When we didn’t have room in our house for a dedicated craft space, we turned the shed into a craft room. It’s a pretty good size shed, granted, but it’s still just a shed. Space is limited. And I have a LOT of craft supplies! Finding ways to store those supplies so they were easy to access and organized was a challenge! I want to share some of the ways I made it work!
My 8×12 shed. My son says it’s like the Tardis… it’s bigger on the inside (Doctor Who reference). I will admit, when you open those doors and find a fully functioning craft room inside it does surprise! When we were setting it up, the biggest challenge became fitting years and years of acquired craft supplies into this small space.
We found several solutions!
First, an old display case we found on an online yard sale site. Sometimes these things just fall into your lap! This was one of those times, and boy was it a lucky find! It was old, and in pretty bad shape! Once we had it home I may have questioned my choice momentarily. But after some really good cleaning, and some fresh paint, it worked out perfectly! We made this the base for one of the counters, and it became the storage bin holder.
I’ll let you in on a little secret with the storage bins… You can find ones just like these at a Dollar store, for $1.00 each. I buy mine at Walmart instead. There I get them in a bunch, 5 for $4.95 I save 5 whole cents, and they come neatly bundled in packs of five. I know, that’s not a huge savings, but sometimes every little bit helps!
My favorite labeling solution is chalkboard labels, and a chalk marker! These are the specific ones that I use in my shed. The labels work perfectly, they are easy to wipe clean if you want to change the label, and they look great! The chalk marker can be a little tricky to work with, but I’ve found that to be the case with all chalk markers. Sometimes they make a big huge mess, but when they aren’t making a mess, they’re awesome! The chalk markers came in a 2 pack. I have not had to use the second yet they seem to last for a good amount of time. (*These are affiliate links)
I use several different options for Paper storage. This one is my favorite. These are just plastic drawers, but the size is perfect for a 12×12 sheet of paper, they stack easily, and the clear drawer lets me see what is inside.
If I just need one, and I can find them in stock, I buy it at my local Walmart. The price works out to be exactly the same as Amazon (most of the time, as prices sometimes fluctuate). Normally, I prefer to buy them in the packages of 3 and since we use Prime and shipping is free, Amazon works out to be the best option. As these drawers aren’t cheap, looking around in your local area to find the best price is a good idea.
(*Affiliate link)
I keep the 8×11 paper in these cute purple wooden drawers. The drawers, and the black fabric bins (where I happen to keep fabric) were both purchased on an online deal site. I painted the drawers with spray paint! They sit under the second counter out of the way.
One of the biggest storage solutions we found was pegboard! It is inexpensive (We purchased a 4foot x 8 foot board at Lowes for $18). One of my favorite things about the pegboard is how versatile it is!
You don’t even need actual pegboard accessories to use it! I took some old cans, spray painted them and wrapped a pretty contact paper around them, drilled two holes in the back of each, then used a zip tie to fix them to the holes in the board! The cans hold my markers, paint brushes, and clay tools! They could hold so much more!
I purchased cute little colorful plastic bins at the dollar store and I use Binder Clips to hold them on the board! These little bins came in a pack of 4 for a dollar!
I love this inexpensive thread rack. I spray painted it black, and then I used zip ties to fix it to the board as well. It is meant to sit on a table, but larger fabric projects were always knocking it down. This took it out of the way, but kept it within easy reach still.
A Spool holder utility hook (meant for paper towel rolls in a shop setting) works great for ribbon!
A cheaper option that worked well with the shed framing was using hooks and dowels to hold more ribbon spools! each dowel can be lifted off the hooks easily for access to the ribbon, and I can stack as many as I need for a very low cost!
One of my favorite storage solutions, but not the cheapest, is cardboard photo boxes! I wait for Hobby Lobby to put them on sale, they are normally $3.99 and I buy them when they are 50% off!
I love that they come in cute patterns, and colors, and they hold a good amount and stack easily!
I also use old boxes a lot! You can spray paint or paint them, wrap them in contact paper, or fabric and they hold up pretty well! My “Stickers” box here was the bottom half of a shoe box, spray painted inside and out.
Often with a small space, vertical space is your best friend. Being able to stack your storage options on a tall bookshelf, or using the walls with frames, or pegboards will be your best options. a 4×8 pegboard on the wall will give you 32 square feet of possible storage space up off the floor!
Happy storing!
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