Next up in my home organization series is one of my favorite spaces – my craft closet! When we moved into this house, I made a vow to myself to keep it extremely organized. Aside from the obvious reasons why I’d want to do that (sanity, pride, etc.), I also wanted to take advantage of the moving process and just clean everything out, my craft closet included. Craft closets are one of those spaces that can easily get out of control quickly, so I put a system in place that not only created organization but helps maintain it, which is the trick.

Before I dive into the actual process of setting up your craft storage and organization and my tips for best practices, I want to quickly talk about finding a space in your home to make it all happen. Ideally, I’d love a whole custom closet for all my crafts, but there wasn’t a suitable option in our house, so I got creative and instead found this amazing freestanding storage closet on Amazon (I ordered two). If you don’t have an area in your house that has “craft storage closet” written all of it, I challenge you to not think so literally about your space. Make the space you have work for you, not the other way around.

Anyway, I could talk about the storage closet all day because it has been so perfect for this project. But I just wanted to let you know you can still have a designated, organized space for your crafts even if you don’t have a room or actual closet in your home. Really all you need is a blank wall to put your storage closet and you’re ready to dive in.

OK, now for my tips for setting everything up!

Clear Out Your Crafts From All the Other Areas of the House

In my craft closet, I also keep my entertaining/party supplies. And if you’ve been around this blog for any amount of time, you know I have tons of party stuff because I love, love, love to throw a good birthday party or celebration. This means I have a lot of balloons, candles, vases, linen napkins, etc. I found nooks and crannies to squeeze these items into in our kitchen, but when I set up my new closet, I cleaned all of that stuff out. Basically, any craft or party item that was currently being stored somewhere else, I found a spot for it in my new closet. So the tip here is, don’t only keep some craft/party supplies in this closet, you want it ALL to be in this one organized space.

Group Supplies Into Categories

I have a variety of stuff in my closet, so I knew I needed some way to separate it all. I decided to break everything into categories, not only for easy storing but for easy access. You can see in my photos I kind of use the little cubbies created by the shelves of the storage unit (which you can adjust to your liking by the way) to create space for each category. And then each subcategory is broken down into individual storage bins.

For example, because I’m a crazy balloon lady, I have shelf space dedicated to my balloons and then as subcategories, I broke down my balloons by color. Each color has its own box. This is what worked for me and how my brain operates. You can do something similar, but I really just recommend setting it all up in a way that makes sense to you.

Use This Process to Purge

Be particular about what items you choose to store. Don’t just start shoving a bunch of shit everywhere, that defeats the whole purpose of this project. Gather everything you have from around your house and Marie Kondo the hell out of it. Only keep/store the things you know you’ll use later on.

 

 

Donate What You Don’t Want

All the stuff you decided you weren’t going to use – donate it! Trust me, there are plenty of people out there who will appreciate it as much as you. I recommend finding a local elementary school. You don’t have to have a child enrolled there to donate either. You can literally walk in with a box full of paper, glue, streamers, etc. and donate. Schools always love free supplies!

Maintain It!

Now that you’ve done all this amazing work to clean out and organize your craft supplies, you want to maintain it! Don’t let all your beautifully labeled bins and hours of effort go to waste. The biggest key to keeping your closet looking nice is once you’re done using something, put it back! It’s so simple, but so freaking hard at the same time. Eventually doing this will become a habit and then having a craft day with your kids won’t feel like this big thing you have to orchestrate. It’s honestly been very liberating for me because now Zelda is learning this habit too and is able to get creative independently because she knows where everything is.

This might feel like a big project at first, but I guarantee you won’t regret spending time organizing and making these changes. Do it, mama, you’re going to love it! And as always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Photo credit: Hallie Duesenberg