I know I’m a lucky girl for oh so many reasons, but one of the reasons I’m so lucky is that I have my own a craft room! Sure, it gets temporarily converted to a guest room when relatives come for a visit, but that doesn’t happen very often! Are you dreaming of having your own little crafting enclave? I’ll show you how I created my crafty refuge and give you some practical ideas on how to design your own organized craft room in this post, so read on for the details!
First, some background on how my craft room came to be… My youngest (he’s 7) asked me yesterday why I get a whole room for just me – I replied “because I have two boys and needs some girl space!” He didn’t quite get that I need some space to myself, free of the junk associated with little boys for some reason. 😉
Multipurpose room
I didn’t always have this room – it once was a full time guest and storage room. But then I decided to convert it into my craft room to really give me some creative space. But my craft room is not a single function room. I don’t have that luxury! My craft room is also part guest room, donation staging and PTA event staging area. I like this mixed use sometimes, but I have to keep the donations in check (and moving out of my house regularly) or else I get pretty grumpy because I can’t be creative in a cluttered space.
Getting creative to create
Instead of buying all new things for my organized craft room, I used pieces I already had for the most part. The only big thing I purchased was a sofa couch to replace the Queen sized bed that was taking up too much square footage in the room to allow for a crafting table.
I don’t have a huge crafting table in the space, either. I have a small drop leaf table that works well in the space. It’s just large enough for me to work on, but when it’s not in use, I can drop the leaf and turn the table to fit in between the windows.
{The camera ready part of the craft room!}
And here’s a picture of the largest storage area in the room:
{The left side of the craft room closet}
This Summer may be the time I finally dive on in and make this space more functional. The left side of the closet works pretty well, but the right side is awkward because of the empty space that’s not quite wide enough for another Sterelite plastic organizer to fit, but wide enough to do something other than have random stuff stashed there.
One of my favorite things to come out of Project Runway, is Tim Gunn’s “Make it work.” I feel like I’m the Queen of Make it Work because I try as much as possible to use what I have on hand to suit my needs. I’m not a everything-looks-like-it-came-from-a-magazine-spread kinda girl. I’m too practical for that because I know that the magazine look comes at a price I’m just not willing to pay -actually and figuratively!
Because of my “make it work” attitude, I’ve been all too complacent about finding a better solution for the closet. Almost all of my craft junkeola is kept in the closet, except for some stamp sets that live in the baskets on the bottom shelf of the small bookcase I stole from my youngest’s room.
{The less fully functional side of the closet.}
Keeping everything in the closet isn’t good for guests because the space for hanging clothes has been completely eliminated, but on the flip side, I can close the closet doors and hide the craft stuff. And in case you’re wondering, there are extended hooks so hanging clothes on the back of the door is possible.
So this is probably not the most exciting tour of a craft room, but it’s certainly realistic and an attainable look for just about everyone who wants an organized craft room.
Other inspiration
Here are some other craft rooms I’ve found to provide further inspiration:
http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/12-amazing-craft-room-organization-ideas-pictures I like some parts of this “Dream Craft Room” but not everything. I personally don’t like feeling like I’m in a store when I’m in my craft room. And I don’t necessarily need to see everything out all at once. I also feel like this person should stop shopping and get crafting already! She has a lot of ribbon! I would be hopping on Pinterest for some ribbon stash busting ideas to do something with it all. 🙂
Now this is an organized craft room that could be replicated in just about any home! I really like how the crafting area is confined to a small portion of the room, and the space is used wisely, but it doesn’t feel cramped.
Here’s another real-life (as opposed to tv or magazine reality) craft room / guest room combo:
