We moved to a new house two years ago and I love it! Out of the entire house, guess which room my favorite? Ok, trick question…it’s not even really a room. It’s the closet in our office! It’s a large walk-in closet with two doors and a window. I use one side for storage of big things like suitcases, our baby pack-n-play, etc. The other side is my own little niche….my craft closet. Most of the crafts I do are just small paper type crafts (handmade cards, invitations, etc.) so I don’t need a lot of room or fancy supplies.
Most people laugh at me and ask why I don’t just use the entire office as my craft room. Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I love to be organized so it’s crucial to my sanity that I don’t leave projects-in-process just laying around where I can see all of the clutter. So, turning the closet into my craft closet was ideal since I need a place to store supplies anyway! Plus, I set up my kids' craft/coloring table right outside the closet door and they love working on their crafts while Mommy does. But, the space is clearly divided so they don't get in my way or use my stuff.
If the closet is messy, I can simply shut the door and no one sees it, even if they go into our office to work on the computer. I use my Lifetime 4’x2’ folding table as my craft table and it’s awesome because it fits perfectly under the window in the closet! While I’m working on projects, I can glance outside to watch our street scene, and I can take advantage of the natural lighting.
The Lifetime 4’x’2 folding table is the perfect size for my cutting mat. I also have a set of little plastic drawers on the table to keep scissors, hole punches etc. Since I’m a bit of an organizational freak, it’s important that I have everything within arm’s reach when I’m working on a project. So, I’ve actually created a little U-shaped work space. I have some old bookshelves right beside the table with all my paper supplies and additional paper cutters. Behind the table, I have clear plastic drawers with all of my gift wrapping supplies…tissue paper, ribbon, wrapping paper, scissors etc. Sure it's a bit cozy, but I love it.
The nice thing about keeping things stored on shelves beside and behind my craft table is that if I need to use my Lifetime table for birthday parties, garage sales, etc., I can quickly fold it back up and take it out of the craft closet without having to move around a lot of stuff. Ideally, I would love to install built-in shelving in this closet to really make it more "craft" friendly, but since we will be moving in a few years, I want to keep it usuable as a clothes closet to help with resale purposes. If you want some more ideas on how to set up a craft space, check out Basic Setup with Angie in Lifetime's Tips & Solutions articles.
I just finished making my daughter's Minnie Mouse birthday invitations for her birthday party...I can't believe she's going to be 2 already! Sniff, sniff. To give you a better idea of what I'm talking about when I say I just shut the door, just look at my before and after pictures of my craft area after making the invitations. Oops, my secret's out. Time to go clean up!