For the crafter, this is probably the most exciting reveal from The Mad House: my craft room. I spent hours unpacking, organizing, and decorating the room that will probably NEVER look this clean or tidy ever again. And that is exciting in its own way.
A disclaimer before I start: The paint I used in this room was an Oops paint from Benjamin Moore, and it is a lovely colors. Yes, colorSSSS. The paint completely changes in appearance depending on lighting, time of day, the weather outside… it’s almost impossible to photograph consistently. So, if it looks grey in one picture, and blue in the next, then green in the next — don’t adjust your monitor. It’s just the crazy paint.
My craft room isn’t the chic, monochromatic work space that you see on Pinterest or in a Martha Stewart ad. I designed my craft room to be functional and inspiring, above all else. Many of the storage and organization ideas are DIY projects, so I hope to provide you with some ideas you can replicate in your home on a budget!
I don’t work well at desks. I never have. I need a wide open space where I can spread out all of my project’s components so I can see everything at once. Because I know that this is how I work best, I made sure that my work room catered to my needs. Open shelving, a pegboard, and see-through containers all make sure I can quickly see and grab any material I need. Also, my craft desk is situated smack in the middle of the room, so I can work on projects in 360 degrees.
“We’re all MAD here.” The Cheshire Cat
The craft room closet doubles as an organization station. One door holds a corkboard for inspirational photos or quotes. The other door boasts rays of magnetic paint on which I can mix and match my Shakespeare word magnets when I am stuck with writer’s block. (Have you ever tried that trick? Sometimes just randomly putting words together can get your creative juices going again.) I will have the tutorial for both projects on the blog in the coming weeks.
I bought a cheap calendar cling at Walmart when their school supplies went on clearance. I try to keep a rough blog post schedule on the calendar to keep me on task with my projects. Any sponsored posts are written in green marker. If I have committed to a date for a post that isn’t sponsored, that’s written in blue. Any other posts are blocked in with black marker. Believe me, this calendar gets adjusted frequently.
When I was trying to choose a color-scheme for my craft room, I finally realized that there was no way I could have one. Since I wanted to display all my craft goodies, it wasn’t possible to control the color scheme. So, I just decided on a scheme of “all the colors” and ran with it. And I really love it. The tutorial for my neon rainbow zip tie lamp will be showing up here soon too.
I printed out some inspiring (and funny) craft-related quotes and used pants hangers to hang them on the wall. If you would like to get your own prints you can find them at the above links.
I am sure this cubby area doesn’t look at all organized to some of you. Yes, if I had all the contents of the cubbies tucked away in white canvas bins with chalkboard labels, it would look MUCH cleaner… and would be almost completely useless to me. That’s just how I work, you might be different.
Oh, and that’s Hans the Woodsman on the right there. He is a marionette I bought at a castle in Germany, and my husband hates him. I don’t think it’s fair that Hans has to be hidden away in my craft room just because my husband has a thing about puppets, and Hans happens to have a tiny little axe slung over his shoulder. Plus, one of Hans’ feet was broken off in the move, so if he did come after us with homicidal intentions we would totally be able to outrun him.
This little area is the temporary location of my PSA Essentials gear and some of my tools. It’s not extremely sturdy, but it works for now. Ooh, this is also where I crank my work time tune-age (usually Motown).
This corner adheres to my “all the colors” color scheme perfectly. My inspiration mags are tucked away in rainbow colored magazine holders, and my craft paints are all hung where I can see and reach them. The large drawer organizer holds all my scrapbook papers and scraps. The smaller organizer holds specialty paint brushes and stencil pouncers.
My handy contact paper holder is actually a baby bottle drying rack! The unopened rolls slide down over the longer bottle posts; the opened rolls rest between the bottle top posts.
My craft library mostly consists of back issues of Architectural Digest and Better Homes and Gardens (with some other favorite magazines tucked in there as well). And — shameless self-promotion alert — that is the October issue of Woman’s Day, and I just happen to be featured on page 64.
The starburst-style clock is another craft project that I will share soon. I made the clock using my great-grandmother’s vintage knitting needles!
My dad designed, assembled, and hung the paint storage racks, and I will share the how-to very soon. I love being able to see and grab whichever color I need at a moment’s notice.
I keep all my smaller craft staples in this part of the room. I have my stencils arranged by size and separated into magazine holders. Dry adhesives and paper punches sit in a stacking rack from the dollar store.
The top shelf puts all my glues and adhesives within reach. The middle shelf holds the paint mediums and textures I have accumulated over the years. And on the bottom is the sparkliest shelf of all, my glitter shelf.
I painstakingly arranged all the glitter by color, not so much for organization as for beauty. I bought all the micro beads at the dollar store! I was thrilled to find them in the nail section; one package included 8 teensy bottles of different colored micro beads. Plus, those little jars are screaming for a jewelry repurpose.
The piece de resistance of the “all the colors” room is my colorful pegboard. It was a curbside trash pick-up that I transformed into a beautiful and functional way to organize my craft tools. Full tutorial to come.
My craft table sits in the center of the room, so I can work on a project from all angles, and still be in arm’s reach of all my supplies. I organized the two drawers with small plastic containers from the dollar store to keep the smallest supplies separated. You will learn more about my craft table later this week!
I hope you enjoyed your (lengthy) tour of my work space. I am very thankful to have room totally dedicated to my hobby, and I know most people don’t have that luxury. I hope that you are able to take some of the ideas from the space and work them into your home as well!
Click the links below to be taken to the tutorials for the DIY projects in my craft room!
