Being creative is always fun, but can be a bit chaotic, but in a good way of course. Just because making art is messy doesn’t mean your workspace has to be. We are going to provide some great tips on how to keep your workspace more organized. This way you can continue to make great works of art, know where all your favorite supplies are, and not lose anything.
Everyone is different and has their own uniqueness with ways to organize their supplies. You can pick and choose which ideas work for you and adjust them to your liking.
Let’s get started with some basic ideas to keep your workspace clean
1. Containers For Storing Small Supplies
There are all sorts of containers that you can use for storage and several places to get them that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. A few suggestions are Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Target, and Walmart. A lot of these places have plastic, metal, and wooden containers such as totes, trash cans, crates, mugs, cups, candle holders, vases, crayon-marker-pencils boxes, and more.
2. Boxes and Totes for Large Supplies
There all types of sizes and shapes of boxes and totes that can be used for big supplies. A lot of these even have lids, that allow you to stack them neatly. A few places to get boxes and totes are Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, and other home improvement stores. Don’t leave out shoes, hats, and clothing boxes. Why not recycle and use what you already have? Don’t like the way it looks, you can decorate what you have to go along with your individual style.
3. Bookshelves
This style of shelving is not just meant for books and there are so many different sizes and colors. You can find different heights, widths, shapes, styles, and materials. Usually, bookshelves can hold so much stuff and can fit in tight spaces and give you a lot of needed vertical space.
4. Craft Carts
The great news about these, is they mostly come on wheels for moving ease. They also come in several sizes and colors as well with different amounts of shelving space.
5. Spice Racks
These make great organizers for paints, markers, pens, pencils, paper, and more. You can basically find these anywhere and they come in all different types of materials and colors. Also, they fit just about anywhere, so if you are limited on space this would definitely be a great option for you.
6. Wicker Baskets
You can usually find these around easter time or in home decor in most larger stores. Baskets can come in different sizes and styles and give your workspace a splash of style. You can have them flat on your desk, table, and/or shelf or you can have them hanging on a wall. So many types of supplies can fit into these such as markers, pens, fabrics, and more.
Now here are some advanced workspace organization ideas.
1. Pegboard Wall (With or Without Shelves)
To create this great organizational workspace all you need is a piece of plywood or pegboard for the base. Once hung, you can add Pegs in different sections to create storage space for scissors, yarn, string, tape, and more. If you want to add shelves to hold paints, paint brushes, pencils, and more, you can line up Pegs in a row to hold the length of shelving you want. You can customize this workspace the way you like, by painting the base, pegs, and shelves. Be creative with your workspace.
2. Bunk-bed Shelf and Paint Brush Holder
This is a simple way to keep the workspace clean and organized. You can have one or multiple shelves hanging on your wall. There are several styles of shelving to help keep your workspace clean and organized. The most common is a floating or hanging shelf. To keep it simple you can have a bunk-bed shelf. The top of the shelf will be flat that can hold paintings, photos, art, or art supplies. The bottom can be slightly angled to show off your paints or other art supplies. If you want your shelf to match- you can make both shelves flat or slightly angled. Now let’s add a paint brush holder. There are wooden and plastic ones available that can hold brushes, markers, pencils, and pens. The paint brush holder is also decoratable, get creative with it.
3.Table, Crates, and Containers
Another workspace organization idea is to use an old table, changing table, or desk for holding containers. A lot of these have shelves built in for holding crates or other styles of containers. You can use wooden crates, metal and/or plastic containers to hold your paints, brushes, markers, fabrics, yarn, string, tape, scissors, and more.
4. Honeycomb Shelf
Make a cute honeycomb floating shelf. It adds some nice decor to any room and it's a great way to store markers, pens, and pencils. You can make these by using wood to outline the shelf to look like a hexagon. Great and simple design is to have five hexagon shelves surrounding one hexagon shelf to resemble a honeycomb or flower. After all the shelves are hung up and arranged the way you want, you can place plastic tubes, vases, cups, etc, on their side to hold all your supplies.
5. Fruit and Vegetable crates
Most of the time you can find these are being given away, at yard sales, or thrift stores. These crates can be hung up on the wall and used as floating shelves. You can use jars, plastic or metal containers, cups, and more to house your art supplies. These crates give a little bit of a vintage style to your work station.
6. Old Fashioned Clothes Line
This is another unique vintage idea. You can make a square-shaped wooden or metal frame. You can then use wire, string, or yarn to make vertical lines go from one end of the frame to the next. To hang up your artwork you can use clothes pins (which can be artwork within itself). This is great for hanging up artwork that needs to dry or simply artwork that you want to show off.
7. Storage Cabinets or File Cabinets
If you like to be neat and tidy and want your supplies hidden away, this is a great option for you. Cabinets are usually moveable depending on the size you want and some have wheels. Also some come with locks and keys so you can keep your supplies secure.
These are only a few tips and ideas on how to keep your workspace organized. There are so many creative ways to do it. Whether you have a large room or small corner to keep your art supplies organized, these ideas can work for you.
You can always discard supplies (not easily done for most of us) or donate your supplies to someone in need (always a nice gesture). Keep creating art and have fun.
