crafty storage

I finally got my crafty storage to a point where I'm willing to share it. Deciding on how to store my materials, supplies, and tools took a long time and was really difficult. My problem was that I don't focus on one craft. Sewing and crocheting are my main focus, but I adore learning new crafts. Sometimes I like to make embroidered felt flowers. I want to make paper and crocheted jewelry someday. Most recently I have begun learning how to needle felt, which can be related to crochet, but not necessarily.

The point is, my storage system couldn't be just shelves and racks for paper like a scrapbooker. I couldn't just have a set of large, lovely flat file drawers like a stamper. As much as I would love to have an old library card catalog as storage for beads like a jewelery maker, that just doesn't make sense for me. I have so many different and sometimes random items that I need to store so looking for craft-specific storage solutions didn't work.

The other problem is the sheer volume of stuff that I own. Not to say that I should necessarily expand my storage to fit my stuff, but many of my first attempts at organization were too small to begin with. I figured I needed something big and customizable, but not too expensive, and something that would fit in my room.

Ikea, of course. The PAX/KOMPLEMENT system at Ikea was perfect for my purposes. Not only can you choose the number and sizes of drawers and shelves, but also you have a wide variety of interior organizers available made specifically to fit the wardrobes.

The problem was the price. With all the fittings I needed for it, the wardrobe would have easily reached over $600. And so my search began for a used wardrobe with a close configuration. After weeks of obsessively scouring listings and being disappointed by flakes, I came home with one and adjusted the interior to fit my needs for less than half the retail cost. I have been slowly organizing it for 4 months, and it's finally in a pretty good place. I'm not a neat person naturally, so keeping all my fabrics folded and all my yarns organized is difficult; I make a point to stay mostly organized in my wardrobe because otherwise productivity suffers.

Next I'm going to organize the compartmentalized drawer (first drawer in the wardrobe) and my desk, but having this much done feels awesome. This is the first time ever that I've had my crafting stuff organized. When I'm done with everything, I'll post pics of it all together.