Craft Room Organization

It's been just about 6 months since we moved, and I'm just now getting around to some craft room organization. It's a craft space, but it's also my office, and photo studio.  I have areas of the room that are dedicated to each of those things.  Because I'm getting ready for the holiday season, I felt the most important part to organize first was my worktable.  I set it up pretty much just like I had it at my old studio because I've really had it worked out to where I had made spots for the things I use every day.  I think that's really the key to organizing a craft room: identify your top ten tools, and make easy-to-reach homes for them.    

I don't really like having a lot of Ikea stuff in the living room, but for craft rooms, Ikea is like a gift from the heavens above!  It's cheap, modular, cohesive... it's perfect.  The worktable is one of those $20 desks where you pick out the tabletop, and then choose legs to put with it.  Easy!  I also have a skinny cabinet to the right where I stash my sewing machine and miscellaneous things.  

My chair is a funky thrifted 70s deal with a lift-up seat storage compartment.  I've had it for a long years, and it's comfortable (so important for crafters!) I've seen some craft tables on Pinterest that have stools instead of chairs, and that would drive me crazy! I don't know how anyone can work for long periods of time while sitting on a stool.  It reminds me of the art classes I took in college where I'd have to spend an hour and a half drawing a stack of boxes at the most uncomfortable tall desks with stools.  Awful. Maybe that's why I'd rather hot glue things than draw.  

I'm most excited about my hanging tool center.  I've had variations of this set-up for a few years, and it's just so nice to have the most important things within reach. This is the stuff I use every single day, so it just makes sense to give them a devoted space.   Awhile back I found a stack of old wood planks on the side of the road with a "free" sign, and naturally I took them all.  I've been using them as a rustic photo backdrop, and they're wonderful.  There was this one plank that I couldn't use for the photo area because it had split and broken, so that what I've used here to make my tool caddy.  I covered the back of the wood with felt so it wouldn't mess up the wall, and used two screws to mount it. (Or rather, my dear, sweet, immensely helpful husband mounted it to the wall while I supervised.)    

I used short screws to affix a funnel to dispense my twine, a hook for my favorite ruler, a loaf pan to hold my business trade cards and stickers, and an Ikea kitchen rack with hooks for my scissors. (Yes, I love scissors...all kinds of scissors! The pinking shears were my grandmother's, as were the blue-handled scallop scissors.  The black ones are old kitchen scissors which work perfectly for cutting kraft paper and rugged stuff like that, and the purple-handled ones are for fabric only.)    

On the desk are just a few important pieces.  I ship orders every morning, and I print all of the postage myself so I can avoid standing in line at the Post Office.  I suppose one of these days I should buy one of the fancy postal scales, but for the last 4 years I've used this handy dandy $20 food scale from Target to weigh my packages, and it's fab.  It's perfectly accurate to a tenth of an ounce, so it works great for postage.  The only drawback to it is that it only goes up to 10 pounds, but for big packages like that I'll usually just take it in and have it weighed for me.  

My vintage masking tape dispenser is one of my most favorite things.  I found it at an antique store for $16.  It's insanely heavy cast metal, which is a good thing because you can pull the tape without holding the dispenser.  I love the color and the design - everything about it.  I use it constantly, so it's just a really super piece to have. Down below the desk I have some boxes for "stuff." You know the kind.  And don't be fooled - my worktable is definitely not this tidy all the time!  I think it's really important to allow mess-making as part of the creative process.   If you have an organized space though, I'm definitely more likely to keep it somewhat in shape when I'm not working on a project.  

So that's one space done!  I'm really getting into Christmas mode, so that means I'm super busy adding new items to the shop, making pretty things, and doing back office tasks like stocking up on shipping boxes.  This little area will be so great. Hope you enjoyed this mini-tour!  As always, if you love it, share it!