With Valentine's Day coming soon, I thought I'd share some seasonal storage options. Of course you could take a heart-shaped candy box, enjoy the candy, and then use it for other purposes. Here are some less fattening choices.
1. The handmade box above, made in Bangladesh, is decorated with the word love in many languages. It come with paper hearts, but of course you could store anything you want in it. Update on Feb. 10, 2011: I'm no longer finding this product on the web.
2. These soapstone boxes are handmade in Kenya. Update on Feb. 5, 2012: I'm not finding these exact boxes any more, but this one and this one are similar.
3. Aspinal of London has some lovely leather boxes; there are seven color choices.
4. A store called The Scotland Yard brings us this pewter box from Mullingar Pewter in Ireland. You could also get this heart-shaped box (or another style) from Mullingar itself. Update on Feb. 10, 2011: I'm no longer seeing this particular box, but Mullingar does still sell heart-shaped boxes. I'm not finding them at The Scotland Yard, though.
5. Here's another pewter option.
6. Dan's box shop makes heart-shaped boxes in a number of different woods. Update on Feb. 10, 2011: Dan's box shop seems to have disappeared from the web.
7. This box is made from birch bark.
8. Over on Etsy, cozycottagecreations has felted boxes, including this heart-shaped one. (It's one of a kind - but maybe she could make another if this one gets sold.) Update on Feb. 9, 2013: Sure enough, this product is no longer available.
9. Continuing on at Etsy, Jakotsu has this box. Again, it's one of a kind. Update on Feb. 9, 2013: This box is no longer available.
10. Etsy seller Kerri at funkyjunkyart has a number of heart-shaped boxes. Update on Feb. 9, 2013: I'm no longer finding these boxes.
11. This sterling silver box hand-crafted at the time of order. Update on Sept. 28, 2009: Unfortunately, the web site that sold this product doesn't seem to be around any more.
12. Saks sells this heart-shaped pill box, available in champagne or red. Those are Austrian crystals, which explains the $255 price tag. Update on Feb. 9, 2013: Saks no longer sells this item.
I see these boxes and all I think is "CLUTTER!".
ReplyDeleteJosephine, you raise a good point. Yes, boxes like this could certainly be clutter - and all too often are. But they could also be used to stash something that needs a container - spare change or ponytail holders, for example.
ReplyDeleteJosephine, I looked at these boxes and thought, "These are really cute!"
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't spell "clutter" without CUTE :-)
All kidding aside, I'm usually not tempted by small decorative items like these, but Jeri found a really nice batch for this post. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for heart shapes.
I agree that there is a fine line between storage and just adding more "stuff" in the form of containers. Perhaps it would help to think of using just ONE cute little box instead of looking at the entire group and feeling overwhelmed...?
Louise and Josephine, combined you are making a really good point - that there is no one right answer when it comes to much of organizing and decluttering.
ReplyDeleteDo you already have a lot of small containers? Or do these not appeal to your sense of aesthetics at all? Then they would certainly be clutter to you.
But if one of them really grabs you, and you've been looking for just the right place to store your rings or spare buttons or whatever, then it's a whole different story.
It all comes back to the good old quote from William Morris: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Or ridiculously cute. :-)
I have very few small containers; instead I tend to put small containers in a drawer or in the closet. In the example you gave about using the boxes for ponytail holders, I'm more likely to put all hair supplies (or other such grouped items) in one shared container and then putting that container away.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, for me personally, looking at all the boxes is overwhelming. I'm a real sucker for design and I can easily be tempted to purchase several.