My Creative Space: A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK

Hello Friends! I am so excited to be sharing a behind-the-scenes look at creative space. I’ll share all of my most used craft room storage ideas

smitha katti

craft room storage ideas

Below I share my craft room storage ideas and how I like to arrange things for maximum usage.

Almost all the furniture in my Creative Space is white- this was a purposeful choice. After two kids with their toys all around the house, I gravitated to something simple and clean. White was the answer.

I love the white! I have purposefully and carefully chosen white items over the years for this space to make it feel larger and brighter. I love color too, so I’ve added pops of colors everywhere. I have the items I reach for the most out in the open and easily accessible, this helps ensure that I put things back where they belong. I also have a large painting on the wall above my desk, which I created a few years back and it always inspires me when I sit down to create.

This desk area is where I do my hand lettering, my drawing, sketching, and all of my video editing! This is where I choose my yarns, my fabrics, and my pens. This is where I type up my blog posts, my social media posts, and come up with ideas.

Smiling Colors Creative Space

Last year I decided to move my art and craft space out from the basement and into the sunlight. This was such a big change! The sunlight motivates and inspires me.

Almost all the furniture you see here came from Ikea, except for the chair. That was a garage sale find that I upcycled by painting it with chalk and gold paint.

Upcycle chair with chalk paint


I have a large canvas hanging above my table- this is a mixed media canvas I painted a few years ago and it is still my favorite of all times. I am a big believer in surrounding myself with bright colors and positive words.

My White Desk Organizer is so handy to store everything neatly. I love it! I love how inexpensive it was to buy and it has been one of the best craft room storage ideas for me.

Mixed media painting

On my desk, I also have 5 Ganesha sculptures playing musical instruments. I made these years ago from air-dry clay, painted them with acrylic paints and gave them a clear coat of varnish. Any creative space of mine will always have Ganeshas 🙂

Ganesha Smitha Katti

I bought the Alex drawers from Ikea and I cannot recommend them enough! They are shallow drawers and perfect for me to store all of my supplies.

Creative Space Ikea Table

The top drawers have all of my drawing pencils, erasers, etc.

art supplies

Another drawer contains all of my sketchbooks. This has been so awesome to grab the book I need for the project when I need it.

sketchbooks

In another drawer, I have a pile of scrapbooking supplies like paper, clipboards, and props I use to photograph my Instagram photos. I also store all of my hand-lettered quotes in here to be digitized at a later day.

creative space smitha katti

Another drawer has all of my camera supplies, chargers, camera card, etc (this is the boring drawer)

The final drawer has my trimmer, some punches, and all the watercolors.

Smiling Colors creative space

On the side, I have four inexpensive shelves with wire bins, and a couple of boxes.

More Craft Room Storage Ideas: The wire bins store my yarn stash. I love having all the yarn colorfully arranged so. Easy to find what I want and the colors are easy to grab. I’m already knitting and crocheting so much more these days!

I also have my fabric stash out on display here. I haven’t used a lot of these fabrics in years and so I moved them out of their storage box and put them out in the open. I now reach for them more often and have already made something with them

Creative Space
smitha yarn stash

I have a few things on display- pens stored in white ceramic mugs on top of a white cake stand and most of my knitting and crochet needles out in the open. I like having these on display, it’s easy to reach for and inspiring too.

pencil storage ideas

The pens of course are up for grabs by anyone in the house. And I share with everyone as long as they put them back after use 😉

colored pencil storage

I also have a bunch of whimsical things that I really don’t use everyday, but are pretty and colorful and make me smile. Buttons, twine, wood crayons and wood print blocks.

smitha katti craft area

I love buttons and have found that this organizer is the perfect way to keep them all sorted and neat. The kids love collecting buttons as well and keep adding some into here as well. When things are easy to find I use them a lot more! I also store all of my embroidery floss so.

button storage craft room storage ideas

In the basement, I still have my studio lights and other blogging equipment, plus a table in the as a backup where I shoot my YouTube Videos on rainy gloomy days. I also have a lot of my craft supplies in plastic bins in the basement storage area, when I need something I go down and choose the item, use it, and put it back. I found that having all my supplies in the open was overwhelming me and this system has been working great.

And that ends today’s tour of my creative space! I’ve tried to leave links to craft room storage ideas you see in today’s post below. Some of them are not links to the exact items but perfect matches. Affiliate links have been used, which means that if you purchase those items through my links, I may earn a tiny commission that goes towards the running of this blog. Please note that you will not have to pay more when buying any products through an affiliate link.

My Creative Space Interview:

I also share more craft room storage ideas on the Cut Out and Keep website today. It was so awesome to be featured there.

Tell us about your space

My space is about 9 by 9 feet I think. It’s a nook off of the family room, but everyone in the house knows that it is my desk. I share most of my art supplies with the family if they need to use it- but the rule is that they need to bring back what they take from my creative space.

I do all of my lettering, coloring and draw my hand illustrations here too. I chose my yarns for my knits here too.

I love having it so close to the kitchen and family room- I can easily sit at my laptop for a few minutes or start planning my next project when I get a few minutes spare time.

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?

For me, keeping my desk clear and neat is inspiring. For the longest time I have had my craft space in the basement and I would never clean up after myself so there would be piles on the floor everywhere and tons of clutter. Moving my space upstairs meant I had to keep it clean and also meant that I streamline my supplies. I tend to accumulate less and have only the stuff I really love on hand.

I always tack inspiring quotes onto the wall to keep me focussed and motivated. A lot of these quotes and illustrations are actually free downloads that I have on my blog.

How do you keep organized?

I have drawers under my desk- and that has been life changing! I have a drawer for my pens, a drawer for my sketch books etc. Having shallow drawers is a great way to organize your art supplies.

I tend to collect colorful items- buttons, yarns, pens etc. So I try to organize them in white or open bins. I have my pens and color pencils in inexpensive white ceramic mugs. I keep my yarns in metal bins that I can see through.

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?

Keeping organized is the name of the game! Over the years, I have come to know what I reach for the most- scissors, markers and glue. I keep most of the stuff out in the open and everything hast to have its own place. That way I tend to put things back in its place when I am done. And I create more because I am not spending time looking for what I need.

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?

I love to collect buttons. I sort my buttons in containers and I actually like to have them out in the open. They make me smile whenever I walk past them. I also keep my markers, crayons and pencils out in the open. The pops of rainbow color always make me happy.

I have a big canvas above my desk, a mixed media canvas I painted a few years back that I love. I also often tack drawings that my kids have made around my table.

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?

Most of my inspiration are on scraps of paper, hastily sketched with whatever pen was in reach. When inspiration strikes you have to write it down! I also have a lot of inspiration pinned onto my Pinterest boards. But a lot of my inspiration truly comes from magazines, fabrics and books. If I am in a creative slump, I like to go to the library and flip through a stack of craft books.

Where do you look for inspiration?

When I am thinking up craft room storage ideas, I usually sit down with a book and pencil. I sketch out ideas, usually go off track and then end up going through old sketches and finding something that works. I often look for color combinations to spark a project. Color is a great spot to start something new.

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream space?

I am very happy and thankful for my craft space. But I do wish it had sunlight in the mornings! After 3pm in the afternoon, the room gets flooded with light and it is the most beautiful space to sit down and create. But,that also happens to be the time the girls come home from school, dinner gets made and after school classes happen!

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