It all started with a closet…

I have always been a lover of all things crafty. I have also always been a little OCD. I NEED my things to be organized and put away. This presents a challenge because making things often requires getting lots of things out. I dread digging through boxes trying to gather the things I need, only to put them away again shortly. Additionally, projects often require more than one sitting to complete and the OCD in me cannot stand staring at a mess on my dining room table for days on end. This problem prevented me from having the motivation to craft, much less sew (getting the sewing machine out of the box on the top shelf of my closet was waaaay too much work). My things needed an easily accessible home. So, for many people the solution is a craft room. How I dream of a craft room! Unfortunately, I do not have a spare room that I can dedicate entirely to crafting/sewing. I did, however, have an underutilized closet.

I had an epiphany. I could transform the closet in our guest room/office into my very own craft closet. It would include a workspace, as well as store all my craft supplies. And the best part, I would simply close the closet doors between use. I wouldn’t have to put my stuff away!!! A.mazing.

So here was the closet before:

I took everything out out of the closet and painted it using leftover paint from N’s bedroom. I purchased two Closetmaid cabinets from Target. They are slightly taller than table height, but fit perfectly into the two sides of the closet. I then bought a slab of counter top from Ikea, cut it down to the exact size of the closet and shoved it set it into place on top of the cabinets. So, my workspace runs along the entire inside of the closet. I hung two Ikea bookshelves and a pegboard above the desk.

Not the ideal situation, but better than nothing, right!!

I hung a wall file organizer on one inside wall. It fits all my scrapbook paper with my paper cutter tucked neatly underneath.

I also had outlets installed under the desk (for my sewing machine) and above the desk on the side wall (for a glue gun/misc and lights). Since there was no light in the closet, I installed 3 plug in light bars from Home Depot: one under the bottom shelf and two right above the inside closet door casing. They work great!

The two bottom cabinets store my yummy fabric.

And the rest of my craft and sewing stuff can be found in the boxes on the shelves as well as the guest room dresser. Sorry future guests…you don’t use the dresser anyway, right?

Since completing my craft “room”, I’ve been bit by the sewing bug and the craft closet has really developed into the sewing closet. I’ve spent a lot of time reading sewing blogs the past few months and have been learning to sew one project at a time. I am excited to share what I’ve made!