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How to Organize a Craft Room – My Experience with a Professional Organizer

Craft room organization – here are some helpful and practical craft room organization tips from a professional organizer that you can easily apply into any space. Plus, learn the process of what a professional organizer does when one comes to your home. 

Have you ever heard the saying a clean craft room is an unused one? Well, it’s true—at least in my case! As a professional crafter (weird to say!), my craft room is my workspace. And, as of two weeks ago, it was a total and utter disaster. 

Did you see that? Was

I’m proud to report that my craft room is now a beautiful, functional space. 

Don’t be fooled, however—I didn’t do it on my own. I brought in a professional. Literally. 

Ikea Kallax in a craft room with ikea peg board.

Why We Used a Professional Organizer 

Scott and I had gifted each other a few days with a professional organizer a few months ago, and after doing lots of research and reading tons of reviews, we decided to work with Sorted Out in Dallas (isn’t their name the cutest!). 

It’s always a little scary letting someone into your home when it’s looking less-than-stellar, and thanks to a toddler, 2 crazy careers and—TBH—too much stuff, our home was not on its best behavior.

However, I was so, so thrilled with our experience! We never once felt judged by our organizer. She was professional, kind, and made the entire process really fun. I learned a lot about techniques that work well for our lifestyle to keep things neat, and also got some amazing ideas I never would have thought of.

I was lucky enough to connect with the owner of the company, Tonia, afterward. It’s always so fun to meet up with ladies who are killing it in their fields! 🙂 We had a great coffee together, and she was kind enough to pitch the idea of an organizer coming to our home again so that I could document the process and share with you all. 

Ummm…yes, please! 

You all know I like to do it big, so I chose the most embarrassing space in our home to showcase…the craft room. 😉 

Working With a Professional Organizer

If I’m being real, I have to say all those feelings of insecurity and nervousness flooded back to me before our session started. Again, this space was less than stellar, and as a professional DIY and home blogger, I feel like I should have my stuff together a bit more. 

Spoiler alert: I definitely do not. 😉 

Thankfully, within minutes of our organizing session starting, I immediately relaxed. Not only was I feeling comfortable, but I was having fun too! We hung out for four hours chatting, decluttering and rearranging—by the end of it I had an entirely new space. 

Craft room storage ideas - tall tower with storage and rolling ikea cart.

Here is the process you can expect when working with a professional organizer like Sorted Out:

  1. You do a quick intake before they come over, either in person, by phone, or through email. You just chat about what the space is, what your requests are, and give the organizer any info she may need to know before arriving.
  2. You might have homework to do before your session. For example, if you want your closet organized, pull out all the clothes you know you no longer want. If you do your pre-work, your organizing professional can work faster, which saves you money. In my case, I didn’t have time to really do anything, which was okay too. 
  3. Once your organizer arrives, you can either work side by side with them or leave them to attend to the space. With Sorted OutI did it both ways. My first session I was pretty hands-off until she had questions for me. With my second session in the craft room, I was super involved. If you want to maximize your hours, I recommend being there and present!
  4. You’ll talk about the space and answer any questions, like if you want something to stay in a particular case. In the case of organizing my craft room, we talked a lot about my job and how I use the room. For me, this includes things like light and tripod angels, but for you non-bloggers, it would be more like flow and workspace. 
  5. Everything will get pulled out. This is where it gets a little worse before it gets better. But this is truly where the magic happens! Once you remove everything from a space, you can rearrange in a way it makes sense. 
  6. Items get grouped together. Who knew I had so many pairs of scissors? Or sharpies? Or gel pens? Or paper pads? I certainly didn’t — not until I saw all the ones I owned piled together in one spot! 
  7. Items are placed in their new home. This looks different for every space, of course. 
  8. Finishing touches happen last. This includes things like labeling or discussing items that might need to be purchased and added to the space. 
  9. Donations are removed – this may be my FAVORITE part of the entire service! I don’t know if every organizer will do this, but the professional organizers with Sorted Out in Dallas will take your donations with them when they leave. They will even send you your receipt after for tax deductions. 
  10. You get to enjoy your new space. And that’s it! See, not scary at all. In fact, it’s actually awesome!

How to Organize a Craft Room

So now that you know what to expect when working with a professional organizer, here are some of the awesome craft room tips I learned from her. These can work in your space, too! 

Take everything out of the space you are working in

In a craft room, it may be harder to pull every single tiny item out of the whole room, but if it’s at all possible, do it! If you have a massive space or a ton of stuff, start with removing everything from a cabinet, or a closet.

Group like items together

Okay, fellow crafters, let’s admit it: we have a lot of supplies! And maybe (just maybe!) you might have an overflow of a certain supply, like gluesticks or washi tape or stickers. If they are spread all over the place, you’ll never know, but once you see them grouped together out in plain sight, you feel a lot better about getting rid of some things. 

Organized Ikea cart in a craft room

Think about how you use the space 

What kind of crafts do you do? And how can you make the room make sense for your flow? For example, if you watercolor, it makes sense to have all your paper, paints and brushes in a common spot together, rather than spread throughout the room. 

drawer filled with organized watercolor supplies.

Take advantage of trays

I use some supplies so frequently that it doesn’t make sense for them to be put away. For these, we used a tray to corral them all so they still looked organized and neat while sitting on my counter. 

Find storage solutions that work for you

I have this really cool drafting table I bought last year that is the perfect standing height for videos and photos. It also has a ton of drawers and can hold a lot of supplies. However, the drawers are really shallow—2 inches tall! So, my Sorted Out organizer researched items after she left and sent me ideas of what I could buy. If you have a unique storage set up, don’t be afraid to do the same!

Shallow drawer filled with organized supplies in a craft room.

Try rolling storage

My craft room has to be a bit portable sometimes, thanks to blogging and photography — I have to chase the good light. This often means I’m crafting and photographing on my kitchen table or some other random space. So, I decided to put my supplies in clearly labeled bins (similar ones on Amazon here) in a tall rolling cart similar to this one.

Tall rolling craft cart with labeled bins.

Label everything

I’m a HUGE fan of labeling! I kinda scoffed at it, but it’s made the biggest difference. I know EXACTLY where everything goes because there is a literal label for it. I have this label maker here and was so excited to see it’s the same one the organizers had too! 🙂

Organized bins in craft room filled with craft supplies.

Craft Room Organization: Before and After

Now for the best part—the before and after photos.

Before we got my craft room organized, the room doubled as a dumping ground for anything we didn’t know where to put, or that we were planning on doing later. Tiny baby clothes? Craft room. Pictures we want to hang in the living room one day? Craft room. Party supplies? Craft room. You get the idea. 

In short – it was a hot mess. Truly. See?

Before photo of messy craft room

I’m pretty embarrassed to share the before picture, but without it, the sheer amount of work that got done would be undermined. So, here’s what was done in just four hours with a professional organizer!

Craft room organized by professional organizer by sorted out in dallas. Organized craft room with ikea furniture.    

Pretty amazing, right? 

Next up for me – decorating! Now that all my craft room organization is done, I can start having fun and adding decor — maybe I should DIY a few things with my rediscovered stash! 😉 

Professional Organizer in Dallas

Finally, I just have to give another massive thank you to Tonia and the entire Sorted Out team! I had such a great experience with them both times I used them, and couldn’t be happier with my results. If you are in the Dallas area and considering working with a professional organizer – get in contact with them here! They are wonderful. 🙂 

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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5 Comments

  1. Hello where did you find your storage bins that you have shown in the last 2 pictures? Looks like you may have your cricket setting on it. Thanks in advance for your help! Your craft room looks amazing.

  2. The open bins for your scrapbook paper….holding the Cropper Hopper Paper Organizing system… where did you find the furnishings?

  3. The small cube storage for rolls for your circut is that a kallax insert? Where is that from please?

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