Common mistakes made when designing your perfect craft room

I have made ALL these mistakes in the past in each craft room I have designed and I’d love you to avoid these pitfalls.

• Not having anywhere to photograph your projects
• Having too much on show and making your room look messy and untidy
• Not leaving enough room for your supplies to grow
• Keeping things you not longer need or use.
• Not storing similar items in the same area
• Choosing storage because its pretty but not functional
• Not labelling items
• Not having the basic items on hand
• Stacking items

Let’s dig a little deeper into these mistakes and see if I can share some photo examples of my previous craft room disasters to highlight the problem.

Photographing your projects

If you ever need to photograph what you have made, you will need to understand the light in the room and where to position your project so it’s facing the natural light source. Natural light is always my preferred option when photographing projects but its not always easy to have somewhere to position your project. In a perfect scenario, you would be stand in between the window/natural light source and your project without blocking the light with your body. The problem I had in my old craft space was that the desk nearest the window was built in and I could not get in front of the project to photograph it. Without setting up a temporary surface each time, I need to be able to photograph my project facing the light with a nice photo worthy background.

Not having the right spot for taking my photo’s really held me back from sharing my business. If you don’t get natural light you can consider investing in a light box. It means you can take photos anytime with the correct set up but I really encourage you to implement space in your craft room for this to be a permanent feature as there is nothing worse than having to set up the Lightbox each time you use it. This is a huge topic so do your research and make it a priority to have somewhere quick and easy to take your photos based on your own set up.

Having to much on show

Open storage is so useful but don’t have everything on show. Us crafters own a lot of stuff and we don’t use all of it all of the time so plenty of it can be hidden out of view. This will make your room feel tidy and clutter free which means you will spend less time tidying and more time crafting.

This is a photo of my old postal area. I had that bespoke shelf unit made and then filled it to rafters with so much stuff! I bunged stuff on top, below and I had a unit that despite having a shutter to hide the contents, was open most of the time as I could not close it because of having too much stuff inside! Even the little shelf unit next to my postal unit was a mess filled with envelopes.

This is the same area NOW. This isn’t just a photo of when everything was tidy, it still looks like this now. The drawers and cupboard hide all the stuff you don’t need to see. The open shelves are styled with pretty items and baskets add more storage on top. So much better!

Not leaving enough room for your supplies to grow

Not once but twice I did this! I designed my stamp storage for the amount of stamps I had at the time. I did not factor in that we have additional catalogues filled with stamps throughout the year and that my collection would grow and expand depending on the time of year! Most crafters are collectors as much as they are crafters and we like to buy new stuff so make sure you allow enough room for additional items as your collection grows.

This photo was shared earlier in the week. It perfectly shows that I designed a shelf to fit between two cupboards because it would look nice and fit the space. But I had not thought about how many stamps I had or if my collection would grow, so very quickly I had to store more on my desk which took up valuable crafting space and didn’t look as intended. Same with the punches, once I had filled those racks, then what? A craft room re-design, that’s what!

Keeping things you no longer need

I think we are all guilty of this one! We keep so much just in case. I used to snip the ribbon from inside clothes (to hang from hangers) and store in my craft room. Did I ever use it? No I did not, it wasn’t the right length, colour etc. I also kept good pieces of cardboard, you know the really sturdy stuff useful for making mini albums. I must have recycled about 40 pieces when I de-cluttered my craft room. Utter madness. We also hold onto things that were expensive as it makes us feel guilty to dispose of them. If you don’t use it, no matter how much it cost, get rid of it. There are lots of places to recycle, re-use and re-home unwanted supplies.

Storing items in the same area

Don’t keep items dotted around your craft space. Zone things (check out this post on zoning your craft space) so that all the same or similar items are in one place. It will make using and finding them so much easier. You won’t need to hunt around but simply go to one area to find what you need. For example in my old craft space I purchased expensive punch storage to fit in my KALLAX unit. I soon ran out of space and had some punches that were too tall to fit so I had to store them in several areas. Everytime I looked for a punch I had to scour all the places.

They were in the same zone at least but in reality they were scattered all over because I ran out of room and because the punch storage was expensive I felt I had to use it. This time round, I sold it for a good price and invested in a shelf instead.

Choosing pretty over functionality

So many times I have seen a cute container and thought ooh that would look nice in my craft room. Or maybe I have purchased something because it was cheap and wanted to make it work. Or maybe I had seen the same idea in someone else’s craft room and wanted to replicate it. You have to choose what works for your space and be realistic about its functionality. I purchased a multi drawer unit that by luck fit our ribbon spools inside so I could have a little piece of the ribbon sticking out of the drawer. It was cute but very quickly it did not deliver. Not all my ribbon spools were the same size so I had to find another storage solution. Choose functionality over pretty every time!

Not labelling items

We think we will remember when items are stored but believe me, you will soon be hunting high and low to find things. Label items so you know what is where and can reach it within the blink of an eye rather than rummaging around.

Not keeping you basic craft items close by

When you sit down to craft you need all the basic things required close by and within reach. I have a carousel on my craft table which has all my basic tools in. I then use my wheeled RASKOG and bring to where I am. That has all my other essentials on hand so I am not constantly getting up and down to find what I need.

Stacking things on top of one another

It is so easy to stack things on top of one another. You have a deep cupboard or drawer for example, its so easy to stack them but when it comes to getting your hands on them, it never ends well. It is better to have storage boxes within the space so you can remove them without everything tumbling down around you.

Inside my drawers, I have added boxes and the items are side by side rather than stacked which means I can easily see everything and easily remove one or all items. I do stack some items but they are normally the same size and I can see the edge of everything stacked and remove the one I need. It takes a little more careful manoeuvring but can work. And example of items stacked shown below, so that I can see the edge of all the items and slide the one I need out.

Really take some time to look at the pain points in your craft space and identify whey they don’t work. Quite often, a small change can make a big difference. And a well designed space is always a pleasure to craft in, never a chore!

I hope you enjoyed my blog posts this week focusing on creating your own dream craft room. If you missed any of my posts you can see them below –

Craft Room Tour and Planning the Perfect Craft Room

How to zone your craft space

Craft Room Storage Solutions

Office/Desk Area Storage Solutions

Thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope it was useful x