Now, you may be asking yourself, 'Why on Earth would she want to share that chaotic, messy space she calls a craft room with the internet?' Well, you're in luck because I'm going to tell you! I've seen lots of pictures on the internet of perfectly organized and color-coordinated craft rooms with custom tables in the center and extensive cubbies with wicker and cloth baskets where everything is put away and looks beautiful. But you rarely see pictures of realistic craft spaces where real people do the real dirty work of making things. Hence, me sharing mine. While my craft room may be chaotic, it's an organized chaos. I know exactly where every little thing belongs and where it can be found when I need it. Besides, I am a firm believer that creative spaces need to be a little messy.
This is my main workspace. I have a corner with two desks and a bookshelf where I do almost all of my creating. It took a while to get this configuration right, but now it works pretty well for me.
I use a cheapy folding table that I hope to replace one day soon with one that doesn't rock insanely every time I use my sewing machine. Hopefully with a thrift store bargain, since it with invariably get covered in paint. The wall behind my desk has cork board squares on it, but as you can see, they covered nowhere near enough space, so I just started pinning things straight to the wall. Eventually, the cork board ended up being where I keep things I love to look at- pictures of my favorite people (including John Krasinski and the Doctor), my kids' drawings, an old fork I found at my Grandpa's house, and always pretty paper. That and a place where my old earrings go when I lose their mates. I like to have my sheets of stickers and doo-dads right in front of me so I remember what I've got. The black box next to the Cricut is also filled with that kind of stuff- paint chips, journaling squares, library cards, all the accoutrement I use in my Smashbook.
I keep a blotter handy for when I stamp or need to practice writing or doodling something. My desk also holds a container of my favorite pens, markers and glue, as well as a vintage mason jar of washi tapes. The wooden desk serves as a spill over area, where I keep my materials when I'm working, and where my husband dumps all the random detritus he collects from around the house that he knows I'll want to keep. The baskets on top hold more Smashbook products- pockets, tabs, tags and more of the ephemera that I so love to collect. The bookshelf in between the desks holds my paper cutter and other supplies I need close at hand, as well as my Cricut mats and paper.
The wall on this side works even harder than the other one! I have always dreamed of owning a ribbon holder since the days of shopping at Jutenhoops when I was a tween, and last year my aunt gave me this one for Christmas. I was so delighted that I cried! The first thing I did was to sort all of the ribbon by color and size, and now it proudly sits, beautifying my space and ready to offer a bit of ribbon or rick rack whenever I need it. I also have a shelf full of paints, which also used to be color organized before my paint buying got out of hand. And of course, there is my peg board wall, which may be smallish, but goes a long way towards organizing and keeping in sight all of my goodies.
I bought the peg-board from Michaels, so they're smaller squares instead of one large piece. I did that mostly because at the time, I hadn't discovered Pinterest, and didn't know you could paint the wood ones from the hardware store. The best part about the smaller pieces is that I can add more when I need more storage. The baskets are thrifted, and the paint one is actually for a shower. I love my pegboard for storing and showcasing my washi tape collection. I also used baby food jars and tiny wedding favor buckets from the dollar store to hold brads and buttons and gems, as well as paper flowers and extra bits of trim. My bakers twine resides on an extra dowel from my ribbon holder that I just rested on two hooks. The bar and basket on the bottom were bargains from Ikea. The whole peg board system here cost me less than $40.
So that's my crafting space! If you noticed that I didn't include two of the walls in the room, it's because those go from lived in messy to disastrous messy. It's mostly all bookshelves anyway, except for my little old lady green recliner in the corner for reading and my kids' craft table. My craft room is my favorite room in the house; it's the room I escape to when I just want to be me for a while and let my hands work and my mind turn off. Thanks for taking a little tour with me. Feel free to comment on how messy it is, or how awesome. I'd love to hear from you!
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