Creativity needs space. We work with a lot of working mommas that love to craft, paint, build, and write in their spare time. However, finding the time and space amid their packed calendars can be a challenge! Whether you’re a full-time artist or weekend crafting enthusiast, working within a cramped, chaotic space can ignite more frustration than creative genius.
Organizing and styling craft rooms, and fine-tuning cabinets, and drawers are our favorite ways to cultivate a home that unleashes the imagination. Once all the fabrics, paints, and embellishments have a home, the collection is so much easier to navigate and create with. Here are our top craft room ideas, broken up into 14 organizing tips, for all you creative crafters out there!
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1. CURATE YOUR CRAFT SUPPLIES
When it comes to getting organized, we always start with SIMPLIFYING. Purging the excess and curating a craft collection that supports your hobby and keeps your home feeling streamlined and functional is the key.
To start, we recommend taking a close look at your craft supplies and toss, recycle, and donate anything that you’re not likely to use in the future. Easy wins in this category include dried up glues, crusty paintbrushes, and tattered fabric scraps. Also, make sure your supplies, tools, and gadgets comfortably fit within the storage space you have to work within. If they’re overflowing, you’re still in need of some downsizing.
If getting started sounds daunting, check out How to Declutter your Home or contact us today for a free discovery call 🙂
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2. LABEL ALL TO STAY IN FLOW
Labels on drawers, bins, and shelves aids in boosting your creative juices. By making it crystal clear where everything is stored, your brain can leave the “heavy lifting” for your project and not the navigating of your cabinets. It also allows your family and co-habitators to stay accountable for putting items back, which helps maintain the system you’ve worked so hard to set up. Snag these crafty white drawers here.
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3. GET CREATIVE WITH MAXIMIZING SPACE
For many people, limited space is the cause of over-stuffed drawers, bins, and shelves. Maximize storage space in your craft area with one, or all of the following storage hacks:.
- Add a storage piece that has spacious drawers and cabinets, such as a credenza or cabinet.
- Add wall pockets or racks behind doors, such as this gift wrap rack (pictured above)
- Maximize overhead and vertical storage space by installing shelves or adding bins
- Add bins and boxes of supplies to underutilized spaces, such as under beds and closet floors
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4. LEVERAGE ADJACENT SPACES FOR SIMILAR ITEMS
I often say that getting organized is perfect for “lazy people,” because when complete, it makes finding things ridiculously mindless and easy. Begin by grouping and categorizing your supplies and find areas to store like items right next to each other. Designate zones where you use your supplies when possible. Here we grouped sewing tools in two side by side drawers so everything is visible, rather than tucked away. If you visited the space, you’d see a pull-out trash bin we repurposed to store the sewing machine. Think strategically about your space, and group like with like!
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5. USE ROLLING CRAFT CARTS “WISELY”
We love the look and functionality of a craft cart, but these multi-function tools can quickly become clutter magnets. If you love the ability to roll your supplies from one space to the next, make sure to be intentional with the storage space. Designate a function to each section by labeling each bin and by adding dividers and/or magazine filers to create and maintain order.
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6. GO VERTICAL WITH PAPER
Rather than stacking packs of paper on top of each other, use horizontal and vertical storage solutions to stow everything from colored paper, cardstock, and stickers. We love paper trays, plastic protectors, and these magazine filers to keep papers protected and easily accessible. Check out Diaso, The Container Store and Staples for some of our favorite tools.
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7. DISPLAY PRETTY ITEMS
We love finding unique, fun items to keep on display. We’re big on ‘form meets function’ and the right display items can act as functional storage and a stylish accessory. Grab some jars and baskets and consider which items are pretty enough to gaze at on the regular. Think ribbons, paintbrushes, and jars of embellishments as the perfect craft items to keep on display.
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8. MAXIMIZE CORNERS WITH TURNTABLES
Turntables and lazy susans fantastic tools for maximizing storage and access to every day or oversized items, such as glues, paintbrushes, and pens. TIP: this turntable doubles as space-saving storage for brushes and adds stylish intention to craft space.
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9. CONTAIN TINY TOOLS
To keep small embellishments and add-ons from getting mixed up and lost, we like to use small, clear baggies. By removing excess packaging and advertising, we’ve streamlined the collection with cohesive storage, keeping drawers tidy AND easy to navigate. Our team used zip-up bags from Daiso to clean up this “letters” drawer, and it worked like a charm!
10. CREATE INTUITIVE CATEGORIES
I hate to be captain obvious here, but this one is too important to skip. After whittling down your art supplies to your curated collection, we always group ‘like with like’ and create big categories of supplies. The brain can only hold so much information, so this process helps your brain remember where specific items are. If you have a huge collection, you are not sure where to start, think broad categories and refine from there. Here are some simple categories that we created in this space:
- ADHESIVES: glues, glosses, tape, stickers
- PAINTS: all paints, liquid glitter, paintbrushes, palettes, smocks
- PAPER: printer, colored, stickers, paper scraps
- EMBELLISHMENTS: floral, letters, numbers, buttons
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11. PLACE ITEMS WHERE YOU USE THEM
When designing this craft room, we started by thinking through how our client would likely use the space and the supplies within it. We mapped out where each category of supplies would most likely to be used. That’s why we decided to create a designated Cricut drawer right where she gets to work!
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12. KEEP DRAWER INSERTS UNIFORM
Small craft and art supplies do well in shallow drawers because you can quickly see what you’re looking for. Without the appropriate solutions to keep items separated and tidy, drawers can become a jumbled mess. We love to use drawer inserts in every single drawer for a uniform, yet a modular solution.
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13. USE WASHABLE MATERIALS
We love using natural materials as much as possible, but when it comes to crafting, a washable glass or plastic surface is a great way to go. For paints, glues, and other ‘messy’ items, we love white or transparent containers for their durable, cleanable qualities. For this cabinet, we used a combination of our go-to bins, so that our client can easily transport her glue, adhesives, and tapes over to her workspace.
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14. STACK, STACK, STACK
We always look for ways to maximize every square inch of an office or closet. Finding storage solutions that stack is an effective way to make use of deep cabinets or shelves. Here, we used stackable clear bins to store paints for easy access and clean-up. Shelf risers and pullout bins are great ways to maximize space and maintain order.
