Affordable and Decorative Craft Supply Organizer • DIY By Style

For me, seasonal change always brings about a TO DO list of projects. Obviously, a supply list is fast on it’s heels. Yes, I’m big on lists – it’s one of the first things Hubby ever teased me about when we started dating! And whether it’s grocery shopping or supply shopping I also make sure spend the time to take inventory of what we have already. Keeping your supplies organized is essential to getting those projects started faster.

I’m a big proponent of decorative but functional organizing. Incorporating storage into your decor keeps things contained, at hand, and frees up closed storage spaces for the boom box you know will become an antique someday. When we finished our basement, I knew that the area under the stairs was a great spot for storing some of my sewing and craft supplies. However, since they are open stairs, it also needed to be decorative storage.

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR CRAFT ORGANIZATION

To get maximum use out of the space I needed something that I could roll in and out from under the stairs. As well, I wanted to segregate supplies into multiple categories for easy inventory. Finally, as a neat freak, I wanted to corral all of the small supplies with a clean look. Luckily, my two boys had outgrown the perfect answer – cheap cube organizers. If they were good enough for crayons, paints, and paper airplane supplies then they were good enough for ribbon, pebbles, and scrapbook paper! Heck – I even turned three cube organizers into a bed for my son since they are such a great option for function and storage!

MY UPCYCLED CRAFT CARTS

First order of business was the paint the cubes. Since I knew that they were going to be either filled with items or with fabric bins, I simply chose to paint the outside. More importantly, I didn’t want to disassemble them to paint the interiors! Since they were laminate, I did a test run on what would become the underneath edge using just spray paint. Sure enough – the paint scratched off very easily. So off to the big box store to get some Kilz primer. I simply rolled it on with small foam roller.

As most of the basement color scheme is a neutral grey and the stair walls were already yellow, I chose to paint the outside of the cubes grey. The fabric bins are all grey as well, but with a variation in patterns. Believe it or not, these took quite a bit of time to hunt down from different locations. To top it off, I used these dry erase bin clip labels from Target (not an affiliate) to more easily identify what was in each bin – LOVE these!

Finally, I added casters to all of the carts. These come in a variety of sizes and colors, balls or wheels, swivel or not. For a project like this, just make sure you choose one with a plate attachment, not a pin. I made sure to use rubber rather than plastic wheels as the slate tile at the base of the stairs is very uneven.

As you can see, I had enough room to fit two 6 cube organizers under the lower stairs and one 9 cube organizer against the wall. When you measure your own space for a project like this – don’t forget to add in the height for the casters!

INDUSTRIAL CRAFT CARTS

Crafty does not equate to cutesy. These supply carts could easily fit into an industrial décor space. You could opt for a dark brown or black rather than grey for the exterior paint color while adding metal brackets to the corners. Better yet, add decorative metal panels you can find at any big box store to the top and sides. Finally, you can personalize any solidcolor fabric bin with geometric or industrial stencils.