So….my nail polish collection has gotten a little bit out of control. I’ve been fine the last few years, storing them in a plastic caddy, but then I filled both sides and had to get another caddy for remover and tools and then even that was not enough. I’ve got polishes EVERYWHERE – on the floor, on my vanity table, still in stacked subscription boxes…not to mention scattered through the rest of the house.

It’s not just the polishes that are the problem – it’s the subscription boxes. Since I’m a hoarder, I can’t throw any of the boxes away because I NEED them. I use them to mail stuff, to put gifts in and I’ve also started covering them with fancy Duck Tape to use for storage. The problem is that I get boxes faster than I can use them. Not to mention all the samples that come in those boxes – they are stacked up everywhere as well.

Again, Angie is my inspiration. I had been really considering getting a HELMER from IKEA (the nail blogger holy grail of nail polish storage), but I don’t quite have THAT much polish. (The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Obviously, I’m not there yet.) Angie suggested getting a RÅSKOG instead – it lets you see what you’ve got. We finally made the long trek to IKEA yesterday and I picked one up – after visiting my grandparents, who are conveniently buried across the street from IKEA. (It’s like they planned it.)

I put all of my polishes into the bottom two trays – including my Julep Color Caddy. I may end up booting it if I run out of room, but it’s so pretty! I tried to clean up the lotions and other stuff on my vanity – I dusted and culled a few old bottles. What I really need to do is clean out the drawers, which are filled mostly with jewelry – important stuff I inherited from my mother and grandmother, but also stupid stuff, like my elementary school jewelry. That’s a project that would take an entire weekend…at the very least.

The vanity itself was my grandmother’s. The finish is horrible – scratched and scuffed – but I don’t have the gumption yet to refinish it like I did my other vanity. (I did a red and black crackle finish on the other one – it’s beautiful, but it was a pain in the ass.) I went ahead and put all my boxes underneath it, I don’t sit at it, so really it’s just storage.

I’m very happy with the result. I expect I’ll outgrow my RÅSKOG soon, but I’ve got room for another…