Saturday morning, Susan surprised me with an outing to The Container Store, which recently opened a location in Oklahoma City. I was surprised to learn that there was an entire store dedicated to containers. I was also surprised to learn that there were containers inside the container store that I was actually interested in purchasing. I guess you could say The Container Store contains many surprises. And also, many containers.

The Container Store is divided into sections that correspond to rooms in a home. The first half dozen aisles contain organizational items for bedrooms, followed by closets, then bathrooms. There’s also a kitchen area, and a garage area, and some other areas. There’s an area for desks, and another area for shelves.

Similar to Ikea (which I’ve only visited once), there are lots and lots of displays inside The Container Store. I think most people could survive without fancy containers and organizers, but something happens inside your brain when you see all the organizers on display. A few aisles in we encountered a large closet full of shoe organizers and multiple styles hangers and suddenly my brain was shouting “HOW CAN I LIVE WITHOUT ALL THESE ORGANIZERS!” There’s something very different about experiencing things inside a brick and mortar store versus looking at pictures of things online. Seeing the things set up in person allowed me to visualize what they would look like and how they would function in my own home.

On almost every aisle of The Container Store I experienced sticker shock. I don’t think their items are overpriced as much as I’ve been purchasing inferior (read: garbage) storage solutions my entire adult life. For example, I’ve purchased several plastic storage drawers from Big Lots for $20 (and many more from garage sales for less than that). An almost identical model at The Container Store was priced at $79.99. I played with the one at The Container Store and, hands down, it is way better quality than the cheapo ones I own. They felt more sturdy, and the drawers slid in and out much more easily. The problem is, I have seven of those units (three wide ones and four narrow ones) in my office right now. Each time my brain started performing the multiplication, I began feeling nauseous.

Several of the store displays sparked ideas and conversation. One area contained these unique red metal storage containers, heavily inspired by tool chests. I hadn’t considered how a dash of red would look in our new home, in which every wall is gray and every piece of wood is white, but I think it might look great. The “garage” aisle had a ten-foot-long modular workbench that was way out of my budget, but definitely got my wheels turning in regards to how I might outfit my own garage eventually.

The Container Store has a website, although if you’re curious (or just bored) I recommend walking through one of their stores. They might have exactly what you need, even if in my case, I didn’t know I needed it until I saw it.