Organizing Craft Room Ideas for Small Spaces

I want to share some of my craft supplies storage and organization ideas from my craft room makeover.

Living in a big city, real estate comes at a premium. I have no dedicated craft room. I can barely say I have a craft corner. I mostly have some shared air space much like the shared common areas of our condo complex.

I craft in our bedroom next to our bed mostly because it is the room that the kids are least likely to tear up and I have like a 5’x5′ of space where I can spread things out when I need to.

I store my supplies in the corner of a closet that is also where the crib is. That’s city living for you.

I see all these fancy craft rooms that are bigger than my bedrooms with elaborate closets with sliding drawers and rotating shelves that would be nice but I can neither afford it nor the space it would occupy.

So this recent craft room (ahem, craft shared air space) makeover was really constrained by not only a budget but space.

Before and After of Craft Room Makeover

Well, there wasn’t much in the department of organization before. I had taken over the Ikea changing table as my main shelving solution which actually worked out quite well. I would have continued to use this except I now need the changing table.

Everything else was just mini piles all around the floor. I swear I had a system in place even though it doesn’t look like it. I knew where everything was, I just had a hard time finding some footing to get there.

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How to organize craft room

The main thing is identifying the top craft types and materials you use and then anchoring your organization strategy around that.

You will also need some sort of main storage structure to make use of vertical space.

Storage units for craft rooms

My top recommendation is actually pantry shelves. I know this isn’t fancy but it is super affordable and has the most flexibility. This is the one I have from Amazon. Depending on your height and ceiling height, there are multiple shelf count options not to mention you can adjust the spacing in between.

I am 5’5″ and opted for the 4 shelf option and it works perfectly optimized for every level.

Or you could pay about 40x the amount and get this super fancy cabinet from DreamBox that my husband will probably never get around to putting together:

I think I’d rather spend that money on supplies.

Paper storage ideas

I do A LOT of paper crafts and I’m a bit of a paper hoarder. Even if I have an entire ream of a certain color, I just have to buy it if I see it on sale.

My problem with most of those paper storage ideas was they were either not an efficient use of space or I wouldn’t be able to find the paper I needed easily.

So how did I find the perfect balance?

Filing bins. That’s right, the office staple.

The great thing with filing bins is the letter-sized bin is great for letter-sized sheets but turn it the other way and you get legal-sized storage with is great for those extra-long and odd-shaped pieces.

But what about my 12″x12″ sheets?

I bought these vertical storage folders because they were most space-efficient:

If you are less space-constrained or have less paper to organize, I like the school construction paper solutions which to me are the most cost-effective:

These make for great scrapbook room organization as well.

Vinyl Storage Ideas

The great thing about my paper storage solution is it also stores my vinyl sheets.

I personally don’t like buying the rolled because it bubbles when I flatten it out to use with my cutting machine and I find it annoying to work with.

If you have a lot of rolls to store, please love that plastic bag dispenser that you mount on the wall or some structure.

How to organize craft supplies scrapes and other random things

Regardless if you only do paper or vinyl crafts, you’re bound to have just a bunch of random things. I have all my painting stuff, markers, transfer tape, felt, etc.

I wanted to find a flexible storage bin system that was easily accessible but still optimized for compartmentalizing.

Once again Amazon came to the rescue. I love these new stackable open bins that I got:

I stack the smaller ones and just put the bigger ones on the bottom shelf as a catch-all.

Cricut workstation ideas

A good majority of my craft projects involve the Cricut cutting machine so I needed a working space that could not only house my Cricut machine but provide a little storage for the high-frequency supplies and some working space.

Cricut Organizer Cart

I researched quite a few cards and ended up with the Essex Cart by Recollections.

I chose this cart above all others because it provided 2 shelf levels and some drawers for storage. I need not only a space to put the Cricut machine but also a surface to work on. Plus this one has an extendable part for extra space.

The only small drawback with this cart is the draws can fall out easily with heavier items.

If I was to purchase another one, I’d go with this kitchen storage cart which is a bit more sturdy:

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