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Step 1
Group like items together: all your fabrics, your collection of paintbrushes, your piles of scrapbooking paper. This universal law of storage organization is particularly applicable in the crafts room; once you see the extent of each storage challenge, you can devise a plan to meet it.
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Step 2
Explore supply stores. Art supply, office equipment, stationery and hardware stores offer a variety of tackle boxes, towers, taborets and totes useful for organizing craft supplies. Keep scrapbooking paper neat and accessible in stacked in-and-out boxes or in the wire display racks used in stationery stores.
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Step 3
Invest in an electric labeler. Using it faithfully will convert plastic shoe boxes, sweater boxes and even three-ring binders into efficient storage for craft miscellany. See 57 Live Better Through Labeling.
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Step 4
Panel a wall with Peg-Board and take advantage of all the specialty hooks and brackets available. If sewing is your craft of choice, create a design wall to pin up pattern pieces rather than laying them out on a worktable. Foam core wrapped in flannel, felt or muslin works well. See 63 Create a Sewing Center.
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Step 5
Refurbish a flea-market find. Create stylish storage space by using an old card catalog from a library, an oak file cabinet or a Hoosier cabinet (a vintage kitchen piece replete with drawers and bins) to hold craft supplies. An architect's flat files will hold a plethora of patterns or miles of N-gauge track.
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Step 6
Convert a computer station or armoire to a mini craft center. The pull-out central shelf designed to hold a keyboard makes a perfect place to keep frequently used tools. Add a clip-on light to a shelf.
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Step 7
Remove a closet door to create a space to park rolling carts holding supplies. Fill the top half of the closet with plastic-coated wire shelving to store boxes of materials and supplies.
