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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My Craft Closet

It's the human condition to always want more and better than what we have. So while I dream of having a whole craft room someday, for now I have a craft closet!




We have two closets in our hall. One is my linen closet (as seen here). The other became a landing zone for games, pet supplies, a pile of stuff for Goodwill and coats that no one wears. I have yet to deal with several of those categories, but as long as no one comes to visit, they aren't hurting anybody while they live undisturbed on the guest bed!


I started by clearing out this closet when my husband refinished our hardwood floors in September. We decided to switch rooms with our boys, so I painted and painted and painted! You can see how our boys' room now looks like HERE. I did a ton of projects in our room too but have one little thing left... But you can go see our closet and our faux roman shades and our barn door headboard! After the holidays I started working on the hall. First was the linen closet, now my craft closet. Yes, I've been busy! 


I found this do-dad at Goodwill for $6. I think it's a headboard for a double bed. I painted it blue, then painted the bookshelf in the back of this picture white, and crammed 'em both in the closet.




I chose not to have built-in shelves for flexibility. As in, when I someday get my someday craft room downstairs in our unfinished basement someday, I'll want to move these things. Then we might just want to use it for a coat closet again, so it was better to not build in shelves. 


For now I can pull up a chair if I want to or get supplies out and go work at the kitchen table. I'm thrilled my scrapbooking and card-making supplies are organized enough to find what I'm looking for!


I chose to leave this shelf blank in case I want to work here, or leave a work-in-progress project here until I can get back to it.  


I sorted small items like chipboard letters, embellishments and paperclips in these IKEA spice containers. They are magnetic, so I hot-glued canning jar rings to the sides of the bookshelf. They make a great, sturdy place for the containers to hang.


I prettied-up two more clipboards (like the ones I mentioned here) for loose items, inspiration pictures or whatever!


On the left is my new Christmas present--a Cricut! I haven't been able yo use it yet, but I'm so excited! I don't have a power source in the closet, so I'll either take the Cricut to another room or use an extension cord.




Behind the Cricut, I hung the lid to a a cage-like thing that I found in the barn. Don't worry, it cleaned up well and is a fun way to display pictures or cards with tiny clothespins. And if you hadn't noticed, I had fun putting pictures of my husband and me around my little space!



The lower shelves are for storage. I used a basket for small things--like the cord to the Cricut, packs of cards and random things. Beside the basket are scrapbook papers, books of cardstock and the like. I also used a red magazine holder to coral stickers and papers that have been cut. On the bottom two shelves are my completed albums (so few!!!) and some black and white photo storage boxes from Michaels. 


I had a gift card for Michaels and these were on sale! I came home with 10, thinking that was so many! They soon filled up--chipboard supplies, card-making materials, even photos!


On top of the bookshelf and below the closet shelf are the rest of the black and white boxes. There is also a small space on the very top to leave an album open if I'm working on a page layout, or for stashing my current favorite magazines.


You can see here how I made the top shelves of the dresser into two very short shelves for more scrapbook supplies--small cutters, large cutters, a cutting mat, and a letter press.


Here you can see a little more clearly how I put the closet together. The row of shoeboxes is on the top of the bookcase, the next shelf up is the shelf that came with the closet. The blue used-to-be-headboard rest on top of the closet shelf. Clear as mud?



I used the smaller shelves up here for jars of supplies. I think three or four of them are for ribbons, one is for paint chips, another for pens and pencils, paint brushes go in another... 


The small black bags hold glue and mod podge as well as my hot glue gun. See the hot glue sticks in the one jar? I'm planning to find some magazine bins to put on the tip top of the closet, above the blue shelf, for back issues of my three favorite magazines.


So there you go! The tour of my craft closet is complete! Tell me, would you slap the doors back up on this closet to hide this beautiful mess? Striped drop-cloth curtains? 


What about you? How do you have your craft supplies organized? Do you have a room? A closet? A box in a cupboard? Strewn all over the place? 




Linked up to: It's Overflowing
 Weekend Bloggy Reading

6 comments:

  1. GREAT ideas, Ellie! It looks amazing and organized. That is what I am working on in our basement right now...well, soon anyway!;>) I love how you have everything right at fingertip. xo Diana

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  2. I love looking at your organization! Beautiful. And no, I'd not use anything at all to cover the shelves. I like having the items exposed. Here, however, I have doors on a couple wardrobe-type cupboards which house my office supplies, cheesemaking supplies, and soapmaking supplies. We have dogs who shed and we burn wood in the winter (which means lots of dust).

    And isn't it amazing that our Savior gives us beauty for ashes and still we strive to make idols.

    Enjoyed your blog! Thanks for stopping in at Cranberry Morning. I hope you'll come again. ♥

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  3. I found it funny to find this. I literally just told my husband that I am happy with our house. I just want, not need, a craft room! :) I don't know if I have a workable closet for crafts except for in the garage. I've been thinking about it.... Yours is lovely and hopefully very functional.a

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  4. Total AWESOMENESS!!! Love your circuit and spice holder and clipboard...and EVERYTHING! What a great use of space!!! Thanks for sharing at Overflowing with Creativity! Here's a link in case you want to register for my giveaway!

    Ramsign Giveaway: Porcelain Enamel Sign {up to $99 value}

    XO, Aimee

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  5. I found your blog from Beneath My Heart. I love your craft space and I hope to have one much like it one day! I would have doors for mine, or maybe curtains. Your blog is great! Thank you for sharing!

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  6. Wow! Beautiful and organized! I so love your space and now am thinking about organizing mine :)

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