I cleaned up my craft room a few years ago and installed giant metal shelves. But as time went on the clutter grew. And grew. And so did my craft supplies.
I had the past week off work and decided to declutter and reorganize my craft room. I only took one before picture because the mess was frankly embarrassing. (Everything in the box on the chair with the blue cushion is going to the Creative Reuse store).
Next, a small set of 2 pull out shelves, which is next to the tiered tray. In the top I have my mini substrates (cradleboard, aquaboard, etc). In the bottom my various mediums, gessos, and watercolor grounds.
The third item was on sale for $40 at Michaels and I couldn’t resist. A 12-drawer rainbow-hued rolling cart. I’ve filled it with all my card making and paper craft supplies.
Everything else, I already had. Such as the rolling cart I FINALLY cleared out and turned into an art cart. And the 80 slot paint holders I finally loaded up with some of my gouache.
And just so you have the complete picture, here’s the corner of my room for my work desk where I spend all day coding. Note the awesome art wall featuring a lot of LC art!
Good work!!
I always feel like a freshly reset craft area just invites creativity. And yet getting to the resetting work is always an uphill battle of “should do firsts.”
What a difference! I can very much related to how the mess accumulates and how it is difficult to attack it. When I am creating, I am a whirling entity who just digs for the next supply of the piece, leaving a mess in my wake. Then the next project comes along before the mess is cleared away.
I used to be that way too (a perpetual organized mess of creativity) till I lived with a real life hoarder (who was also abusive) for a few years. Now I have actual clutter trauma and it will absolutely paralyze my creative drive until I clean everything up again. I get comments all the time from other creative people about my tidiness and organization and it’s weird to hear it sometimes still.
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AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
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Making your room more functional must feel great! January is usually the month when a fresh start is what a lot of people look forward to!
I love how you used those little trays to organize your gouache.
I was making good progress on reorganizing my craft room over the holidays but ended up with the crud and all progress stopped. I’m still a bit under the weather, but looking at your space makes me feel inspired!
Also, I’d love to come over and craft in your space with you! It looks great!
@AntBee - thank you! I tend to focus my efforts geographically - working my way from the doorway in or the back of the room out. But that could be because my room looked like a hoarder training ground… .
@mannymaker - thank you! I’m definitely happy to have some of the chaos wrangled.
@wittychild - thank you! All the LC art lovlies are one of my favorite parts of my room!
@TheMistressT - I make WiP piles that migrate to the dining room table and slowly grow and grow and grow. Until we’re fighting my craft piles for dining space. Or one of my towers tumbles.
I got a decent start cleaning up my craft room, but progress stalled… A big part of the problem is of course ”too much stuff”. Yeah, some parts could be better organised, but organisation is not going to fix everything… Perhaps today is the day I get back in there for some more progress!
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