Hobbies can result in a tsunami of art and craft supplies. Whether you work on your favorite hobbies in your bedroom or have a dedicated art studio for the purpose; it pays to organize all the supplies you need. Not only will this be great for your sanity; you will even prevent spills and mishaps. Home art room organization can help you find things quickly and prevent your pets or kids from getting injured with sharp items. So let us study some craft storage ideas for various budgets.
1. Store art materials with an aim to preserve them
The best way to store your craft supplies like clay, paints, play dough, and brushes are in a manner that helps them last longer. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for storage of these items. Make sure you follow health and safety instructions given on them. Sometimes, these instructions may mention temperature, position, and preferred ways of storage. Make sure you understand these instructions. When in doubt, ask. You can even call the customer care numbers on the products if needed. Correct storage can increase the shelf life of these items.
2. Transfer supplies to air-tight containers
The best way to store craft supplies like playdough or clay, paints, and glue is to transfer them to air-tight containers. This helps prevent them from drying up. Paint, glue, pens, and all other supplies with moisture need this kind of storage. Always put the tops on these jars and pens tightly screwed before placing them in the air-tight containers. Seal the containers and place them in a clean place away from direct heat.
3. Group like items together
Grouping together like-items such as scrapbooking materials, drawing books and pens/crayons/pencils, play dough, crochet and knitting materials, will help you find all of the things in one place. This is the universal law of storage and it works very well when you have a huge lot of art and craft supplies.
4. Use baby food jars
Empty baby food containers are great to store buttons, hooks, beads, stones, jewelry-making supplies, and other small art and craft supplies. Simply wash the jars and dry them before storing your art and craft items. You can place labels on the jars and keep all labeled bottles in a large box. This will help you find everything quickly and without frustration. This is a great storage idea on a budget.
5. Use empty thermometer cases
Empty thermometer cases are great for storing brushes, pens, and knitting/crochet needles. And don’t forget to keep a small magnet handy as this will help you pick up small pins and needles that you accidentally drop on the floor while working.
6. Sort by color or size
Some items like buttons, beads, pearls, jewelry-making items, paints, crayons, and color pencils are best sorted by colors though you can also use their size as guidelines for sorting purpose. Extra small items can easily fit into plastic pill boxes or pill containers. You can also use zip-top plastic bags for storing beads and buttons by colors.
7. Art supply storage cabinets
Check out the art supply storage cabinets available online and offline. You can opt for clear plastic cabinets or open-topped cabinets that allow you to easily see what goes where. If you use trunk-style storage cabinets, then store paper or fabrics on the bottom and keep patterns or needles on the top tray, if one is available. Keep scrapbooking paper neat and accessible in stacked in-and-out storage boxes. You can also use wire-display racks available in art supply boxes. Hardware stores also have tackle boxes, tower, taborets and totes for organizing art and craft supplies.
8. Use files
Files are great for holding patterns. You can also keep finished or unfinished sketches in them and they are also great for holding envelopes which contain future patterns or fabrics that you intend to use the next time.
9. Bulletin/pegboards
If you are working on multiple projects at the same time, pin your to-do lists along with your sheets, patterns, fabrics, and other stuff on the soft boards or pegboards. Apply the same principle to artwork or handiwork. If sewing or knitting is your hobby, you can create a design wall to pin up patterns rather than laying it all out on the worktable. You can also make your own peg boards by wrapping up foam in a soft muslin cloth, flannel or felt.
10. Invest in electric labelers
Electric labeler is a great investment for those who have a hobby which is also a source of income. You can use electric labelers to convert plastic shoe boxes, sweater boxes, and three-ring binders into efficient storage for craft miscellany.
11. Visit flea markets and yard sales
You can use your creativity to refurbish old stuff you find in garage sales or at flea markets to create attractive storage cabinets for organizing your art stuff. This is a great way to store and organize things when you are on a budget.
12. Avoid ordinary cardboard boxes for precious stuff
Never store your photos in cardboard boxes as they can get easily damaged or moldy. Use archival-quality, acid-free boxes for the precious stuff.
13. Make sure things are easily accessible
It is frustrating for an artist to search for stuff while working. The best way to avoid this is to ‘walk through’ the motions of each process so you can place all most-frequently-used items where your hand rests comfortably. You can also install narrow 2×2 inches of shelves mounted on an easily accessible spot on the wall near your worktable and keep small containers handy. Position your worktable in the center of the room rather than against the wall so you can approach larger projects from all sides.
14. Make some major renovations
If you have the budget, you could consider removing doors and shelves from existing cabinets. This will allow you to store a large number of transparent, labeled shoeboxes with different art and craft supplies as shown in this video. If you don’t want to remove the door, you can use it to hang gift bags and wrapping paper rolls. Use over-the-door hooks to hang transparent hanging bags on the door.
