How to Organize Your Craft Room

Needless to say I spend a lot of time in my workroom. I am constantly straightening up, cleaning and trying to organize my stuff. However, I never really took the room totally apart and organized it from the inside out. I got myself in the proper mood feeling self righteous and lacking in emotions. I knew it was time to throw things away, and that alone creates feelings of unrest. Coming up with storage ideas in my workroom is a major challenge.

The room is very small and creating even less space is a queen size bed which we keep in the room for occasional guests. Moving the bed in the corner helped the space situation, so at least I can walk around the room. The bed is my reading, thinking and sketching place, and it normally has stuff spilling over the edges. I am really working on keeping this clutter down to a minimum. Trust me the bed rarely looks like the photo.

The nature of all art supplies--especially oil paints--are basically messy on their own and keeping them organized is a daily chore. I try to have the colors I use lined up so I am not searching before painting. I got that clue from an artist friend of mine.

You will note that the computer sits on the side of the table. I did move the computer to this spot to have more room for paints and a small easel; and I also get a view outside. No matter what the size of your room you can organize it to stay neat and tidy.

I emptied out the closet with all the art books, papers, extra supplies and just stuff. I dumped out the stuff from the small cabinet and put everything on the floor from the small cabinet and table. I could hardly navigate around the room with all stuff. However, I was pumped up to organize everything, especially if I ever wanted to enter the room again. I feel strongly that when everything is in a special place, it is an inspiration to craft, write, paint and have a peaceful place to be during the day. My basic problem here is that I love to have everything I use on a regular basis next to me.

I attacked the closet cabinets and put a large plastic bag next to me with hopes of filling several of these bags. I found things in the closet I haven't seen or even thought about for a long time. If it is out of sight it is often out of mind. I am now excited to try some pastels that I haven't worked with in a long time. I better leave them well displayed or I will forget about them again.

I found many books that I could put on the shelves in the living room, give away or throw out.

I took the time to go through papers to make sure there was nothing important and threw out what was not.

I now have a shelf for art magazines, one for art books, art supplies, canvases and other miscellaneous stuff. I dusted and washed the shelves and put everything back in its new place. I felt so happy with my well organized shelves and to find all kinds of unexpected treasures.

I am really happy to have the canvases, small frames and large books that I used to trip over now safely and happily put away.

The table where the paints and computer reside needs daily tending. I feel obligated to straighten the table everyday, well almost everyday.

I use the small cabinet in the photo for current art supplies such as extra brushes and paints. I also have rags, tissues, pencils and marking pens inside when I need them.

I have three baskets that hold specific supplies. I have large cans and mugs for marking pens. brushes and pencils that I use frequently. It is such a treat to know where everything is. I try to keep my favorite brushes close by for just that reason. Sitting here writing, I just noticed how disorganized the cups, and containers for brushes and pens look, so you will have to excuse me while I do some work on them. I also notice that the baskets are in a disorganized state. I will be back soon. I also set up a two new files-one with ideas for paintings and a file with writing topics for hubs and other articles.

I am back from cleaning, and things look a little better, but I am still going to do more work on the baskets. As a painter or writer we need to have the tools of our trade close such as enough paper in the printer, notes we might use and a cup of never ending coffee.

Make sure you are in the right mood for this project. It is a huge job especially if you are like me and tend to collect. Offer yourself a reward after doing a good cleaning job. Take a walk, relax with a cup of coffee, read a book. I mostly just kept admiring my handiwork.

The big question is whether or not the room will stay organized. As I am one who often does not return things to their original home I do worry. I decided I would go through things once a week and make sure everything is where it should be. It also helps me to inventory my supplies. I am not a neat freak, but I think I have come up with some pretty good storage ideas for my little workroom.