Card Catalog Organization

So I've been inspired by this amazing craft room for a couple years,

so when I saw the card catalog below recently at a local antique store, I really really wished I wasn't a pauper.

I am also getting ready to move cross country, so buying huge pieces of furniture is probably not a great idea anyway, even if I were rich. But it's nice to dream, to plan, to have ideas.

Ben describes my style as "piles of stuff you might do something with someday." I wrinkle my nose at that description, not only because I don't want people to see me as messy or as a collector of junk, but also because it's partly true. I think I'm a very make-do person. I hate to see things go to waste, so I use things that other people would throw away (whether they're raw materials or organizational caddies). I have old plastic bins from my sister's 4th grade sewing class that hold some of my bulkier stuff, I have a paper-ream box that holds my old stamp collection, I have an old suitcase that holds some fabric, but there's a boot shoebox that also holds fabric, and all of it is haphazardly strewn on or around a hand-me-down bookcase in our hallway. And then there's my desk which is mostly dedicated to my pendant making, and is at least partially neatly organized in Fira drawers from ikea, but is, nonetheless, yet another pile of my stuff. Basically, I upgrade as I am able or as I happen upon some better, free item, but I haven't been able (financially) for most of my life, and so it has not been a priority.
(that's an old picture, the pile is larger now...)
Well, "I'm a hobbyist". That's the phrase my friend Mira and I use to explain our messy (but interesting! Right? Right...?...) 'piles of stuff' to our boyfriends. See her amazing workspace here, photographed by her friend Gabriel Harber.
But I digress... In my perfect world, I would have an organized space to house all my creative outlet materials in a way that would make my modernist, minimalist boyfriend's style aesthetic proud. If that included an antique card catalog, I think that would be cool. I already did a little background research figuring out how other people have dealt with the fact that the bottoms of the drawers have crazy hardware and aren't solid at all: