1. First, determine the best location in your home to do your crafting. Make sure to consider a space that has good light, places for storing your craft supplies, and a space where you can spread out and work on your projects. Craft projects will rarely get done if the supplies aren’t in the area where you are doing your craft. If a person has to set up everything each time they want to do a craft, they will likely not get to the craft as much as they would like to.
2. Try to streamline what type of craft projects you want to do. I have found that people who are “crafty” enjoy many different types of crafts. There seem to get into one craft then that leads to something else. If you can pick one to three crafts the easier it will be to set up you craft space.
3. Decide how much money you want to spend to create your craft space.
4. Think about whether this craft may be a passing interest or a craft you will likely do for years to come. This consideration will also help you determine your level of investment.
5. Do you want to choose temporary shelving units and built-in custom cabinets or find more temporary organizing solutions? If you are considering a move in the near future, you may want to look for less permanent storage solutions.
6. Choose organizers for your craft projects. Some of my favorites are clear plastic bins because you can label the contents. When you need to retrieve an item quick, you can get what you want quickly. Pick storage bins that are similar in size so they can stack easily to maximize space. I love using rolling carts with drawers. You can move them around your craft space and sort the craft items into categories easily and label by category. Mason jars in various sizes are a great organizing tool. They can be used to store buttons, colored pens and pencils or other small craft items. Again, I like that they are see- through. Visibility is a huge consideration for choosing the right organizer for craft items.
7. Make sure to have a recycling bin and garbage can in your craft area.
8. Create an inviting space that inspires you. A colorful wall paint color might be a fun touch to your space. Add a bulletin board on your wall of craft ideas that you may want to tackle or add quotes or sayings that encourage you. Check out websites such as Pinterest if you need some extra inspiration.
Here’s Julie’s bio:
Julie Hook resides in Salem, Oregon, with her husband, three children and two step children. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Rhetoric Speech and Communications from the University of Oregon in 1989.
For six years, she worked as a sales representative for a food broker, where she learned space management techniques in the grocery industry. In 1996, Julie decided to become a stay-at-home mom and began exploring her interest in organizing homes. In 2003, she formed Five Starr Organizing, and began writing a weekly column on organizing for a northwest newspaper.
Julie enjoys speaking to various groups about the importance of organizing and is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). She is a regular guest on Portland, Oregon’s morning show AMNW. She has written over 250 columns on organizing and published her first book, “From Frazzled to Freedom” in June of 2012.
Read more at The Joyful Organizer