Talk to me about your Craft area

[Pleiades45]

I have an L shaped table, my sewing machine sits on it together with my cutting mat. I have a couple of tins which house scissors, needles, rotary cutters etc. Some books and patterns. A4 folder with embroidery threads. The return of the table has shelves and I have 6 large plastic containers with fabric, vilene etc in no particular order. In the room are another 6 containers of fabric, quilt tops to quilt etc, a box of batting, various boxes with threads. I share the room with my husband and his electronics. After a year, this space is a mess and I can never find anything. I envisage a complete overhaul perhaps purchasing a few inexpensive items to improve storage. I want a clear desk to work at and I want to be able to walk in and find my scissors, needles etc without searching. I also need space for my knitting and crochet projects/stash (currently they are overtaking the living room)

I've been googling storage boxes and storage solutions all day and am no wiser as how to overhaul my space.

I'd like to hear about your space, your best ever storage finds and anything else my space would benefit from.

I have peg board behind my craft table. All my tools have a place on the board. I am tempted to draw silhouettes around them but then I wouldnt be able to rearrange them. Cheap and flexible - I recommend it.

I have the Ikea 'antonius' storage system, its brilliant!

I also have lots of clear boxes so I can see whats in them

Marking my place as I need some help too
I bought an old printers tray in a junk shop ages ago with an idea that I would turn it into a storage thingy, it's still in the corner of the room leaning against my boxes and boxes of material. I have ikea boxes and cheap plastic drawers and they depress me soo much

My granny kept her stashes in chests of drawers (many many of them as she lived to 98 and was a hoarder) we are still clearing them out 5 years later. There has to be a better way....

oooh, chocolateteabag I have a printers letterpress tray, they're very covetable right now.

I varnished mine and put flat hook thingies on the back and its on the wall with all my cotton reels in it.

The antonius storage from ikea is very flexible so in mine I have some wire baskets, some fabric shelves and you can get inserts to in the baskets (a bit like cutlery trays)

I also have two one metre flat tables and have my bolts of fabric on the floor under there (cant find a suitable storage solution for them)

I do, however, have little fiddly things in the plastic cartons you get liquitabs in -they seemed too good to throw away.

I am also looking for inspiration! Number two child has moved out over the summer, so I have claimed his room, painted it and moved in a table with sewing machine centre stage, chest of drawers, a cosy chair for knitting, and am looking to shelve the enormous built-in wardrobe to house my fabric stash.

It is all in one space but needs a proper sort out so I am going to lurk here a bit.

Ooh I should be working but have just founf this link to making a workspace from a walk in wardrobe

I've also just got out my suitcase and found 3 tiny Bonne Maman jam jars which I clearly pocketed on my last work trip before DS arrived (he's 22 months now). I figure the jam will still be fine - but the jars will be great to hold buttons etc once cleaned up....

I need to get my printers tray on the wall and get using it. In fact I think gettng things up onto the wall is clearly the way forward. However my space is upstairs in our dormer bungalow so I have very little flat wall space.

I have fifteen of these plastic A5 storage boxes for things like dpns, scissors, machine sewing threads, sticky tape etc. They fit nicely on one shelf of the bookcase.

I have a load of fabric tote bags which hang on a peg on the back of the door. I've had a few free with magazines over the years, and made a few as well. Each knitting / crochet project lives in it's own bag along with the pattern, so if I'm going to my knitting friend's house I can just grab it along with my "knit kit" and I know I'll have everything I need.

My "knit kit" consists of a pencil case containing a few crochet hooks, darning needles, a tape measure, stitch holder, needle gauge, and a few scraps of different coloured yarn, for making stitch markers when I need them. The kit stays with whichever project I'm working on the most. It keeps all those sundries in one place, and I know I am not going to get caught out without a tape measure or whatever - assuming I remember to grab it on my way out!

I am lucky that I have a massive built-in cupboard which I keep all my yarn in, in stacking boxes like these.

I recently bought an old TV unit from a charity shop which has lots of space on shelves and a cupboard underneath, it's great.

But, to my shame, my knitting needles still all live in a carrier bag.

I have some big boxes that I keep fabric in but each time I look for fabric I have to empty out the entire box. So I need a better solution for the fabric. For smaller items I was thinking of getting one of these. Maybe a pegboard for cotton reels and scissors etc? As for the knitting..... I'm currently using bags, 1 bag for each project.

I make jewellery and my lovely dh put a shelf above my desk with 10 cuphooks under it so I can hang my strands of beads up.

I then bought 3 of these that sit on the shelf for the bigger loose beads, and one of these for the smaller beads.

All my card making, sewing etc goes into an old Ikea wardrobe we had spare with a mix of shelves and drawers.

I have a fabric cupboard which is stuffed full of bits and bobs carefully organised into colours and types of fabric

next to it is my sewing table (an old desk but a good big flat surface that I can cut patterns out on)

next to that is a small chest of drawers in which I have papers, cards, and decorations for any card making or paper crafts - I use little plastic pots and tubs saved from grocery items, to store sequins, shells, buttons, beads etc.

then I have my drawing board - for drawing and painting, and all my pastels paints, brushes etc are stored on the (biggish) windowsill in pots, biscuit tins, those little plastic drawers you get and plastic boxes with divisions in them for different coloured pastels etc.

Then I have a little bookcase with art and craft books on it.

Writing it down it sound like a lot of space but actually its a very small room and my DH has his computer in it too and another cabinet, - it's quite well organised and I do know where everything is, but most of my storage is salvaged cardboard boxes and plastic tubs/boxes.

I am like KurriKurri and have a few shelves in a cupboard for my fabrics. It can look lovely and organised but more often than not it's scattered here, there and everywhere around my room and I have a curtain thingamy draped in front of it so I can hide all manner of sins inside :)

Next to it is the second-hand small computer desk I bought: I keep my rotary mat and other little bits (in a shoebox lid) on there so it's out of the way when I use my machine. Linky here because I was so proud when I first did it, I blogged about it! :o

A corner of the living room-stacked in unruly piles One day...

I have the dining room table and any spaces in the cupboards I can find, maybe in the next house i'll have a room all to myself....

Yes, I'm going to have the same TwoJackRussels in my dreams :o Or maybe a whole wing dedicated to my crafts would be nice......

My DH used to work from home, so when he decided to get an outside office instead I inherited the loft. Sometime I go up the loft ladder just to look . I have tons of wall shelves so all my craft books are organised according to type. A really long curved desk with sewing machine and over locker, plus either my dd's machine or cutting mats. Lots of pots with scissors and the like. Drawers for patterns, cubes and boxes for wool and fabric and the antonius system for interfacing, lining, bobbins etc. I'm approaching actual real life organisation and it's amazing. The floor is still covered with thread though! Just need to 'borrow' my mum's dress form and I'll be done.

Where can I get pegboard from? When I've googled it's all aimed at shop fitters, not someone should just wants a bit.

I have my wool in clear plastic boxes, sorted by wool weight.

I keep my current wips in canvas bags, one is the book thingy we got at the library.

My fabric is kept in a couple of plastic boxes - my biggest top tip is put it in on it's side, so you can flick through and find the one you need without taking it all out (like a hanging file in a filing cabinet.

When we move, my crafty area will be our under stairs cupboard, and I'm going to get a table built in that hinges on the wall so it can be up when I need a desk for sewing etc...