The Makeover that Made Me Love My Craft Room

We moved recently and I decided it was time to do a craft room makeover. I wanted the room to be extremely functional and organized and also look intentional and clean.  In the past I used furniture and storage options we already had on hand or that were “hand me downs” from other rooms. While it worked, it didn’t look very nice. It was a hodge podge of shelving, plastic totes, and drawers.

While it was all well and good to want to clean up and class up my space, we didn’t have the budget to do built-in storage or cabinets. IKEA’s website and app were my first stop and I found almost everything I was looking for.

I needed storage and organization for yarn, sewing supplies, my Cricut and all the materials that I use with it, ribbon, cardstock and patterned paper and the list went on. I measured out my space and used the IKEA app to design a room that maximized every inch of my craft room. And I did it all for under $2,000. My official total was $1,855.59. That is not a small amount of money, but it’s a tiny fraction of what it would have cost to put in custom cabinets.

I want to mention that I am not being paid by IKEA in any way. Even if you click on my links to go to their site, I do not profit from you purchasing anything. This is just what worked for me and I wanted to share because I love my new craft room so much.

Here’s what I used and how you can get it for yourself. I will put a complete list with links at the bottom.

Watch the craft room tour:

What I Used to Organize My Craft Room

On my largest wall I used two Kallax 5 x 5 storage units which gave me a whopping 50 cubbies to work with. The absolute best part about these storage cubes are the inserts you can buy to make them even more useful, although I will say I left 25 spaces open to store yarn. I had plenty of room to separate by color and yarn sizes. It also leaves me with plenty of room to grow 😊

IKEA has an insert that turns each space into a set of two drawers. These are so handy and I bought eight of them to store all kinds of craft supplies. In some of these drawers I wanted one or two containers to sort items and I ordered a clear set of bins from Amazon which fit great. They also don’t move around in the drawers thanks to the little rubber feet on the bottoms.

I bought five of the inserts that create five shelves per cube for all my cardstock and paper.  I sorted by type and color and each shelf holds quite a bit of paper. It makes it quite easy to find exactly what I need.

I used five wine rack inserts to hold all my vinyl and heat transfer vinyl. Each bottle space holds 4-5 rolls of material and is perfect for me.

I added one insert which creates a shelf in the middle of the cube. My Cricut EasyPress, EasyPress Mini and Cricut Heat Press Mat are now happily coexisting in this space.

Have some supplies that don’t look so attractive? IKEA has an insert that adds a door to the front of the cube. Now my irons and yarn winder (and all the cords attached to them) are hidden away.

Lastly, I bought some bins to fit into four of the cubes. IKEA sells a variety of bins and baskets, but after visiting the IKEA store near me, I decided to order mine from Amazon. I wasn’t fond of the IKEA versions and the ones I bought are quite sturdy and, I believe, look great and hold a lot of stuff.

Let's Talk About My Craft Room Desk/Workspace

My goal was to have three “workstations” for myself. I now have one that functions as my desk, one to use for Cricut and general craft projects, and one where my sewing machine and supplies reside. Each of these spaces was created with an IKEA tabletop called a Lagkapten that sits on top of what they call an Alex, which is a set of drawers.

Each Alex has five drawers and they hold a lot of supplies. I purchased four Alex drawers and in two cases in my room the ends of two different tabletops are being held up with one Alex. They split the space on top of the Alex and are all secured together with Velcro Command Strips. In fact, all the tabletops are secured to Alex drawers with these Velcro strips. They are rock solid and do not move around at all when I’m using the tabletop, but if I wanted to detach them, I could do so without damage to the table or the drawers.

In order to make the desk area in the corner of my room, I ran a longer tabletop (a 55 1/8-inch size) all the way into the corner and attached it to a set of IKEA’s table legs, called Adils. Then I butted a 47 ¼ inch tabletop next to it with another set of Adils attached.

I love all the storage space from the Alex drawers and for a number of them I purchased some STÖDJA which are the IKEA utensil/flatware organizers that fit perfectly. This added bit of organization really makes me happy. Just look at those colorful Sharpies all sorted and just waiting to be used. Happy sigh.

In case you are looking for some craft tool storage, I have a few pieces that sit on my worktables that are not from IKEA that I have been using for years. The white rotating storage carousel I use for general supplies is from Michaels.

The black rotating organizer that sits next to my sewing machine holds all of sewing tools including scissors, rotary cutters, fabric marking pens and pencils, snips, rulers, seam rippers etc. This thing has been working for me for many, many years and is a utensil holder from Pampered Chef. It has been discontinued, but if you search for the Pampered Chef Turn-About you can still find some on Ebay.

The gold Cricut tool organizer I actually made using a very handy tutorial from Jennifer Maker. It holds all of my tools and looks cute to boot!

Let's Move On to the Walls of My Craft Room:

IKEA has these nifty pegboards called SKÅDIS and a bunch of accessories for them. Now, before you discount pegboards, just know these work soooooo much better than the pegboards of old. My husband had a pegboard for his garage that looked nice and held lots of stuff, but any time you tried to remove something, the hook holding it in place would fall off. Very frustrating. IKEA’s works much better and items clip on much more securely.

Plus, you can find lots of 3D printed items on Etsy specifically designed for the SKÅDIS for anything IKEA doesn’t already sell like the holders for Funko POPS! I bought. I have wanted to buy Mickey Mouse Funko POPS! for years but tried to have some restraint because I didn’t know where to put them. Now the flood gates have opened and I have left myself some room at the top of my pegboards for the collection I intend to create.

I bought shelves from IKEA that hold all of my ribbon spools and some covered containers for the odd bits and pieces that weren’t on spools.

I bought three 30x22 inch pegboards total and on a second one I attached 3D printed clips to hold my sewing machine threads and shelves for various supplies like my pincushion, desk vacuum, and the zipper jig that revolutionized how I add zipper pulls onto zipper tape. IKEA also has hooks which I used for scissors and pinking shears.

If you have Cricut mats you need to store, I love using Command Strips and hooks to hold them on the sides of my desk under the tabletop. It keeps them handy for use but out of the way the rest of the time. And the Command Strips don’t damage my desk either.

For all the weirdly shaped odds and ends that I don’t use as often (or are for my kid to use), I bought two IKEA Billy bookshelves to fit into my closet. I can close the door on those supplies, but they are still organized.

A couple other things I love for organization – for heat transfer and vinyl scraps (which are usually all the material I need for most projects) I LOVE these art portfolios. The size I use (11x14) isn’t available right now but a set of 13x19 by the same company is. I use one sleeve for each color of scrap and just slide them in at the top. It’s easy to put pieces in, you can see everything you have at a glance, and it’s easy to take out what you need. They have been a game changer for me.

I just LOVE my new space and I can find everything I need for any project quickly. I hope this helps you find some new tools for organizing your own space!

The Links to Everything I Used in My Craft Room Makeover:

While I will not receive any commission from links to IKEA, for affiliate links to Amazon I may. This means at no extra cost to you I may receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links to Amazon.

• Shelf unit 5x5 (Kallax) which is 71 5/8 x 71 5/8

• Kallax bottle rack insert

• Kallax four shelf insert (which really makes five shelves)

• Kallax one-shelf insert

• Kallax two-drawer insert

• Kallax door insert

• White bins for the Kallax

• Tabletop (Lagkapten) 47 ¼ inch long

• Tabletop (Lagkapten) 55 1/8 inch long

• Table legs (Adils)

• Drawer units (Alex)

• Velcro strips to hold the tabletop and drawer unit together

• Drawer organizer (STÖDJA)

• Pegboard in 30x22 (SKÅDIS)

• Container with lid for the pegboard

• Clips for the pegboard

• Container for the pegboard with no lid

• Shelf for pegboard

• Hooks for the pegboard

• Thread holders for the pegboard

• Funko POP! holders for the pegboard

• Bookcase (Billy)

• Clear drawer bins

• Art portfolio to sort vinyl and htv scraps

• White table tool organizer

• Cricut tool organizer tutorial

• Black rotating organizer – this isn’t sold anymore by the company but you can find them for sale on Ebay if you search for Pampered Chef Turn-About

• Hooks to hold Cricut mats

Happy crafting!