Craft Room Organization: 5 Easy and Creative Ideas

Supplies and equipment for crafting can often be a terrible mess. These 5 easy and creative ideas for craft room organization will help tidy up your space.

A few years ago when Kent and I were finishing our basement, we decided to add a craft room. I really wanted a space where the boys and I could get messy with crafts. Unfortunately, the messier crafts get, the messier a craft room becomes.

It wasn’t long before the entire room was out of control and needed to be tamed. Honestly I could no longer find things when I needed them. The clutter was driving me bonkers. You can check out the full tour of our craft room, but today I want to share 5 easy and creative things we did to tackle the mess.

Craft Room Organization Problems 

Disclosure: We received free products from Hickory Hardware and M-D Hobby & Craft that we used in this blog post. No further monetary compensation was provided. This blog post also contains affiliate links for products or services we think you’ll like. This means if you make a purchase from one of these links, Kenarry: Ideas for the Home will make a small commission at no additional cost to you so we can keep the great ideas for the home coming your way. All opinions expressed are derived from personal experience.

First let’s take a quick look at where we started:

This almost reminds me of those pictures in a children’s magazine where they ask: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Here’s how I’d answer that question:

• As a blogger, I like to keep two 6 ft folding tables set up on opposite sides of our craft room. One where I can create crafts and the other where I can photograph them. The problem is storing the lighting equipment, vinyl backdrops and large backdrop support/stand when they’re not in use. (BTW, if you’re a fellow blogger, I just use heavy duty clamps to hang the vinyl backdrops from that stand.) The storage bags are taking up space on the bookshelf in the far corner.
• The bookshelf, small desk and the top of the second cabinet are crammed with odd and end craft supplies. I get busy and don’t take the time to put them away.
• On top of the desk, you see a bulletin board I made over and #blogger sign from The Summery Umbrella. I’ve been saving them to make a collage/gallery above the desk between the shelf and the cabinet.
• I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas last year. Unfortunately, it was STILL sitting in the box under the desk in my craft room. If you’re a Silhouette user, you know that’s a crying shame. A fine piece of equipment like that should never be left unused in a box.

By now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “but Carrie, why don’t you just put everything away in those big cabinets?” That’s the next problem. The cabinet is overflowing because I keep stuffing craft supplies in there when I’m done using them. There are only two deep shelves in the cabinet. This means things get buried or shoved to the back never to be seen again.

5 Easy and Creative Ideas for Craft Room Organization 

So now you’ve seen my big ol’ mess of a craft room. Let’s talk about some of the changes I made to tidy up the space and make things easier to find.

1. Use a storage cabinet for large or oversized equipment

First, I decided to address the “elephant” in the room. Namely, all the photography equipment that takes up a huge amount of space. I know not all crafters have this type of equipment. However, I’m sure there is something large or bulky that every crafty person has in her bag of tricks. For you this may be a sewing machine, a serger, pottery equipment or big bins of scrapbook supplies.

I needed a way to hide all that equipment out of sight, so I bought a large inexpensive storage/wardrobe cabinet. This one is the BRIMNES Wardrobe from IKEA. I put large brushed nickel Command Hooks on the side to hang our paint smocks. Above that you’ll see I used double sided adhesive tape to put up a fun magnetic metal chalkboard that M-D Hobby & Craft gave me at the Haven Conference for DIY/home bloggers last August.

The BRIMNES Wardrobe came with really cheap wood handles for the doors. I wasn’t sure how well they’d hold up in an active craft room. Let alone, the wear and tear of small children with sticky paint-filled hands! I wanted new handles that would dress up the cabinet a few notches and also be easy to clean.

The holes for the handles in the cabinet doors were pre-drilled at an odd distance apart. This limited my options for replacements. I’m always impressed by the huge selection of handles at Hickory Hardware. So I reached out to them to get two of their 160MM Studio Cabinet Pulls for this cabinet. I love how stylish the pulls are with their squared edges. The satin nickel finish also coordinates well with the lighting and other accessories in the craft room.

In the cabinet, the rolls for the photography backdrops and the storage bags with the lighting equipment fit perfectly. I think this cabinet would work great for a sewing machine or even storage for wrapping paper. In the future, I think I might use that empty horizontal rod to hold hangers with various fabrics.

2. Sort craft supplies into bins.

Next, I set out to tackle the huge mess in the other storage cabinet in the craft room. I started by filling one of the folding tables in the craft room with empty plastic storage bins. I liked the Samla series from IKEA because they came in a variety of sizes and heights. They’re also really inexpensive! Plus they have lids so they could easily stack together and fit better on the deep shelves in that cabinet.

I then took absolutely everything out the cabinet and off the shelves in the craft room. As I did so, I grouped and organized the supplies by their usage. For example, all my acrylic craft paints went in one bin. I put enamel paints for hand painting wine glasses in another bin. Hot glue guns and glue sticks went into another bin. I continued sorting until every single craft supply had a bin where it belonged.

3. Label bins. 

Once the craft supplies were organized into bins, I got out my trusty label maker. I then made sure each bin was tagged with the type of supplies it contains.

Now when I stacked the bins back into the storage cabinet, they all fit neatly on top of one another. Thanks to the labels, I can also clearly see what’s in each one. This makes it a million times easier to find what I need when I’m working on a craft project. It also makes it easier to put the supplies back where they belong when I’m done. Thankfully this cabinet also has a small lock and key. This keeps the boys from getting into any dangerous supplies, like the paper cutter, X-acto knife etc.

4. Use toolbars for creative storage and necessities.

While I was at IKEA, I got two of their GRUNDTAL Rails and 2 packs of GRUNDTAL S-hooks. Kent installed one of the rails right above the desk. The bright colorful buckets were found in the clearance section at Michael’s. The red wooden “tool box” came from the Dollar Spot at Target. I hung them from the rail using the s-hooks. They’re great for storing craft supplies for easy access like Sharpie markers, colored pencils, gel pens and paint brushes.

Across the room, Kent installed the second rail above the utility sink to use for hand towels and paper towels.

5. Display other supplies and equipment you commonly use.

Last, I wanted to put other commonly used supplies and equipment on the open shelves in the craft room. Finally I unboxed that Silhouette Cameo. It’s one of those things that if you hide it away you’ll never use it. I wanted it close to the desk so I could easily connect our laptop computer to it.

On the middle shelf, I put a carousel of scissors for paper crafting and a small artificial plant. I also put a bright red bin for supplies that go with the Silhouette Cameo. Then on the upper shelves, I filled acrylic canisters with the boys’ art supplies, like markers and colored pencils. I specifically chose acrylic canisters so they wouldn’t break if the boys dropped them on the floor. The canisters are transparent so I especially love how colorful and fun everything looks.

Overall, I love how our craft organization project came together. I’m especially happy with how bright and cheerful it looks. More importantly, I really love how much tidier the whole room is. It is much easier now to find craft supplies for my next DIY project or art activity with the boys.

Hopefully our craft room organization has inspired you with some ideas for your own craft room. Tag us on Instagram at @KenarryIdeas so we can see how yours turns out. We LOVE looking at craft rooms and are always looking for new ideas.

While you’re here, be sure to take the full tour of our craft room or check out other organizing ideas on Kenarry: Ideas for the Home. You might like like our 10 tips for toy organization or 3 ideas for closet organization. If you enjoyed these tips and ideas for craft room organization, please share this with your friends or pin it for later.

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Carrie is the chief writer, crafter and cook here at Kenarry: Ideas for the Home. She’s an optimist by nature and enjoys sharing recipes, trying new craft ideas, planning for parties and events as well as organizing and decorating. When she’s not blogging, preparing meals or picking up around the house, you’re bound to find her hidden away in a castle under the stairs reading to her two young boys. Whether you’re cooking, crafting or creating for your family, follow Carrie on Etsy, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram to get inspiring ideas for your home.

Filed Under: Cleaning and Organizing Ideas, Home Decor Ideas Tagged With: Cleaning, Home Decor, Organization