Design An Organized Craft Room

I know I told all of you that I spent an entire month organizing my studio/craft room/office and I did. Yes, it is pretty clean and organized. So you are wondering where the photos are?

There aren't any. Because it may be organized but it's not cute. I haven't gotten to that part yet. I still have a desk made out of 2x4's and a sawed off piece of old laminate furniture. There is a filing cabinet holding one side up. Sounds pretty doesn't it? There is a dresser in the corner holding the kid's craft supplies and a storage shelf with plastic bins holding my sewing stuff. It's nothing to get excited about.

Now that we have our pantry cabinets installed I am trying to figure out what I want in here. Since I can't get my behind off the couch and couldn't think of anything better to do I spent last night browsing photos on the internet and the thought occurred to me, "Wouldn't it be great if someone had a blog post that linked to all of these so I didn't have to hunt them down?"

So here you go. A few links for your enjoyment all the way from simple to grand and frugal to costly. Now you can drool in the privacy of your own home. Feel free to add more links in the comments if you know of any. (Be sure to check out all of them because I might have saved the best for last.)

• Cottage Magpie - This is almost exactly what I had planned for my studio. Very functional.
• Aim True
• Monica Crowe - More Ikea
• Stamping For Sanity - Stamping room
• Fuzzy Noodle - Knitting Room
• Posie Gets Cosie
• Soule Moma - She's got quite the fabric collection!
• Tara Anderson - Fun color and containers. Check out all her flickr photos
• A Bolota Doce - Something simple but beautiful
• Jig A Bug Baby
• Norma Valentine - Would love to have this cabinet in my studio
• Xixstar - Very cool antique Drawers for storage
• Scrapbook Superstars - Got shelves?
• Two Peas In a Bucket
• Celt Song - Something more subdued
• Christmas Notebook - Amazing custom cabinetry. I want it all!
• Heather Bailey - Most of us can't even dream of being this cool. Thanks for the link Mrs. Organic!

Do you see a dominant theme in there? Blue anyone?

One of these days I'll break down and show you a photo of my amazing desk. It's quite a sight to behold.

Designing My Studio

*Updated below

This is almost exactly what I am going to be doing in my studio. Thanks for posting the photos just for me Angela!

I will have a long counter along the back wall like that and a desk sitting on the left wall. I will probably do the upper cabinets all the way across the wall though. And underneath my counter you will find drawers, drawers, drawers. There is almost nothing better than drawers for organizing.

On the right side of the room I have an industrial sewing machine and an industrial serger. Think big. Very big. I love them both and couldn't live without them. I don't have room for a big table in here but I have a kitchen island three feet away that I can use to spread out on.

I need your help with something though. Should I give up some of those drawers to have a space to push a stool under the cabinet? It would make a nice spot to sit and work at the counter but I would lose some storage space in a very tiny room and I could always just drag my projects out to the kitchen island if I want to sit down. What do you think?

Are you ready for another trip to Ikea Stranger?

*I also wanted to show you a digital garden makeover that Angela did for one of her readers. I would like to send her a photo of every room in my house to see what she could do with it!

What Mess?

This is why my studio doesn't have a craft table in it.

Do you think this table would have been cleaned off any time in the next millennium if we hadn't had to eat dinner on it that night?

No Ma’am!

It's a nicely contained mess just waiting to get worked on again. Now that wasn't so hard was it?

The Sweetness of the Sweaters

I've been at it with the hooks again. I realized it could take me 10 years to actually finish my closet so I installed some temporary hooks. I'm not even going to paint the boards because they are not staying there. Is that a bit too optomistic of me?

I have always kept my baby's clothes in my closet until they old enough to dress themselves and put their own clothes away. It makes it so much easier to get myself and the baby ready at the same time and in the same place.

I was organizing Lovely's clothes into gallon sized baggies but that was a pain so I gave up on it. I bought all these boxes over the New Year sales and I thought I'd see if I liked them better than bags. So far I do and I also think they're pretty! I have two outfits organized into each one.

The white bin holds her pajamas. Since I like to freeze everyone out at night she wears two pairs to bed. She has more pajamas than regular clothes. It doesn't look like a lot of clothes does it? There might be a few things in the wash but what you see here is about all she owns. I would rather have a few cute things than a closet full of cheap ugly clothes. That doesn't mean I buy expensive clothes. I live for sales! Three out of four of those sweaters hanging up were hand-me-downs from a cousin and I bought the fourth one on sale from Gymboree last year for $3.

I also got tired of throwing Organizing Bags on the floor in the corner of my office/sewing room and installed a few temporary hooks there as well. Thank heaven for power tools!

Click on my Power Tools Label to see more about my hook fetish.

Buttons

What do you do with the extra buttons that come with new clothing? As soon as I come home with something I sew the extra button into a side seam. That way I always know where to find it when I need it. If you don't know how to sew on a button then you need to learn. It really is possible to sew a button on so it won’t fall off. Don’t you wonder why clothing manufacturers can't figure this out? In fact, they're so sure their buttons will fall off that they give you a spare!

Works for me Wednesday

Organizing For Crafters

Do you have dozens of craft projects going on at one time? Hmmm, that sounds familiar. There's nothing wrong with that as long as your husband doesn't find out how much money you have spent on all that "crap", as he would call it, and divorce you. Another problem is the Breeding Phenomena. Whenever I start a project and I get pulled away from it because I need to fix dinner or run to the store, etc, I tell myself I'm going to get right back to it but guess what? I never do! It just sits there, reminding me what a failure I am for not finishing it. "I'm going to finish it, just not today!", my thoughts scream. Soon I will start on another project, and another, and another until the mountains of fabric and patters and patterns and scissors and supplies are looming over me so high that I force myself to sort through it. I either spend hour upon agonizing hour going through it and putting it away or I just throw it in some drawers and boxes to get it out of my sight till I start all over again! It's taken four years of practice but I finally have a clean craft room and you can too. When you have all your projects organized it is easier to see what you need to finish before you start something new. Your head will be clearer and you will work better in an organized space.

I want you to try something this week. Find everything you need for one of your projects. Gather all the supplies into a clear Rubbermaid container or a gallon sized baggy, or try using my Organizing Bags. Use whatever it will all fit comfortably into but the number one rule is that it has to be easy to put away. If your craft supplies are in a cold dark basement and you have to drag them upstairs to work on them then they are not going to be easy to put away. Where do you work on your crafts? That's where you will store them. If it's in the kitchen then you are going to have to find a place for them in the kitchen. Clean out a cupboard or two. I know you have dishes or pans in your kitchen that you never use more than once a year. Put those in the basement and use your prime storage space for the things you need every day. Buy a set of organizing drawers on wheels if you have to and keep it in a closet nearby. If you get this done and it wasn't too painful then start sorting all your projects this way until you have a clear space to work. Separate your quilting from your scrapbooking. Your knitting from you cross stitching. From now on, every time you get something out to work on you are going to put it away immediately. Make yourself do this! It is so easy to put away now that you won't have a reason not to. If you struggle with this then remind yourself of the pain you will be causing if you leave it out. The pain of your kids getting into it. The pain of losing things. The pain of it constantly nagging you. You don't need another pain in the neck. You need an organized craft room!

Organizing Crafts
Find a place to donate your finished or unfinished projects.