72 Drawer-Dream Come True

Do you have ideas of things that you would "some day" like to own? I have a little list in my head. Some of these dreams goes way before Pinterest...I've always wanted to have a Card Catalog.

Blame it on my love of reading. Blame it on the fact that I used to sleep with a stack of books as a child instead of a teddy bear. Blame it on my love of libraries... I've always thought they were fabulous pieces of furniture that could be such an awesome storage unit.

Sometimes, dreams come true! One night while playing an intense game of Hand and Foot Canasta with some friends, I started talking about my dream. (I can't remember how it came up in the conversation) Since one of the friends who was playing cards works in a library...my dream became a reality. She immediately got the ball rolling for me to own this awesome piece of organization. I really couldn't concentrate to play cards for the rest of the night. I was beyond giddy. Those ladies just kept laughing at how excited I could get over a weird library item. I even had a hard time going to sleep that night. I just kept thinking where I would put it and what I would store in it.

My husband is so great to put up with my random finds and weird notions. He graciously helped me get all 72 drawers of that wonderful woodenness into our truck and back to the house. It was a bit of a beast - but with all the drawers and the 72,00 plus 3x5 cards removed, it became a little more manageable. Jeremiah had asked the librarian how they had moved the card catalogs around. The librarian smiled and said, "We didn't!"

While my husband was at work, I unloaded all the drawers and figured out what number drawers I had in my possession. Even though I would be changing out the labels to reflect the contents of the drawers, I wanted to put them back in their original locations. Luckily, each drawer was numbered.

I had worried that over the years, some swelling of the wood might have occurred. I figured that the drawers would function best in their original slots.

I did leave the cards in three of the drawers. They will either be used in some project or as scrap paper. There is at least 1,000 cards in each drawer.

After the kitchen paint was dry, Jeremiah and our neighbor moved the beast up from the garage into it's new home.  I then wiped it all down and began to replace the drawers.

I wrote out a cheat sheet to help me quickly find each drawer's place so that I didn't have to keep counting over and over again.

It honestly felt like a huge game of B-I-N-G-O that I was playing with myself. Since the drawers were not stacked in order, I was trying to guess which row would be completed first. Finally, I had a winner!!

I know! Call me "crazy!"

Many have asked, "What in the world do you put in all those drawers?" Well, so far, I have filled about half of the drawers. And I do have plans for the rest of them. Before the unit was moved up the kitchen, I had one of the drawers sitting on the kitchen table so that I could see what would fit.

You would be amazed at what actually fits. There is a drawer for my tin foil, cling wrap, zip-lock bags, baby food, Crystal Lite packets, coffee, tea, tools, tape, Sharpies, pens, Expo markers, chalk, granola bars, ice-cube trays I use when I make Hudson's food, cookie cutters, sprinkles for cake decorating...and the list goes on and on. Some will hold craft supplies too. I am currently working on retyping the labels for the drawers.

My growing milk glass collection now lives on top of the card catalog.

I still get a little giddy each time I walk in the kitchen. I don't know that I'll ever get over this little dream coming true. I'm weird...and I have weird dreams. And sometimes, those dreams come true!