I’ve been on an organizing streak lately… tackling the garage, closets, and the basement area. The other day, I decided to carve out some space for our most-used camera equipment so that it would be easily within reach.
Back in our Atlanta home, I used to have a dedicated photo drawer, but that was when we had more space than we knew what to do with. In our tiny San Francisco flat, we just kept all our equipment in camera bags, which is what a lot of people do. For us, we find it a bit of a pain to locate lenses, batteries, memory cards, etc, when you have to dig through numerous pockets and dividers in a bag to find what you need… especially if you just want to take some quick snaps at home, or if you only want to grab a couple of items to go out on a stroll. The solution for us? An organized photography equipment drawer!
Fortunately, when we moved to our Alameda home last fall, we found we have more than enough storage space here. In the dining room, we have this really old, built-in buffet with large drawers, and they weren’t really serving a purpose for us. So, I headed out in search of some super awesome drawer dividers. Here’s what I came up with for two of our drawers:
Photography Gear Organized in Drawers
Materials
If you want to make your own photo gear drawer, here are the materials I used:
- Non-Adhesive Shelf Liner, white — Helps brighten up a dark drawer and keeps things from sliding all over the place.
- IKEA SKUBB Box with compartments, white — I looked at many, many drawer organizers before settling on this one. What I like about it is it’s light in color so that dark equipment and accessories stand out against the background and are easy to see and grab; it’s got cardboard on the bottom and in the dividers which acts as a cushion between items; and it was a steal at $7.99. My original plan was to have two of these in one drawer, but they were a tad too big, and I was only able to fit one in each drawer. Which is why I added a clear plastic organizer (below) for the smaller stuff.
- Acrylic Drawer Organizer, clear — I got mine at Target, but can’t seem to find them on their site. The organizers I bought there were in the laundry section near the hampers. This one at BB&B is similar in size. Use what works for your needs, or if you have a big enough drawer, scrap this and go for two SKUBB boxes instead.
Other Solutions
I searched around the inter-webs trying to find a similar setup to mine, and I came across this solution from Flickr user Stargazer95050 (aka Andy). If you go this route, I would suggest looking for some light colored cutlery trays, as the black-on-black makes it hard to locate what you need. If you do end up with a dark drawer, Andy suggets picking up a DIODER battery-operated drawer light from IKEA.
It is worth noting that storing camera gear in a drawer may not work for people who live in an extra humid climate. Also, some people may have dust problems with this storage method, but I’ve never had any issues, and my husband and I personally love being able to open a drawer and see all our gear, grab what we need, and go!
Do you have a special way of organizing your photo equipment at home? I’d love to hear about it!
YES! I like this! Great job and simple.
What a useful idea thank you. Any ideas for keeping all the cables, transformers, and electricall bits tidy too?
I’d even recommend getting some foam and white fabric from a craft/fabric store to pad the bottoms too. 1. Measure the cubbies & cut foam a hair smaller than the measured sizes2. Cut fabric rectangles large enough to wrap the top & sides and glue to the bottom of the foam (or mount the foam to cardboard and glue to that depending on your motivation and foam of choice)3. Pop ‘em in the bottom to keep your gear from sliding and lenses from rolling too much on the bottom of the drawer and clunking around when you open & close.
@Timm — thanks!
@WendyLilygreen — Thanks, Wendy. I keep all my cables in a separate clear plastic storage box, loosely wrapped to keep them from getting tangled. I also take my P-touch labeler and print out a label for each cord and wrap around the end of the cord so that I know which cord goes with what electronic.
@Terri — Thanks for the comment, Terry. The thickness of the material in the SKUBB box bottom and dividers (I think it’s cardboard?) adds enough padding for my needs. My drawers are old, so they doesn’t slide open/close really fast like a new drawer would. I am careful to open/close them slowly so things don’t bump around and collide. Foam is a good suggestion, though, for someone who wants a little extra padding! Thank you for the tip!