You guys were so encouraging when I showed you the painful ‘during’ process of sorting, cleaning and organizing my craft supplies…it really helped push me through the ‘what-the-french-have-I-started-here’ panic, and I’m thrilled to finally have Phase 1 of the Craft Closet complete!
It may not look like much, but compared to what I started with, it’s night-and-day! I had supplies under beds, in Kitchen cabinets and drawers, in multiple closets and in the garage. I had stuff I have no memory of buying. In fact, if I ever set foot in the craft store again, I need to be committed! There’s a mini Hobby Lobby right in my Guest Room!
So after corralling all the supplies in one spot, and tossing out the busted, dried-up, and empty packages, I grouped all the like items. That was a hot mess…but it helped to see what size containers I needed for each.
Next was figuring out how to fit it all, in an organized way, into only half of the Guest Room closet. I wanted to retain the other half for random storage, and actual closet use for when we have guests. And since I’m still riding high on my new mantra of ‘Just Start Somewhere‘, I decided not to over-think it, and forgo demoing any parts of the closet, and just work around what’s already there. It’s a standard builder-grade shallow wall closet, with sliding doors and weird wasted space on either end.
That black-hole space tucked in the side of the closet became major storage with Ikea’s Algot wall system. It’s not as sturdy as this one, but it was a lot cheaper, and allowed me to customize drawers to fit the space between the clothes bar and bottom shelf.
I used boxes, baskets and pails we had on hand to keep items from becoming one giant pile in each drawer. The top drawer holds glues, glazes, specialty paint, scissors, markers and paint brushes.
The second drawer is for embellishments, like beads, stones, sea glass, pom poms, decoupage paper and trims. Ziploc bags are great for grouping these type of things, and take up less space than their original packaging.
Third drawer holds string, twine, rope, yarn and embroidery thread.
The last drawer is stuffed with acryllic craft paint, arranged upside down so I can see the colors at a glance.
The rest of my supplies fit on the shelves around the drawer system. The woven basket holds jars of small loose items like brads, jingle bells, cup hooks, and my favorite…googly eyes. Labels will come once I see if this system and groupings work well.
My sewing machine doesn’t see a lot of action (I have this one
, btw, and it’s super user-friendly), so it’s tucked on the bottom shelf, with my fabric collection folded in a basket underneath.
They are stacked so I can see everything at a glance without having to pull out the entire stash to find something. I had big plans for all of them at one point.
Smaller fabric swatches and samples are in the bin under the drawers. The containers on the floor hold some party supplies, and all the random stuff I gather for project ideas.
Remember all the boxes that used to store the DVD cases before we streamlined them into a single basket? They now house crafts on the top shelf…stickers, sewing notions, stamps and ink pads, glitter, punches, and fabric mediums. The very top shelf holds random house accessories like cork boards, lamps, drapes and more project supplies. I have a bad habit of bringing things home that would make a good project…then never actually doing the project. It was humbling to find so much stuff…literally a month’s worth of post ideas!
Scrapbook paper and felt are kept in flat boxes so they don’t crumple. My DIY Monogram Jar of washi tape sits up there, too.
I can’t believe everything fit so tidy in one side of this closet! And it’s not a complete eye-sore for guests staying in the room.
I love how the drawers turned an awkward space into such great usable storage, but still tuck out of sight.
The first phase of sorting, purging and organizing is complete…next step is seeing what works and what needs to be tweaked. I also think that back wall is another great spot to create more storage, and of course I’ll have to add some fun decorative touches. But for now, it is such a relief to have an efficient system for housing the supplies I use almost daily.
Let’s not dwell on the fact that it took me four years, deal? Who wants to come over and craft something with me now that I know where everything is?!