10 Ways to Organize Your Craft Room or Work Space

I work from home and practically LIVE in my craft room. It was important to me to make my work space functional and organized, but pretty, too!  I wanted the room to reflect not just who I am, but to also reflect what I do with my company, Pretti Mini. I'm so happy with the way it turned out! Today I'll share some of the details and a few tips to help you design YOUR special space.

#1. ORGANIZE. Write down the items you really need to organize the most and come up with a plan. Is there something you can lose in order to make room for something you really need? For example, I stock a LOT of tulle so finding room for all of it was my biggest issue. I used to store my fabric where the tulle is now, but then I realized I really didn't need it all. I let some go, then I left only the colors and prints I use often on display and stored the rest. I put them in clear bins so I can easily find them later, but put the bins out of site in a closet. Now I opened up more room in my cube storage space to display only the items I needed to access every day. I picked up the cube storage shelves at Target. (There are 2 of them - one stacked on top of the other). I chose not to use a lot of baskets so I could view my stock instantly, but there are so many color options you could go with. Thirty-One has some really great colors and prints! Going to be picking up a couple of those in the near future to replace my beige ones. (Pink, of course!)

#2. GO FOR INSTANT GRATIFICATION. Make or buy one special piece. Hang it up or add to the room. Now decorate just that corner. Seeing your vision immediately in front of you goes a long way to inspiring you to do the not-so-fun tasks of filing, storing, purging, etc.  For me, it was the "Create" sign (from a Deborah Mori calendar) and that pink chair fabric that got my creative juices flowing.

#3. DON'T BE AFRAID OF COLOR. Splash your favorite color on the walls (or just on one wall) to brighten up your space.  Or go the other way and stay neutral, but add in color with bright chairs, art, or accessories.

#4. DISPLAY YOUR ACCESSORIES. Put them out where you can see them. I had boxes and bins of flowers, bows, fabric swatches, and beads tucked away. With them out of site it was easy to forget what I had and it seemed like I never found what I was looking when I needed it! Having them all pinned on my dress form was a great way to pretty up the space, while finding a storage solution for it all. I was able to get rid of a bunch of boxes and clutter and I just love the way it looks.

#5. HANG IT - Walls, ceilings, etc.  My craft room is on the 3rd floor of our 300 year old farm house. While we absolutely love it, there are always storage challenges in an old house. Uneven walls, floors, and odd shaped ceilings are part of the deal. Sometimes, you gotta think up, under, on the door, or even on the wall in plain site. I found these unique frames from Pier One to display and hold my lace trim. Now I don't never have to search for it and it does double duty as a interesting wall decoration. I am a big fan of anything that pulls double duty!  (Same goes for the items in my shop!)

To store the many strips of fabric I had laying around, I used  (2) No-damage Adhesive hooks, (1) piece of string, and a bunch of clothes pins (to be painted pink at another date!) This is such an easy solution for so many things. I hung all those strips on the inside of the closet door and added another row underneath of it for the long strips. Now it is out of my way, but stored in a place that I can easily access it and find the color(s) I need. Yay! Mission accomplished!

Organized closet!

#6. DISPLAY YOUR WORK.

There is an ever changing landscape in my room, depending on what I am working on. But displaying my items - even temporarily - gives me pride in my work and reminds me what I love about my job: making pretty things for people to enjoy.

New Wedding Poms for my upcoming collection

Valentines Hanging Topiary

#7. PERSONALIZE IT.

Add in personal items you love like books, mementos, and family photos. My shelf displays my daughter,  husband  and my Gram, along with special things like the hat ladies passed on from my husbands' Grandmother.

#8. A SPACE FOR THE KIDS. This is an important one for me. I work long hours and wanted a place where my daughter could come up and be creative with me. She loves to draw and color so I keep baskets of paper, doodle books, markers and craft supplies ready for her. It's become a special after school time for us. She does her homework then we work on our crafts together and listen to her favorite hits on the radio. Sometimes we take a break to dance to the latest Taylor Swift song, then we get back to our crafting...then dance again.

(This pic is BEFORE I found a home for all of those bins!)

How it looks now. Much more space for the kiddo!

#9. THINK OUT OF THE BOX. After all, it's YOUR creative space, right? I love using old jars for storing pens and sticks, an antique tea cup to hold paper clips or pins, and those plastic over the door shoe holders for EVERYTHING. They are great for storing just about anything small - from fabric remnants, to tools, paintbrushes, or supplies. I have them tucked away in closets all over the house!

  I use a LOT of ribbon and have two work stations - one for me and one for my assistant. Using a paper towel holder to store ribbon gives me a something that holds a lot and can be easily moved.

This is what I like to call my "time management" center. Inside this fab organizer from Thirty-One, I keep my orders straight, my inspiration near, and an awesome printable calendar from TomKatStudio (that matches perfectly) keeps those deadlines in site. And let's talk about that clock ! One of my favorite pieces! I wasn't sure where to put it after I rearranged the room and my husband actually came up with idea to hang it right there on the organizer. LOVE it! Since I'm using a printable calendar this year, the space where a flip calendar usually goes was the perfect solution!

#10. INSPIRATION  

When I found this calendar last year, I knew it was going to be something I would keep. It's filled with beautiful illustrations and positive quotes. I framed and hung my favorites.

I was still searching for the perfect sign to complete my main wall, when I stumbled on to this at 

Joann Fabrics. Love!

And that beautiful painting on the left? That is my favorite piece of all. A painting my daughter made for me. I used to sing for a living so she said that is a portrait of me. LOVE.

Hope you got some inspiration from this post! Enjoy creating YOUR perfect space!

Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Feel free to add a link to your craft or sewing room and have a beautiful day!

Jen

 Shopping info:

Sewing Machine : Brother Project Runway 

Yellow inspiration board frames (turned lace holders): Pier One

Custom Toile Curtains: Calico Corners

Wooden Blue Table Tray and Dress Form: Home Goods

Storage Cubes: Target

Ribbon Organizers,Thread Spool Holder and Fabric:  Joanne Fabrics

Wall Organizer: Thirty-One

Green Wall Clock: Dot & Bo

Wall Color: Butter by Restoration Hardware

Printable Calendar for 2015:  TomKatStudio

Fabric wall banner and pom poms: My shop! Pretti Mini

Year of Hope & Inspiration Calendar by Deborah Mori on Amazon

                   

     

Craft Room Style (Work Space Make Over)

Been working on my craft room for MONTHS -bit by bit - in between a busy work schedule and time with my daughter, family and friends, activities, and so on. It's been a rather slow process, but a few slow days this month gave me the opportunity to finally finish it. Hooray! Now there is a place for everything and it's not just organized, but it's pretty, too! I love all the bursts of color and I just love going up there to work every morning! Excited to share!

I'll give you more details and storage solutions in the next post! Wishing you a beautiful day!

Shopping Info:

Sewing Machine : Brother Project Runway 

Yellow inspiration boards (turned lace holders): Pier One

Toile Curtains: Calico Corners

Wooden Blue Table Tray: Home Goods

Storage Cubes: Target

Ribbon Organizers & Thread Spool Holder:  Joanne Fabrics

Wall Organizer: Thirty-One

Green Wall Clock: Dot & Bo

Wall Color: Butter by Restoration Hardware

Modern Mixed With Vintage Mixed with Bright Color? Yes, Please!

When Chairish asked me to do a design board around one of their rugs, I jumped at the opportunity. Chairish makes it fun and easy for design lovers to buy and sell vintage furniture, decor, jewelry and accessories to one another. 

So the idea was to select a rug I like and build a board around it.  I chose the Modern Graphic Mustard & Grey rug. But I couldn't stop at just the rug! I filled the whole thing with items I found in their store!  I gotta tell you, I was like a kid in a candy store pouring over their website. So. Many. Finds. It's a designer's DREAM shop!

There is so much I love about this collection of goodies. The vintage B&W prints... 

The bold yellow pop of color...

The graphic prints of the rug, pillow, and throw... I could go on! Check out all the fabulous rugs Cherish carries at:   https://www.chairish.com/collection/rugs.

 Now, how to break it to the husband that I need to redesign one of our rooms?

Enjoy the inspiration and have a beautiful day!

Jen

All items shown above are from www.chairish.com

with the except of the sterling gray hanging pom from my shop - www.etsy.com/shop/prettimini

Safari Party Ideas!

1. Jungle leaves! Whether you buy them at a party store or make your own, you're gonna need some tropical foilage! 

2. Get some pith hats for your little adventurers! Use them as decoration until you give them out. (I get mine from Oriental Trading ).

3. Get tropical with your food. Bannanas, pineapples, tropical fruit salad, chicken on skewers, etc. 

4. Think neutral. Tan, brown, gold, orange, and green (or any combination of them) work great for this theme. 

5. Set the stage. Pull stuffed animals and books out that fit the theme. 

6. Sound. The Lion King & Madagascar soundtracks are great to have in the background or for dancing. For little ones, I like to set up a music station, too, where there are african instruments like bongos and shakers. 

7. Use what you have in your house. Do you have a mirror framed in teak wood or bamboo? A leopard throw or pillows? A quick look around the house made reveal a few decorations you didn't even know you had for this theme. I had a few decorations from Pier One and Bombay that worked perfectly! 

8. Pin the tail on the zebra or lion! Put a new twist on the donkey theme.

9. Consider doing a gourmet popcorn station instead of a sweets table. You can use buttered, carmel, and chocolate popcorns that are a bit healthier and match perfectly with the theme.

10. Don't forget the monkeys! They almost always have those hanging monkeys at the dollar store. You can find online, too, at Oriental Trading. Great for decorations and make a sweet take home. 

For more ideas and to see this party in full detail, you can go to this post.

Go wild and have fun!

Best Review EVER

I received the nicest review this morning from a customer and had to share:

Vintage Rose Mini Party Package

 

 

 

 

Absolutely beautiful! Not only was it the highlight of our party, each piece was lovely enough and durable enough to be moved to my daughter's bedroom to decorate it. I feel like I got double my investment! This will be my go to shop for my daughter's parties.

Thanks, Meg! You just made my morning! My goal is to make all of my products beautiful, durable, and able to pull double duty! I feel so lucky to share my work on Etsy and work with so many wonderful customers like you!