Dirty Little Secret Friday {Craft Closet Organization}

Posted by Katie on January 3, 2014 in DIY and Crafts, Organization | 119 comments

It’s the start of day three of 2014, and I’m still on track with my New Years Resolutions (hooray!!). So … sticking with my resolution number #8 … to organize one area each week, I’m kicking off our inaugural ‘dirty little secret Friday’. Seriously … I have at least 52 areas in need of organization in this house, so I plan on keeping this resolution and sharing my progress each week.

On Wednesday, I shared a preview picture of our craft closet ‘before’, and I’m still embarrassed about it. The only reason I’m showing it again, is the fact that I’m about to show you the afters (and I’m actually proud of those shots).

Let me give you a little background on this closet before we begin. It’s located right in our office (which is smack dab in the center of our house). It’s tiny, but tall. And it currently holds A LOT including: fabric, fabric, and more fabric (I have an etsy shop which keeps me busy sewing), sewing supplies, lots of ribbon, all my craft supplies that don’t fit in my desk (cutting punches, glue, paint, paint brushes, sparkles, stamps, my cricut, cutting mats, embroidery hoops, spray paint, glue, etc), in-process projects (random frames, jars … basically a random mix), boxes of ‘scrapbook’ stuff for us and the boys (wishful thinking that I’ll get around to actually making a scrapbook), shelf paper, wrapping paper, tissue paper, and plenty of other random stuff. Luckily, this closet does have a door (that barely shut before). When someone is on their way over, I shove all my projects and supplies crap in there and quickly slide the door closed (and hope my kiddos don’t decide to open it while our guest are over).

So, with that brief intro, let’s get it over with. Here are the before shots (sorry for the bad pictures … there is no good light in this room, and the closet is tiny and hard to get into with a camera) ….

As you open the closet door … watch out!!!

And a shot of the left side:

Left side of closet BEFORE

and the right side:

Right side BEFORE

And the very top shelf (that I can’t reach without a chair … or jumping, if I’m accurate):

Top Shelf BEFORE … waaay up there!

And the floor (to my defense … this got considerable worse during the holiday season):

Closet floor before … yikes!

Are you still with me?? That was rough … I know. My frustration with this area has been growing and finally reached a tipping point!! Without further delay, let me show you the AFTER (and then I’ll fill you in on some of the details):

As you open the door … ahhh {huge sigh here … did you hear it?}

Is that the floor I see??? I didn’t know it existed before.

Pick a fabric, any fabric (and I can actually get it for you!)

I can see my fabric AND easily access it (and easily put it back).

And the lower right side AFTER. MORE FABRIC STORAGE!!

Moving on up …

Matching boxes for my supplies

And no, I didn’t forget the top shelf:

Top shelf organized with shelf dividers

and for those scrapbook collections:

For our future scrapbooks (ha!)

So … did I redeem myself? 150 times better? It makes me happy every time I slide open the {newly painted} door.

Here is just a bit about the dirty details and process (and cost) for this project:

SUPPLIES:

• Closetmaid 8 Tier Pantry Door Rack from Lowe’s (which I happened to have on hand from a failed pantry organization project earlier last year). ~$43 if you had to purchase.
• Adjustable closet rods for hanging fabric from Lowe’s. I bought 5 at $7.97 a piece (~$40 total).
• 8 packs of ‘slacks’ hangers from Amazon (also, does anyone still call them slacks besides my grandma?) $10 each ($80 total).
• Paint. We just used left over paint from our kitchen project. Valspar Signature Paint color matched to Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White. It took about a half a gallon for this closet and door. (~$28 if you had to purchase).
• Photo storage boxes from Michaels. On sale 5 for $10.
• Shelf dividers that we already had on hand, but would be about $6 for two.
• White shelf paper that we had on hand.

OUR TOTAL COST = $130. If you had to purchase ALL supplies (i.e. none on hand), it would be ~$207.

PROCESS

1. Empty closet … yikes
2. Paint all wood paneling WHITE (seriously, I wish everything in our house could just turn white … with a few exceptions).
3. Install and assemble Closetmaid Organizer to back wall
   

   Closetmaid Organizer

4. Install closet rods (these type screw into each side wall … as opposed to the tension kind)
   

   Install closet rods

5. Cover ‘wood’ laminate shelves with adhesive white shelf paper (because the more white, the better … especially in this tiny dark closet)
6. Sort through craft supplies, and organize into bins
   

   Craft supplies

7. Install Shelf dividers on top shelf to help compartmentalize random frames, cutting mats, trays, etc.
   

   Top shelf organized with shelf dividers

8. Collect four matching bins and label for scrapbooking items
9. Hang fabric on ‘slacks’ hangers
   

   Hangers

   

   If I was more OCD (which I’m far from), I would have spent more time folding the fabric so they hung down exactly evenly.

10. Fill Closetmaid rack with ribbon, wrapping paper, shelf paper, craft paints, glue, etc.

Closetmaid Pantry Organizer turned Craft Organizer

That’s it! Oh, and the door update is all part of the larger, office re-do project that I’ll hopefully finish one of these days and share. It involves more white, a little grey, and more ORGANIZATION!!!

Can we compare before and afters again (for my sake)?

And a shot of the left side before and after:

Now, I can see what I’ve got …

You have no idea how much happier I am now when opening this closet. It’s sure to inspire great crafting in 2014 (just right after I finish the rest of this office makeover). Now I can easily see which fabric I have, and what needs to be reordered. Best of all, I can actually put my fabric back easily when finished. In the before, I had to try to shove it back into those crates (therefore, a lot of times it didn’t make it back to it’s place). The white walls and shelves make this tiny closet with hardly any light, seem bright and finished.

So far, a good start to resolution #8 (okay, I had a little head start on this one back in 2013, but I’m still counting it).

I’d love to hear your thoughts, see any of your craft room/craft closet/fabric organization projects. Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here next week!

Linking up here, here, and here!