DAF Storage Ideas: Detolf Review

I think it is good that you took your dolls out of the Sterlite container. I would have been concerned about the gases from the plastics of the doll and plastic bins interacting and causing long term if not permanent damage.
Have you decided on the alternative storage place for your figurines that have been kept in the Sterlite?

I am concerned about price of wooden or decorative boxes and I keep my own collection in a moving box for glassware since the dividers keep the doll standing upright. I think this is also keeping the hair from being mussed.
Please give me any good ideas about storage

Tim


Tim sent this comment-query in response to my May 9, 2009 post "Collector Confession: Dolls Get Dirty in Boxes". I had confessed to keeping some loose dolls lumped together in a cardboard box. Those dolls were sitting on the Sterilite plastic chest; however, there are more DAFs in the plastic chest. So Tim has two questions:

1. What am I going to do with the dolls and action figures held in the plastic drawer?

and

2. What are good storage ideas?

The short answer to the first question is I am still thinking about where to put those dolls. They remain in the top two drawers. No permanent home for them yet. Likewise, the dolls sitting on top of the Sterilite drawer have been cleaned and set about the apartment; they, too, wait for permanent homes.

Moving on to the second question about good storage ideas ... let's start with IKEA display units.

Specifically, IKEA Detolf glass cabinets. You may have seen these glass cases in some collectors' rooms. They are inexpensive for glass cabinets - the current price is $59.00 per four-shelf cabinet in the United States.

Detolf at Philly IKEA

I have one Detolf cabinet myself. Would I recommend getting one? That's harder to answer.

Pros

It has clear glass sides. Dolls and action figures look GREAT in it.

Price is okay.

Figures somewhat protected from dust.


Cons

You have to put it together with another person. REALLY. It's made of glass, and you don't want to play Lone Ranger and see a glass panel slip away and break. Even with two people, it is a PAIN to put together. You have to line things up just so. You think this side is okay, but then the blippity-frippity thing in the other corner slips loose. You have four glass panels and four tall wire thingies and two plastic corner-connector things in the rear. Hold your breath, repress the four-letter words, and pray that this time it all takes. Eventually it did.

It's fragile. Our twelve pound cat brushes against it without harming it, but bring in a larger, more boisterous animal or children ... we're back to it is nearly all glass.

Storage limits. The base is about 16" by 14."

Here's additional information by IKEA.

Aside: any collectors interested in this topic, please add your comments.

To be continued ....

Home Problem - Where to Hold Deboxed DAFs?

Okay, I've launched the Great Deboxing Project or the DAF Streamlining Project. I will open up the dolls and action figures I want to keep; sell or donate the others. I'm setting aside the plastic components from the paper/cardboard parts of the packaging. (Figure I'll check with a recycling group - should have started there with my offer - to responsibly process unwanted material.) But here's a snag: where to place the newly deboxed dolls and action figures? Where will their homes be?

The boxes protected the figures. At least from dust. How to protect them now?

I've got one IKEA Detolf glass cabinet. Can't afford more of those at this time. Plus the one I put together was tiresome to put together. So the second one I had, I kept in its box only to have it broken by the next to the last movers. (Those charmers hid the broken Detolf cabinet box behind several other cardboard boxes so it was a while before I found out the damage they had done. Grrr.) What else?

Three plastic shelving units - the kind some people use in garages - and one Sterilite four-drawer plastic chest. Some of the doll boxes (Fashion Royalty, Susie, Mixis) can be used to store those dolls on the plastic shelves. A few Mattel boxes can also be retained for that purpose.

I have several plastic bins, too. Problem there is that I can't seal the dolls or action figures in because the plastics might mess up. The different chemicals might cause melting or mold or something BAD in my figures. Can't have that happening. So I am thinking, thinking, thinking about the "home" problem.

Any suggestions or advice welcome. As/when I come across solutions, I'll post them here.