How to Organize a Craft Room + FREE Checklist

Use this ultimate guide for craft room organization and to declutter the unnecessary once and for all. 

Get craft room storage ideas, get rid of the unnecessary, and create a space you love and that inspires the best of your creativity!

I don’t know how it happened.  Well, I do, but it was sneaky. 

I’ve always been a crafty person, and I enjoy making things.  As I was growing into adulthood, I experimented with a ton of different types of crafts. 

I went through a scrapbooking phase, a sew everything phase, a knitting phase, etc.  It seemed anytime something was on sale at Joanne’s or Michael’s, I was game to try it!

I had enough fabric and patterns to keep me busy with projects for years.  I had enough scrapbooking supplies to make at least five full albums.  I had a ton of yarn, and not one finished knitting project. 

I was the ultimate “starter” of crafts and never was I a “finisher” of projects. 

I think I more liked the idea of finishing my craft projects than the actual process of doing some of the crafts.  Nothing says failure and guilt like bins and bins of unfinished works of art. 

Craft room organization, step-by-step:

Step 1:

Determine your craft room categories

Before you get started organizing a craft room, no matter the severity of the mess, separate all of your craft supplies by category. 

By doing this, you will have a better idea of the sheer number of crafts you have purchased over the years.  You may even discover supplies you forgot you owned before your craft room organization challenge.

Don’t worry about organizing your craft supplies at this point! You are merely separating your stuff and preparing yourself to go through it all. 

Yes, the mess will be worse before it gets better.  We call this the “messy middle!”

Step 2:

Decide on your passion activities

The next important step of an organized craft room is to decide on your passion activities.  What crafting activities do you LOVE?

Be honest here.  Don’t pick the activities you think you SHOULD love.  What activities bring you the most joy when doing them?

I wanted to love knitting.  Problem was, I didn’t want to learn how to fix my mistakes. 

I love those pretty chunky yarn blankets floating around on Pinterest.  I want to make one so bad. 

However, when I actually start to knit, I’m bored and aggravated.  I had to finally admit to myself this was NOT my passion activity.

The same went for scrapbooking.  I really, really wanted to love scrapbooking.  I wanted to create albums and memories for my children to inherit when I am no longer around. 

Then, I discovered digital scrapbooking through resources like Shutterfly, and I realized I never wanted to go back to paper scrapbooking again. 

It was a hard pill to swallow, especially with all the supplies I had gathered over the years.

Stop holding on to the end goal of finishing crafts you never really enjoyed making, which is why they sat in your room for years, untouched. 

If you enjoyed them, even if time was scarce, chances are you would have found time to do them.  It’s ok to admit you no longer like them. 

Step 3:

Give away craft supplies you no longer enjoy

When you are working on an organized craft room, you will be left with a lot of craft supplies you no longer plan to use.  With that, comes guilt.  Guilt is a powerful emotion. 

You could have guilt over money spent, time wasted or gifts given to you, to name a few. 

Now is the time to let that guilt go and move on.  In fact, when you get rid of the supplies, let the guilt go with them!

An easy way to move on is to give your treasured items to others who would greatly appreciate them.  You can donate your old craft supplies to a number of organizations. 

Here are some of my favorite ideas for donating or giving away craft supplies when working on organizing a craft room:

• A local Girl Scout troop
• A local MOPS group
• A church
• A nursing home
• A school
• A family member or friend

Related post: Why is decluttering so hard? How to overcome the emotions.

Step 4:

Put all like craft supplies together

Now that you have given away all your supplies for crafts you no longer enjoy, you are left with the supplies for your passion activities.

We still are not at the organization phase for organizing a craft room.  Before you start putting supplies in containers, go through each craft category and put like supplies together. 

Again, you do not have to be orderly at this point.  Make your piles and get everything together. 

Step 5:

Purge your passion activities

Now that you have all your craft supplies separated and grouped together, you can better understand how much you have of everything.  Sometimes, this exercise can be quite eye-opening!

Be honest with yourself and get rid of the items you know you will no longer use.  If you bought a fabric that was super on sale and you hate it, put it in the donation pile. 

Don’t tell yourself you will find a use for it one day.  You haven’t yet, so chances are you never will.  That’s ok.  Give someone else the chance to enjoy it.

Step 6:

Purge other items remaining in your craft room

After you declutter your craft room activities, you will still be left with random, more generic items around the room.  Consider getting rid of the following items, if you haven’t already:

• Craft magazines
• Multiples of tools
• Tools you no longer use
• Lost interest craft supplies
• Dried up glue
• Dried up or nearly empty paint
• Wrinkled scrapbook paper
• Outdated patterns
• Scraps you never realistically plan on using
• Broken items
• Unopened craft supplies over one year old
• Unfinished projects you never plan on completing
• Never started projects (It is ok to let go of the guilt. It is a sunk cost at this point.  Lessons learned. Move on.)

Step 7:

Organize your craft room with designated spaces

Now that you have decluttered your craft room, it is time to create some order.  This is the fun part!

Think about your craft room space. Is it a shared space? It could be an office and craft room. It could be a gym, guest room, home office, and storage room.

Knowing what your craft room space looks like, pick designated spaces for your craft activities. Give yourself room to work and room for craft supplies.

Everything needs a designated space! Otherwise, it will look really nice right now and become a giant mess in less than a month.

Think about your wall space. Can you expand your storage space by going up the wall with a bookshelf? Can you install a shelf over your workspace to expand your storage?

Check out this wall grid organizing system by Design Eat Repeat. I LOVE how she grouped like items and went on to the wall to give her more organizing space.

Do you have a closet you can use? Are there items in the closet you can move elsewhere to make room for your remaining craft supplies?

Step 8:

Determine your storage solutions

Remember this: How you organize your craft room doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive.

If you don’t have the money to buy fancy containers and organizing bins, don’t let this project stop you. 

You can use plastic food storage bags, cheap plastic food storage containers, baby food jars, old pickle jars, empty shoe boxes, etc.  The possibilities are endless. 

Use that creative mind of yours to store your supplies. 

The key to successfully organizing your newly decluttered craft room is to give everything a designated space. 

Everything MUST have a designated space.  Use labels if you want.  You can even make them from leftover, scrap supplies!

Here are some of my favorite craft room storage ideas:

Install a craft room pegboard

Use a pegboard to hold all your knick-knacks and supplies you use on a regular basis. The items will be visible and easily reached. You can check out a craft room pegboard tutorial from Jennifer Maker.

Get a hobby desk for ultimate craft room working space

Use a craft desk with storage compartments. You can use any table or desk, but the extra storage compartments on a hobby desk make keeping things neat and orderly a lot easier!

Check out these craft room organizational bins

Check out a rolling utility cart for your craft room storage solution. It can hold your most used items and be portable, depending on the craft you are working on that day.

If you like to scrapbook, the containers with multiple sliding drawers that fit 12×12 scrapbook paper works wonders for craft room organization.

Step 9:

Finish projects before buying new supplies

Now that you have decluttered and reached craft room organization bliss, make a new rule.  No more buying new supplies until you finish all the other projects you have started!

When I implemented this rule, I was amazed at the progress I made on my passion projects.  I finally had the time and space to work on the activities I truly loved, and I was finally free from the guilt of activities I no longer enjoyed. 

Good luck as you declutter and organize your craft room! I’m cheering for you!