Create a Craft Room

Whether it’s your hobby or your livelihood, crafting requires space. Depending on your budget you can create a functional craft room that helps you get the job done or you can go all out with a shabby, chic craft room that would inspire others. The idea of a perfect craft room varies by the artist and type of craft. You can turn any room, even a closet into a craft studio with the right craft room organization.

A well thought-out “play” room of one’s own reaps its many rewards. Organize your workroom around decorating solutions that do double duty without doubling the volume, too. Designate stations for supplies. This will help your space run efficiently. And prioritize counter space. Keep frequently used tools and materials in open containers, and relegate sparkles, spangles, and fluff to their dedicated shelves and marked boxes.

A sturdy work table with a lot of work space is the key to a productive craft room. Choose a large, durable table-either metal or wooden is ideal. A good height is about 31 inches. If you’ll be sitting for a long time, use a stool with a back support. Glue or tape a measuring tape to the edge of your work table for easy sizing.

A sink is important to have in a craft room. This makes cleanup easy and convenient, and you’re not toting messy materials all over the house. If you don’t have access to a sink, use a container with a spout and a bucket for dirty water. Store paintbrushes in empty soup cans and insert corrugated cardboard to keep them separate. Cleaned-out baby-food or margarine containers make excellent paint holders or can be filled with water for rinsing paintbrushes.

Store craft supplies in kitchen canisters. Fill them with materials such as cotton balls, ribbon, felt scraps and yarn. Glue magnetic strips to a wall and hang scissors and other metal tools on them, or mount a piece of Peg-Board and hooks. You’ll never have to dig around in a drawer again. Keep an old magazine/newspaper rack in the craft room for messy projects. Old place mats can also be used as a table guard when working with messy materials. Keep a hat tree or coat rack in the craft room for hanging up smocks.

Decorate the shelves in your craft room. Attach the fabric to the top of the shelf, and then make two holes in the fabric, one on each side. Put ribbon through so that when you roll it up, you can hold the fabric out of the way. Coordinate shoe boxes by covering them with the same material used on the shelf. Spray adhesive works best for this.