a little 2 drawer chest.
They were laid in both drawers, but often got jumbled around when I opened and closed the drawers.
What I needed was a way to store them in some type of organized fashion.
Of course, I started with Amazon and found many ideas, including the option above.
Then I looked at the price and thought...NO WAY!
I can make something that works for me with stuff that I already have.
So that's what I did.
Here's the little drawer system that I was using already.
I had purchased this years ago from Target for my daughter's room. She didn't want it when she moved out, so I took it over and used it for storage.
I also had a sheet of foam core board from the Dollar Store. It was leftover from a prior project so I didn't have to make a special trip. (Darn!)
I grabbed my ruler and began the task of measuring the height, width, and depth of the drawers.
I then wrote down those measurements.
I used the width and length measurements to cut 2 boards 8.5 inches by 9.5 inches. These will go in the bottom of the two drawers and give me a sturdy base for the smaller dividers.
Next, I measured the length and height of a watch band. This would give me an idea of how I wanted to make the little compartments for my bands.
They are about an inch from side to side and just a bit over 5 inches in length.
If you notice, I place the longer side of the band through the shorter side of the band. This keeps them from separating while being stored.
I decided that I wanted the individual compartments to be 5.5 inches in length and .75 inched in height.
Using my T-Ruler, I marked over 5.5 inches from the side and drew a pencil line.
Using my Dollar Tree razor, I cut right on the line (over my self-healing craft mat). It cuts the foam core board beautifully the first pass.
Now I measured and marked as many .75 inch strips as I could get on the first large 5.5-inch wide piece.
You can see that here.
Then, using my razor again I cut straight down those lines until I had a collection of individual dividers.
I plugged in my hot glue gun and went to town on the base piece.
Adding a stripe of hot glue down one side, I placed it on the base.
It adhered quickly and firmly.
I repeated that process until I had developed this set-up for the bottom drawer.
I "eye-balled" the placement of the dividers. I didn't need to do advanced math for this because it was going in a drawer and it was the Apollo Space Shuttle. (meaning, it wasn't a matter of life and death if it wasn't precise...)
Because the drawers do not slide all the way out, didn't want to make dividers past a certain point. This would have captured some of my bands, making it hard for me to get them out. Plus, I can put some additional accessories in the back in those large compartments.
I placed it in the bottom drawer and it fit perfectly.
It looked and WORKED great for the first set of bands.
Because the bands are very light-weight they are not putting any undue pressure on the dividers and I'm confident that the hot glue will perform great over time. If not, I can just reglue or replace dividers if needed.
For the top drawer, I decided to go with just a straight divider pattern from side to side, leaving a larger areas in the back open.
It too was a great set-up for my bands.
You can see that I have room for a few more if I find some that I think I can't live without.
Both drawers afforded me 12 sections for bands, for a total of 24.
The total cost was $0 because I had all the materials. But, if you didn't have the foam core board, one large sheet is only $1 at the Dollar Tree, so it's VERY affordable.
If you don't have small drawers, cut down the height of a cardboard shoebox, keeping the lid. Cover it with decorative contact paper from the Dollar Tree. Use the foam core to make your own dividers.
Compared to the cost of the options of Amazon, I think I broke the rules AND NOT the bank with this one.
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