I use mostly cones so I have 3 of the plastic 4-drawer chests from Target or Wal-Mart. Keeps them free from dust and when I open the drawer I can see all the colors easily. I do group the colors together in the drawers.

thanks so much everyone for the ideas! i wish i had a fleet farm near me <g>!

I too use the toy matchbox car garage(s) as they're called; doublesided, stand up on end under the sewing table; handles on top and hold a lot of thread spools for a cheap price. I love them.

I use the "matchbox car storage" as well. Go to http://www.spacesavers.com/Storage/T...Car-Carry-Case. They hold 48 spools. I purchased 4 of them (because I inherited my grandmother's thread) but 3 was definitely enough. I like have that many because I was able to sorty my thread by color.

I jsut realized that the link I sent said "out of stock" but at the bottom of the ad is says manufacturer: Plano. It's been a couple of years, but I think I did a search for Plano, found the company and ordered directly from them. I called them first, told them I wanted match box car boxes. They knew exactly what I was talking about.

I use a combination of containers and drawers.
Long arm thread under long arm in drawers, spools I use when matching colors and varigated are downstairs in tub/tote, and one thread case with small machine spools.
I know where to look for what I want, so I guess that is half the problem:)

I purchased two plastic storage boxes with compartments that perfectly fit a spool of thread at Harbor Freight for $5 each. They hold a lot, you can instantly see what you have, they stack in a drawer, and are much less expensive than almost the same boxes specifically sold for thread storage. I've been pleasantly surprised with how many items I've been able to buy at Harbor Freight that are great quilting aids.

I cut pegboard to fit the drawers of one of those 6 drawer plastic carts and glued small dowels in every other hole. I use these to store both my embroidery spools and my regular sewing thread. For the big serger spools, I got another cart with deeper drawers which will hold 4 cardboard six-pack containers (like for beer bottles) in each drawer. The cones fit nicely into each compartment on the container. I drop the cones into the six packs with matching colors together (since you need multiple cones of the same color). Funny, one of my friends was here one day, saw the cart and asked " Why do you have all that beer in your sewing room?"

Could you post us a picture of these? Sound really perfect for thread. I love Harbor Freight for all kinds of stuff. Thanks.

There are some neat ideas on this site
http://blog.fabric.com/2012/01/thread_organization.html

I really like the first one, the frame...