My Budget-Friendly Craft Room

I've been wanting to share my craft room on my blog, and thanks to Heart 2 Heart Challenges this week, I stopped procrastinating and am finally sharing!

I have been moving around a lot over the past couple of years, so my craft room isn't anything extraordinary. But I'm lucky enough to have my own room, and it works for me. So here's my example of how to create your own craft space on a budget, that isn't too fancy to move again soon!

Most of the items in my craft room I've collected over the years...from when I had some craft items stashed in a closet, to a craft corner, to a craft wall, to my own craft room! I've adapted them to work for me now, until I can design and create my dream room :)

Here's a look at my work space from the door. I bought this desk on Craigslist for $50 and painted it white. Unfortunately after 2 moves, it's gotten a little beat up, but it still functions (and I'm hoping for a new desk after our next move!).
Next is a close-up of my desk hutch...
I keep 12x12 items such as chipboard, felt, and other tall embellishment packages on the right, along with my large E-sized CTMH stamp sets. In the middle are my CTMH stamps, filed oh-so-compactly. Gotta love clear acrylic stamps! I found the black crates at the Dollar store. I like that they don't have a lid so I can flip through my stamps easily. To the left is where I keep my how-to scrapbooking and cardmaking books, Idea Books, and other inspirational books & magazines.

I love the magnet board that is hanging above my work surface. It's from Michael's, but sheet metal from a home improvement store would also work nicely (and would be cheaper). I bought the small "craft" jars in the bead section at Michael's and added small button magnets to the back (the magnets are super inexpensive at Wal-Mart, and some are self-adhesive). I hung my nestabilities on magnetic hooks that I also got at Wal-Mart in the DIY section.

The cubby on the right has some stacking organizers where I keep work stuff for when I have freelance projects. But one cubby is reserved for white and black 8.5" x 11" cardstock, since I use it so often.

Here's a look inside my desk drawers and on the slide-out keyboard tray...
I like that the bottom drawer is a file drawer...that's where I keep my 8.5" x 11" paper, sorted by color. I keep fancier paper, like vellum and shimmer paper toward the front.

The top drawer doesn't look too organized, but it is :) I actually LOVE organizing and have cleaned it many times, but it keeps going back to this messy look, because that's how I can find what I need.

The slide-out keyboard tray works perfectly to store some of my most-used items, but keep them off of the desk surface.

This is the left "L" part of my desk...
I like to keep my stamp pads stacked because it takes up less space than the CTMH spinning organizer, and I can see everything at once. (Plus I don't have the space for the organizer, and I don't have many markers so that part of the organizer would be wasted space).

I keep ribbon that is too short for the spool in that big clear tub (which used to have pretzels in it from Costco...gotta love free finds!). The green box is where I keep some non-CTMH embellishments that I like and don't want to forget about. I just started using this box idea, and am hoping it will help me use them more often.

This next photo is the little cubby in the bottom of the "L" part of my desk...
This is where I keep my CTMH paper. I keep the paper packs in the zip-top bags they come in, including scraps and cardstock. I know some people take out the cardstock, but I like to have all the coordinating paper together. If I ever need a certain color cardstock, I know which paper packs to go to and I can steal it out if I need to. All of my CTMH card stock that I've purchased separately from a paper pack is to the right.

On the top of this cubby I keep paper stacks that I've purchased at craft stores. On top of that I keep a basket with white and coloniel white paper scraps. I like to keep the white scraps handy since I use them so much to stamp on.

Here's the view if you pivot to the left from my desk...
My Cricut and Cuttlebug are set up on the drawer organizers I got at Costco. I keep a lot of miscellaneous stuff in the drawers, but I do have one of the long drawers devoted to patterned paper scraps (non-CTMH) and one drawer for cardstock scraps. I don't like throwing paper away, so if ever I need just a scrap I'll turn to these drawers. Or sometimes if I just want a challenge, I'll create some cards using only scraps.

I keep my laptop on that stool when I'm not using it at my desk. Or sometimes I'll set it to the side of my work surface and watch Netflix Watch Instantly or Hulu while I scrap. Next to that I have some standing 3-drawer organizers (these were my only craft organizers back in the day, when I had less scrap stuff and kept it in the closet). One has bead and jewelry supplies (I make jewelry sometimes, too), and one has some misc. craft supplies. I keep cards that I've made and am not displaying in one of the drawers. When I need to send out a card, I just go to my stash!

I just got that Canon all-in-one printer and LOVE it. I had a Canon before and liked it too. If you are in the market for a printer, I recommend this. It's the middle-of-the-road Canon PIXMA MG6120.

Ok, so turn to the left a little more and I have this giant dresser...
It used to be in our room, but it won't fit in our room where we live now, so I get it in my craft room. The drawers still have clothes, but I get the whole cabinet!

The top shelf has some misc office stuff and the box is where I keep my Sizzix dies and other items for my Cuttlebug. The 2nd shelf has some plastic file organizers, which is where I keep stickers sheets and things like that that I don't use often, but can't bear to part with. I keep them organized by theme (i.e. baby, wedding, Christmas, etc.) The 3rd shelf has an extra paper cutter and photo/printer paper. And the bottom shelf stores items I have bought or saved to alter.

And finally, this is the view if I look to the right from my desk...
Those shelves were actually my baby changing table that my dad made before I was born. I've saved it for my baby someday, but until that day comes, it's shelving for my craft room :) I found the green boxes at Ikea and they store all kinds of miscellaneous goodies. One is for keepsakes from growing up, one has more alterable items, one has sewing supplies, one has all kinds of different glues, one has workshop supplies, one has extra photos that I didn't scrapbook, etc.

I keep a card table set up in my room because sometimes my neighbors and friends come over to craft with me, so I can fit 1-2 more people in here. When they're not here, I use it as an extra surface to spread out on. If I have a workshop at my house, we use my dining room table, which is pretty large.

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I hope you've found my craft room photos and ideas informative. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Or if you have any questions, let me know!

Thanks for visiting my blog.