Craft Room Designs and Layout Ideas for Your Home

Whether they love scrapbooking, quilting, painting, or all of the above, all crafty artists have one thing in common: the need for a well-lit, comfortable, and organized space to spark creativity and inspire new ideas. 

Even if you live in a home where additional space isn’t available, we’ll show you how to make use of what’s available and design a craft workspace that blends with your home decor and gives you easy access to the tools you need to do the things you love. 

Basic Craft Space Elements

Every craft space will need a few essential elements to make it usable. Once you know what you need, you can quickly identify small spaces or niches in your home to fit your supplies and create a crafting workstation. If you already have a dedicated room, assembling the pieces to fill the space is like checking a box. 

Workspace Must-Haves

Designing any craft space begins by designating a solid surface for working. Keep in mind that the surface texture matters. For example, suppose you plan to use a countertop or tabletop. If so, avoid materials like unfinished wood or linoleum: These surfaces can transfer their texture to your finished products, especially if you are painting, drawing, or stenciling. 

In a dedicated room, a large craft table may be a possibility, but if space is limited, make your own work table using a desk or repurpose a shelving unit into a work table by removing shelves. 

Storage Ideas

Craft room storage can seem overwhelming, especially if you have an impressive (read: dizzying) amount of craft supplies to store. Storing your supplies becomes easier when you make use of clever storage solutions. 

• Shelving units. Although a large, dedicated storage space like a shelving unit may be ideal, some rooms may not have the space for one. Consider unexpected storage ideas. Using other storage units (like sideboards in a dining room or cabinets in a kitchen) can help you stay organized without requiring additional furniture that might not fit in your room. 

• Turn your art supplies into art. Colorful paints, textured brushes, and blank canvases can become part of your home’s design. If you have space, store items in small jars or open shelves. Bonus: Color-coordinate everything to make it pop against your wall. You’ll enjoy the easy access and the beauty and joy they add to your space. 

Before organizing your supplies, cull through your collection and make sure you aren’t storing items you don’t need. A good rule of thumb: If you haven’t used it in six months, consider tossing it or relocating it to a “deep storage” solution, like an attic or basement. Donating is always a welcomed option, too!

Lighting Needs

Don’t overlook your craft room’s lighting. If you’ve already got a craft room but find it hard to get crafty unless it’s the middle of the day and the room is filled with natural light, it might be time for a craft room makeover. 

Switching your lighting can completely revamp a sewing room, bring new life into a paper crafting space, and encourage you to create more. If changing your lighting isn’t possible, play with the room layout and position your workspace closest to natural light sources or overhead lighting. Decorative lighting through plug-in sconces and table lamps can also help light up your space (and creative muscle).

Craft Room Tips and Tricks

Once you’ve assembled a workspace, storage, and lighting, it’s time to put everything together. Here are our top five hacks to keep your space organized and functional. 

1. Use Wall Space

Make your walls work for you and purchase a few ready-made “built-ins” that you can install yourself. Walls are also a prime location for a pegboard, which can hold scissors, punches, and other tools just above your work table for easy access.

2. Rely on Multi-Use Spaces

Using a space in your home for dual purposes is an efficient way to make your available space work for you. A home office can easily double as both an office space and a craft space with some thoughtfully placed dividers. A dining room has a built-in table for crafting and may even be able to share shelving space for concealing supplies. 

3. Make It Moveable

Even the smallest homes can make space for a craft area, especially if the craft area is on wheels. You can create a workspace on wheels or make your storage shelf moveable with a simple DIY project that won’t take longer than 20 minutes. 

Consider adding wheels to desks, small shelving units, carts, or anything that you’d like to be able to relocate after the day’s (or night’s) crafting session is done. 

4. Organize and Thrive 

Craft room organization is essential for keeping you focused on your projects and helping you easily access what you need when you need it. One of the organization's ideas is to identify three different storage spaces in your craft area: immediate access, intermediate access, and seldom use. 

• Immediate access items are items you use every time you work on a project. The most frequently used items should be stored close to your workspace and within your reach. 

• Intermediate access items are used less frequently and don’t need to be stored directly beside your workspace, but they do need to be organized for easy retrieval. For instance, if you only need large sheets of scrapbook paper at the beginning of a new project, consider organizing them further away from your space but keeping them organized by color so you can locate them easily. 

• Seldom use items may be larger tools like Cricut cutters, comb-binding machines, laminators, or seasonal craft items. Storing these up and away on higher shelves helps you use all your storage space efficiently. 
  
  
• ‍Whip Up a Few Idea BoardsMany crafters like having inspiration in front of them while they work. You can create an idea board by placing a chalkboard, whiteboard, or bulletin board in your space to save ideas and spark creativity. Think of it like your IRL mood board. 

Idea boards can also help you focus on your craft projects by giving you room to collect your thoughts and curate your work. To really save on precious space, make your idea boards digital with your own virtual design studio. Assemble some mood boards, put together (and follow) a budget, collaborate with like-minded designers (or clients) on your projects, and more. 

Making It Part of Your Home Design

A creative space may look more eclectic than minimalist, but that doesn’t mean it will interfere with your home’s interior design. You can make your craft area as noticeable or unnoticeable as you’d like. 

Look for elements in your craft supplies that are cohesive with your home. For instance, storing brushes, small tools, or other supplies in glass mason jars blends perfectly with a farmhouse design. Keeping a clean workspace with supplies hidden underneath or concealed in cabinets allows a minimalistic home to remain minimal.

Design Your Dream Craft Room

No matter the size of your home, you can make your space work for you. Thinking outside of the one-size-fits-all home style is what we do at Spoak. Our design tools give you the ability to be your own interior designer by guiding you through options that work for your space.

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^{Photo Credit: (Left) Domino}

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^Sources:

^{How to Add Rollers to a Bookcase | SF Gate.com} 

^{21 Craft Room Ideas Designed to Spark Creativity | The Spruce}

^{The Case for Finally Cleaning Your Desk | HBR}

^{15 Creative Craft Room Organization Ideas | The Spruce}