Craft Room: Ideas for Organization

Whether it is your craft room, art room, sewing room, hobby room, art studio, or all of the above, it is your space for creativity and you deserve for it to be both functional and inspirational.

My creative space was seriously lacking in the storage and accessibility department… and it became a dumping ground for everything. Any time my boys needed supplies for a project they pulled out multiple bins until they found what they wanted and there the mess would stay. Not ideal. Here’s how I made space for everything to promote creativity and eliminate the mess.

Art room makeover — This is the embarrassing mess of my sewing/craft/art room. Not enough storage, or at least not efficient storage led to piles of stuff all over.

Where to Start

First off, I pulled everything out and went through it all. It took time, but it was worth it. Basically, I followed the 12 Tips for Organization (here) that I posted earlier this year. That helped me to sort through and decide what stations I needed in the space and what type of organizational storage would work best for me.

Once I designated areas for sewing, crafting and storage, I thought about the decoration and color that would make me happy and spark the creative juices. I love the chair that I got for the creative space. The cream and blue colors, the pattern, and the contrast just make me happy. That was what I based everything else around. Find your inspiration piece and work from it.

Even though the chair was my inspiration for the room, I didn’t feel the need to make everything completely matchy-matchy with it. I knew I wanted to do a mural but I didn’t want to do the same design that was on the chair. The wall color for the mural was based off the blue from the chair (Sherwin-Williams Rain Storm). Having the entire room in that super dark blue would have been a bit overwhelming. Instead, I had the two opposing walls painted in a custom color to coordinate but keep things light.

Let’s take a closer look at the finished space. Video at the end of the post.

sewing room organization — 1. Picture ledge shelf to maximize vertical displays. 2. Large MCM desk turned sewing table and storage. 3. Shelving to take advantage of vertical storage space. 4. Dresser for holding folded and in color order fabric.

1. Picture Ledge Shelf

This easy to build picture ledge shelf allows items or pictures displayed to be changed up without having to patch holes in the wall. A simple DIY project that can be stained or painted to coordinate with your space. Find the simple tutorial here.

2. Mid Century Modern Desk

An easy, no sanding required makeover for this garage sale find. This mid century modern desk got a custom color of paint and handles to help fit in with the color scheme of the room. It works perfectly for a sewing table and there’s lots of storage in the drawers for drawing tablets, rulers, school pictures and awards that need to be filed for each kiddo. Find the tutorial on how I mixed the color, painting tips and instructions for the best finish here.

Organizing a craft room — Closer look at some of the organization.

3. Wall Brackets and Shelves

When more storage is needed for odd shaped things, go vertical! These inexpensive brackets and shelves from Home Depot are a great way to add storage and display items of interest. Add a woven basket for texture and to hide less attractive items from view.

Under shelf wire storage baskets (here) work great to keep in-progress sewing projects out of the way but grouped for easy access.

4. Fabric Storage

This was a great find on Amazon. For a dresser, it was a steal of a price. Plus, it is so light weight and extremely easy to assemble. It works perfectly for all of my fabric storage. I eliminated three plastic bins of fabric being stacked in a corner by sorting through and folding them evenly so all the fabric remnants are organized in one space. These drawers take up less space than the plastic totes and the drawers help to divide by color and make it easy to grab what is needed. Find the dresser drawers here.

5. Dreambox from Create Room

This was a total indulge purchase. Two years of eyeing this storage system and saving up money to buy it was not wasted. It costs a pretty penny, but now that I have had it for over 6 months, I can not express in words how much easier it has made storing and accessing all of the craft, sewing and art supplies. I splurged a little more and purchased the clear bins and drawers and I don’t regret a penny of it.

Previously, I had a dresser and an old computer armoire that I was using to inefficiently store everything. Try as I might, I could not get everyone else to put things away after getting out the supplies. Such a pain to have the craft or school supplies spilling out all over the room each week. Now, there is a place for everything and it is all separated so this system has proven a winner! I also love that there is a work table that can fold out for big projects. Find info on the Dreambox here.

6. Ceiling Light

The original overhead lighting was dim and lacked any personality (in my humble opinion). Using the skills from the post about finding the light you love for less here, I found the perfect light. I love the crystals hanging from this light but also the fact that it has four light bulbs and would produce more overhead lighting than the former 2 light bulb flush mount. Find the light here.

No need to feel intimidated by changing out a light. The average homeowner can do it in less than an hour. See how to do it here.

Organize your office — 5. Craft storage and workspace that can fold away. 6. Change overhead lighting to brighten up the space. 7. Paint a mural for interest and inspiration on a wall or two. 8. Garage sale find to maximize storage and create a work surface.

7. Mural

Painting your own mural may seem a bit overwhelming to many people. Fortunately, there are a lot of wall papers or transfers available these days for those not comfortable wielding a paint brush. For those who are interested in the process or just want to check out how I painted mine, click here for the link.

Big and bold flowers reminiscent of the still life paintings by Dutch Masters was the feel I was going for with my wall mural. After finding paintings for inspiration, I drew out a quick planning sketch. Then I drew on my background as an art major and from my mural painting business to mix the colors and paint the flowers. Some of my favorite details are the hidden bugs amongst the flowers. Give a mural a try. It is just paint, if you hate it you can paint over it.

8. Fabric Cutting Table and Storage

Another garage sale find. This was originally a bar with a fold out top. Being that I don’t drink, the bar idea didn’t do it for me. Instead, I was inspired to refurbish it by adding four caster wheels on the bottom, painting the entire thing and spraying the hardware to match the desk on the other side of the room. Now there is storage below (link for plastic storage baskets here) for sewing patterns, odd and ends, and a drawer to hold the cutting scissors, tape, etc. so I can use it as a cutting table. Gone are the days of laying out fabric and pinning patterns just to have the dog walk across it and rip the tissue. It also makes a great surface for pressing seams while sewing.

Crafting table — Turned this solid wood bar into a cutting and ironing table for sewing with storage below for odds and ends. The plastic bins work great for pattern storage, too!

9. Update Outlets

Something else that I knew I wanted was to put recessed outlets behind the furniture and outlets with USB charging capabilities on the other outlets. White ones are easy to find at your local hardware store, but black outlets (because they didn’t have dark blue) could only be purchased online. Go figure. Here are the links for the black recessed outlets and the USB charging outlets.

changing an outlet — On the left: Switched out the regular outlet for one that is dark and has USB charging slots built in to make charging devices a breeze. On right: Installing a recessed outlet is perfect to keep large pieces of furniture flush to the wall when the sewing machine or lamp are plugged in.

No need to fret, I also have a tutorial on how to switch out regular wall outlets to recessed outlets. The USB charging outlets can be done the same way. Here’s the link to that post here.

Guys, I can’t even tell you how happy I am that this room is FINALLY organized and functional. If you have been putting off organizing your craft or work space, don’t wait another day. It is so nice to have a place for everything! Even nicer is the fact that my boys actually put things away now because it is easier to function and get to what they need. That and they know if they mess up the space that I spent so much time organizing, I would make them my indentured servants for the rest of their years under this roof. In the most loving way, of course.

Do what you can to get your space organized, colorful, and reflecting you. It is another way to make your house a home.