These 10 craft room organization tips will help you get your craft room organization project off to a good start. The organization of your craft room is unique to you. You have your own organization style and need space to do the various crafts you enjoy and store the supplies for those crafts. The combination of crafts you do, and supplies required is likely unique to you. Use these craft room organization tips to create a craft room that works for you.
Tip 1 -Find out your organizational style
My first craft room organization tip is to find out what your organization style is. You will be much more successful if you figure out what type of organization system works for you and make your decisions about how you organize your craft room based on your organization style. Do you like to have things out where you can see them, or do you prefer for everything to be hidden away? Do you like to sort things into broad categories, or do you prefer a very detailed organization system? Cas Aarssen, is a HGTV show host, an author and organization expert. She recognizes that people are unique and strives to find organization systems that fit each of her clients’ organizing styles. Cas helps people find the type of organizing system that works best for their brain. She has a short quiz designed to determine a person’s organization style. There are four different styles, ladybug, cricket, bee, and butterfly. I found it very eye opening and helpful. I discovered that I like visual systems that are detailed which means I am a bee. Knowing your organization style will help you to understand why your current system isn’t working and guide you to a system that will work for you. Cas has lots of tips on her website and in her YouTube videos for each of the four different styles.
Tip 2 – Make a space plan
Begin by making a list of the general things that you do in your craft room and what you store in your craft room too. Draw a floor plan of your space and begin to designate space for each of the activities and storage needs. If you ship your crafts, you will need a shipping station. If you have lots of supplies for making custom orders, designate a space for those, or perhaps you need space to store completed inventory. If you frequently use a cutting machine or a sewing machine, consider setting apart space just for it and the supplies and tools you use most often when using those machines. I have a space in my craft room that I use primarily for painting, a space for constructing my crafts and I have a designated space for my Cricut and vinyl. If your craft room doubles as an office be sure to include a space for a desk, computer, and printer. I can’t believe how much trash I end up with in my craft room so plan to have waste cans in the room as well. Having a space plan will help you get started using the next craft room organization tip.
Tip 3 – Reverse Declutter / Reverse Organize
Have you ever hear of the terms “reverse declutter” and “reverse organize”? Reverse Declutter and Reverse Organize are terms created by Laura from Get Organized HQ. Reverse Declutter means focusing on what you want to keep instead of what you want to get rid of. She even has a helpful checklist designed to help you decide. Reverse Organize means focusing on what you need to have in a particular space rather than storing likes with likes. For example, instead of storing all your scissors in one space, you might store the scissors you use for fabric near your sewing machine, and you might have another set you use for paper that you store near an area that you use for card making. Storing likes with likes is still a good strategy for some items, you would want to store all your fabric together and all your spray paint together. If you use the reverse organizing strategy, the things you use most will be easy to access and easy to put away. This strategy will save you time and make it easy for you to maintain your organizing system. If you use Laura’s strategies, be sure to include any items you need for safety and clean-up. ,
Tip 4 – Limit Space
This craft room organization tip comes from Shannon Skip to my Life. She has a craft room organization video that has many great tips. She shows how she stores her ribbon in a plastic shoe box. This works for her because she limits herself to only buying more ribbon if it will fit in the box. This type of rule could be applied to any type of supply. It is a tip that is definitely budget friendly and it will help keep the size of your supply stash in check. If you have a type of supply that is accumulating and not getting used consider creating a rule like this and then intentionally plan to begin making crafts that use it. I had to stop buying yarn. My yarn collection was taking over my craft room. I am often tempted, by the yarn when I am in the craft store. When this happens I just remind myself that I probably already have some at home and that I don’t have room for more at home.
Tip 5 – Add some pretty or fun touches
Another tip from the Shannon Skip to my Life video is to add little touches to the room that make it a pleasant place to be. In order for your space to work for you, it needs to be a space you want to be in. Crafting can be excellent self -care but sometimes you need something to lift your spirits while you are crafting. Exactly what you would add depends on your personal style. Shannon added flowers and an essential oil diffuser to her craft room. I have made some signs for mine that you you can see in the picture below. You can tell from the signs that I also used one of my favorite colors (teal) in the room. Put your own personal stamp on the space.
Tip 6 – Label temporarily
If you search on Pinterest for craft room organization tips, you will likely see beautiful pictures of bins and drawers with pretty labels. You don’t need to create a pin worthy craft room but you do need labels. Labels really help make organization systems work. Everything needs a place and in order to remember where that place is, it needs a label. Labels can be simple, for example, just made from painter’s tape or they can be fancy ones made using a cutting machine. Courtney from Creative on the Cheap, suggests starting with a temporary label made from a sticky note. If you decide your system is working well, take the time to make a permanent label. If you need to revise your system, all you need are more sticky notes. Once you are happy with your organization system, there are so many fun ways to make more permanent labels. You can invest in a label maker like this one. A label maker makes label making very quick and easy. If you have a Cricut and more time, there are lots of option for making labels.
- Vinyl cut out labels look really great on clear containers
- Black writable vinyl is a good option if you want a chalk board look
- Print then cut labels are a good option if you want to include an icon or picture on your label
Tip 7 – Organize by Color
Have you ever watched the Home Edit on Netflix? The Home Edit organizers use a very visual style of organizing so it may not be for everyone, but I think it a style that is great for a craft room. Things are stored in clear bins and clearly labeled. They also often arrange things by color and then put the different colored items in order based on the rainbow. It is a fun way to add order and make things visually pleasing. I think it is particularly appropriate for a craft room since craft supplies come in all colors of the rainbow. It is a great way to organize paper, paint, and markers. There is an easy way to remember the order of the colors in the rainbow. ROY G BIV stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Tip 8 – Lighting is important too
Lighting is not really an organization topic but it is important to making your craft room set-up work for you. Good lighting helps keep your eyes healthy, improves the outcome of your projects and can boost your mood. You need to think about lighting the different areas of your space plan. I am a fan of Ott lights and have several in my craft room. I recently purchased the Ott Lite Creative Curves LED Desk Lamp. It can be adjusted to just about any angle and there are 4 brightness settings that can be changed by the touch of your finger. You want to make sure you have plenty of outlets in your craft room so you can plugin lamps and power tools safely. If you have a shortage of outlets, consider battery powered, remote controlled lighting. I use lights like these under the shelves that are above my work surfaces and these make it easy to see all the supplies I have in the closet of my craft room.
Tip 9 – Ergonomics
Ergonomics refers to setting up your room, so it works effectively for you and you can work comfortably in it. One way to do this, that I already mentioned is to have the things you use most with in an easy reach. Another import ergonomic consideration is the chair you use. You want to make sure the chair supports your body and puts you at the right height relative to your work surface. An adjustable chair on wheels is a great addition to a craft room. Dr. Megan of Diligence Physical Therapy and Wellness offers a free Desk Ergonomics Checklist that is a handy guide to preventing those pains that come from sitting too long. Another option is an adjustable height desk that can be used for working while sitting and adjusted if you wish to work standing up.
Tip 10 – Last but not least, consider clean -up!
My last craft room organization tip is to think about clean-up of the room. If you craft with glues, paints or resin – anything that could make a mess and ruin surfaces, it is important to have surfaces that are durable and easy to clean. Here are two cost effective options for work surfaces. The first is silicone mats. These mats protect your work surface and are very easy to clean. Once you have washed and dried it, it can be folded or rolled for storage. They come in a variety of colors and sizes. The one I have is extra thick which makes it more durable. A second alternative is a large ceramic tile. I purchased mine for just a few dollars at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore. Just like the silicone matts, hot glue does not stick to it and I can pick it up and carry it to the sink to clean it. And as I said above, be sure to have trash cans in the room!
For more craft room organization tips, check out this post at extraspace.com.
