Let’s Organize the Craft Room!

Hi my fellow crafters! I have no doubt that you’ve either organized your craft room (maybe even several times) or it’s on your list of things to do! If you are like me, it doesn’t take long for you to be creating your beautiful crafts in a big hairy mess of supplies.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of having tons of room for crafting. If we are lucky, we have a room, otherwise, it’s a corner of a room or some spot in a garage. I am very fortunate to finally have a room just for creating and for holding my craft and sewing supplies. However, it’s not a large room which is why I need to be as organized as possible, so I have actual crafting space.

Craft room while I am in the throes of projects & crafting

As you can see above, my crafting space gets super messy! When the space is this messy, I find it easy to get distracted. It was time to do something about it. I finally decided that I needed more storage containers in order to organize the supplies that I had. What I love about organizing is that it gives one the opportunity to discover what supplies they have and then group like things together. Such a great feeling to know where Everything is!

Step 1: Remove all supplies

The first step in the organization process is to remove all the supplies from the room and if you have space in another room, removing the furniture too. I didn’t have space in my other rooms to move the furniture to, so I simply moved it around as needed within the craft room. I moved some of my supplies to the family room but most of them went into the spare bedroom that is right next to the craft room. No need to move them any further than necessary.

Step 2: Optional – replacing baseboards

Although I didn’t initially plan on replacing the baseboards and the trim around the door and closet, it seemed like a good time to do it since I would be moving the furniture around anyway. You can see the old baseboards in the picture with the craft table.

I’ve been slowly replacing the trim in the house and have several of the rooms done now…I have the kitchen, dining room, upstairs hall, living room, laundry room, and spare bedroom left. Man, that sounds like a lot! The trim I have been using is 3 1/4″ Hemlock and for most of the rooms, I’ve been staining it with Minwax Provencial stain with a couple of coats of Minwax Polyurethane. The trim in both bathrooms, though, has been painted white.

Step 3: Buying organizational tools

After the baseboards and trim were installed, it was time to look for organization tools like baskets and cabinets. I had been using the closet without the doors to store supplies, but it wasn’t efficient the way it was being used.

I called hubby who came by with the truck and three guys loaded my new treasure for us. How we were going to get it out of the truck once we got home, I wasn’t sure as it is very heavy! While shopping for the cabinet, I picked up a few baskets & a cute little rattan suitcase to hold various supplies and a couple of wooden crates that I would paint before using.

Step 4: Paint cabinet

After the cabinet was ready to go in the house, our neighbor and I carried it in then shimmied it down the hall and around the corner – that was tricky. Now that the cabinet was in the house, it was time to paint. I removed the glass door and then the glass itself, the small doors, hinges and pull handles to make the painting process easier. I painted it with Waverly chalk paint in Agave then used Annie Sloan Dark Wax to antique it and Clear Wax to buff it out.

Step 5: Prep closet for cabinet

Once the cabinet was in the room, I measured it again and discovered that it was too wide to go into the closet! UGH! After my initial shock, I thought it just might fit if I removed the trim along the top of the cabinet and also removed the wood on either side of the closet. I cleaned out the closet in preparation to remove the trim. The wood on the sides of the closet came off easily and I reinstalled it after the cabinet was in its new place in the closet. The wood on the sides of the closet came off easily and I reinstalled it after the cabinet was in its new place in the closet.

Step 6: Prep cabinet for closet

Using furniture movers (I LOVE these little helpers! You can move the biggest, heaviest pieces of furniture easily with them. I own two sets), I slid the cabinet into the closet. Once the cabinet was inside the closet, I replaced the front piece of trim.

Step 7: Paint shelf unit

I bought this shelf unit at St Vinies a few years ago and painted it with Behr Chocolate Cupcake. Now that I was working on the Craft Room, I decided to lighten it up with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Versailles, it is very close to the wall color of the room, so it blended nicely. This piece was also waxed with both the dark and clear waxes. I removed the doors & hinges on this unit also prior to painting.

Step 8: Convert 2 shelf units into 1

The next shelving to be updated was two short shelf units that I had been using in the closet. I had them stacked in the closet and since they were in a closet, I didn’t have to worry about them falling over. However, I was now going to use them in the room instead, so I decided to try to convert them into one, tall unit. I wasn’t sure this outcome was attainable, but it sure came out nice! To begin the project, I added two coats of chalk paint to the shelving units.

Using Elmer’s glue and my nail gun, I attached a sheet of 1/8″ plywood to each side of the unit to both cover the area where they were connected and to provide some stability. To close in the back of the unit I cut a sheet of beadboard and a sheet of thin plywood and glued them to the back; I would have used beadboard for both, but only had enough on hand to do the bottom piece. Once the glue was dried, I secured the backing, even more, using my nail gun.

After the two sections were together, I cut two pieces of 1/2″ plywood, one to create a base to make the unit more stable as it would be sitting on the carpet and the other to create a top since the top shelf unit was open.

The next step in this project was to trim out the cabinet. I attached 1″ corner trim to all 4 sides of the unit to cover the area where the plywood had been added. While it wasn’t a necessity, I wanted the unit to look like it was a custom-built piece, so I trimmed out the front of each shelf with the same small trim that I used on the top and base pieces. I glued the trim with Elmer’s and used painters’ tape to hold the trim in place while the glue dried. Once the glue was dry, I painted the trim. When all the trim was installed, the glue dried and the nail holes filled in, I went over all the pieces with caulking to fill any gaps and provide that custom-built look. After touchup paint & waxing, the new shelf was complete!

Step 9: Paint toy storage

I wasn’t sure how the paint would adhere to the plastic bins but wasn’t too concerned with the outcome. To my surprise & delight, the chalk paint worked beautifully! Changing the bins from primary colors to teal fit so much better with the other colors in the room. I removed the wire shelf from the closet so I would have room to put this shelving unit on top of the new cabinet.

Step 10: Arrange room

Now that cabinet & shelves were painted and waxed, it was time to figure out what layout I wanted in the room. I enjoy rearranging furniture to give a room a fresh look. I knew I wanted to keep my sewing machine by the window to take advantage of the light during the day, so I used the placement of that piece as my anchor for the room.

Step 11: Inventory & organize supplies

Once all the furniture was where I wanted it, it was time to fill it with my supplies. Before moving my supplies back into the room, I took inventory. Any old, dried up, or non-usable supplies went into the trash. If I had any supplies that I no longer needed, I would have donated them. After sorting through my supplies and grouping them into like objects, I proceeded to fill the cabinets, shelves, baskets, etc. Now I know what I have in stock and where everything is!

My favorite area in the room is the closet. I’m so happy that I was able to fit this cabinet inside of it. It looks like a built in and I just love the functionality of all the storage areas.

Even though I organized this room over a year ago, I’m happy to announce that it is STILL organized! Don’t you find it easier to keep a space organized once you have the pieces to make that possible? Adding containers such as baskets, shelves, storage cabinets make all the difference in the world when it comes to being able to stay organized.

If you’ve been putting off getting your space organized, there’s no time like the present to dive it and get it done – you’ll be so happy that you did!

Additional resource for craft room organization

Here is a great article with even more room organizational ideas for your crafting space!

If you need supplies

Just so you know, this post may contain affiliate links. Meaning I receive commissions for purchases made through those links, at no cost to you.

For more project ideas

Send me all the Goodies!

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Leave this field empty if you’re human: