One of the best parts of moving to a new house, has been the ability to reorganize my craft space. I removed every single thing from my desk when I packed up, so I got to start with a clean slate. Are you ready for a little crafty organization porn? Here we go!
Let’s start with an overview of my desk:
My desk is from Pottery Barn’s Bedford collection. I got the filing cabinets for super cheap ($50 each, I think) from an old employer when they laid off a big chunk of the staff. I bought the desk top on sale when the color (honey) was being discontinued. Most of the organizational pieces on top of my desk are from the Container Store or Ikea. The shelves are just boards from Home Depot that I laid across the small drawer units. I’ve had these since I moved into my very first apartment and I made a set of bricks and boards shelves. That value right there, folks. And they’re so classy!
The top shelf is where I store most of my scrapbook paper. The paper trays are from the Container Store and they are sized to hold 12 x 12 paper. (These trays are no longer available as far as I can determine.) I sort my paper by color and I put solid cardstock in with patterned paper. I also sort some papers by theme: stripes, journaling papers, Christmas, little boy themes, etc. Other trays are used to hold big sheets of letter stickers and projects that are in progress.
I also have a few Cropper Hopper Paper Holders
Just above my paper trays are my toys. I am going to try to load this area up with decorative knicknacks so random stuff doesn’t collect in ugly piles. So far I have my hula girl, Darla 4, a mini piggy bank, a crash test dummy lego minifig, a bento box eraser set, my Wonder Woman pez dispenser and my Wonder Woman Barbie. Needless to say, my children are aching to get their hands on this stuff, but I am a mean mom and I don’t let them touch my toys! Bwah ha ha!
Below my paper trays I have four sets of small drawers. These are also from the Container Store and also have been discontinued. These used be almost entirely filled with rubber stamps, but I hardly ever do any stamping any more, so I attacked my stash and pulled out tons of stamps that I am planning to sell when I get a little spare time. The stamps I kept are now contained in a mere eight drawers.
I’ve tried very hard to limit myself to my favorite images (like those kind of henna-looking ones) and basic shapes that I’m most likely to use.
Another set of drawers store embellishments sorted by color. This is a fairly new way of sorting for me and so far I’m really liking it. I’m generally not very good at remembering to use little doodads on my craft projects, and this is helping with that a lot.
Here is a peek inside my green and blue drawers.
The other two sets of drawers are works in progress. Like I said, I purged a lot of my supplies before the move, so I’m not sure how I’m going to use these extra drawers. I’m guessing I’ll figure it out as I work in the space a little bit.
I also have two big spaces on the shelves between the drawer sets. I haven’t figured out how I’ll be using these yet, but I have a couple more boxes of craft supplies to unpack still, so I’m sure I’ll manage to fill them up.
Another of my big storage pieces is this Bisley 10 drawer cabinet from the Container Store. (This one is actually still available!) Most of the drawers in this unit have divider trays inside.
The top three drawers hold letter stamps. Each letter has its own compartment.
The next two drawers hold chipboard letters. Again, each letter has its own compartment. If I could do this over again, I would have used the same 9-compartment trays for the chipboard that I used for the stamps. These compartments are packed pretty full and I have a hard time digging through them to find what I want to use.
The next three drawers are filled with ink pads and stamping supplies. These are due for a purge.
The last two drawers hold envelopes and embroidery supplies. I’m not sure why have so many envelopes, but that drawer is packed.
Next up, is my red Ikea drawer set. The top of this unit holds eight jars of ribbon sorted by color. I really don’t need this much ribbon, but it’s cheerful to look at and it makes me happy, so I keep it all.
These drawers are filled with adhesives, scissors, rub-ons, paints, a few spools of ribbon and some sewing supplies.
Here’s a peek in my rub-on drawer.
Behind my desk I have a few more supplies. The shelf holds my craft book collection. I’m going to set up a table for the kids just to the left of this, so I’m planning to use the top shelf to store the kids’ art supplies.
The back of the door holds a shoe organizer that I’ve re-purposed for craft supplies. The top half holds Cricut cartridges and the bottom half holds my large paper punches.
So that’s what I’ve done so far!I’m loving having a clean and organized space to work. In fact, I’ve already managed to crank out a couple of scrapbook pages and get some work done on my Project 365 albums. It’s amazing what a little elbow room will do for your productivity.
I’m not quite done yet, of course. I still have a few more things to unpack and find places for and I’d also like to jazz the space up visually. I’m going to put some art on the walls, of course, and I’m also thinking of covering my desk top with oil cloth to protect the surface and give the space a little more color.
