diff -u b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/FileStorage.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/FileStorage.php
--- b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/FileStorage.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/FileStorage.php
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
    *
    * @param string $name
    *   The name for the configuration data. Should be lowercase.
-   *
    * @param string $directory
    *   The directory where the configuration file is stored. If not provided
    *   the directory set in settings.php is used.
@@ -82,12 +81,12 @@
    */
   public function read() {
     if (!$this->exists()) {
-      throw new FileStorageReadException('Read file is does not exist.');
+      throw new FileStorageReadException('Configuration file does not exist.');
     }
 
     $data = $this->decode($this->filePath);
     if ($data === FALSE) {
-      throw new FileStorageReadException('Unable to decode file.');
+      throw new FileStorageReadException('Unable to decode configuration file.');
     }
     return $data;
   }
@@ -103,14 +102,16 @@
   /**
    * Implements StorageInterface::encode().
    */
-  public static function encode($data) {
+  public function encode($data) {
+    // Once the array nesting level reaches 5 switch to inline YAML for
+    // readability.
     return Yaml::dump($data, 5);
   }
 
   /**
    * Implements StorageInterface::decode().
    */
-  public static function decode($raw) {
+  public function decode($raw) {
     if (empty($raw)) {
       return array();
     }
only in patch2:
unchanged:
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/DatabaseStorage.php
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@ class DatabaseStorage extends StorageBase {
   /**
    * Implements StorageInterface::encode().
    */
-  public static function encode($data) {
+  function encode($data) {
     return serialize($data);
   }
 
   /**
    * Implements StorageInterface::decode().
    */
-  public static function decode($raw) {
+  function decode($raw) {
     return unserialize($raw);
   }
 
only in patch2:
unchanged:
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/StorageInterface.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Config/StorageInterface.php
@@ -77,12 +77,12 @@ interface StorageInterface {
   /**
    * Encodes configuration data into the storage-specific format.
    */
-  public static function encode($data);
+  function encode($data);
 
   /**
    * Decodes configuration data from the storage-specific format.
    */
-  public static function decode($raw);
+  function decode($raw);
 
   /**
    * Gets names starting with this prefix.