Craft Studio Tour-Bottles and Boxes and Jars, Oh My!

We've been in our new digs 10 months now and it was high time I organized my studio. I'm doing very well after all my breast cancer treatments and so I took this last month and just did it. This is not just a hobby room but a working production space where I make my dolls, pillows, wreaths, jewelry, paintings and Etsy items. I also make dozens of birthday and Christmas gifts in here.

To start, I chose these necklace colors for my craft studio makeover...shades of blue in turquoise, teal, sky blue and contrasts of cream, silver, red and touches of black and white.

My three studios before this have all been functional but not very pretty, and I wanted a place that was creatively inspiring and fun to work in. I also knew I didn't want to spend alot of money!

So I started with this bookcase The Welding Man built for me and painted it with Apple Barrel acrylic paint in Turquoise. Gorgeous color! And what could be cheaper than Mod Podged book pages on the back and jars and bottles I already had? Plus, a Facebook shout out brought many more jars from my kids.

The book page theme would be THE answer to stylish, pretty storage for all my stuff. I have ALOT of supplies and I use them all. We found the countertop at the local Restore for $5, and all the shelving for less than $20. The frame underneath is from The Welding Man's old shop. Score! And yes, my work table usually looks like this with multiple projects going on at once. Underneath I store bolts of bleached, unbleached and tea dyed muslin, plus quilts and vintage chenille for my Santas.

Here's the tool end of my work table and another little shelf built by The Welding Man attached to one end. I've added the yard sale $3 turntable unit to hold brushes, pens, pencils and more. The jars on the other lazy susan hold erasers, razor knives, glue sticks and misc. tools I use all the time. I already blogged about the blue tool holder and little red shelf which I use for more tools and scissors. I've had both for so long I don't remember their cost, but I love repurposing what I've got in a practical way. Just peeking at the edge is my hot glue gun station. Ok, it's an icky crusty ironstone dish, lol!

I LOVE my book paged storage boxes! I've recycled old packaging from the post office, banker's boxes, Christmas gifts, shoe boxes and any container that is sturdy and fits my space. I also covered a few in black and white for some visual interest. The polka dots and the damask are both tissue paper from Walmart for less than $2 a pack. The black floral on white is contact paper from the Dollar Store. I've used 2 rolls for this room. I also made some of my labels from chalkboard contact paper which I had on hand.

The whitewashed ladder in the awkward corner holds the yarn for my Santas and other projects. Red yarns are for Raggedy Anns. The $1 yard sale bread box will soon be redone with book pages and paint. The gauzy curtain fabric was $2 at a church sale. I added my ruffled muslin garland just for fun. I blogged about redoing the cubby shelves and adding lots of little jars for storage. Love those!



Ooh aah, the BIG wall! This is not a large room so I knew we'd have to go high with alot of my storage and I love how it's turned out. The counter is too convenient sometimes for stacking, but I'm getting better about it. LOTS and LOTS of book paged boxes and jars and bottles and another painted shelf and a few bits of whimsy. Wooden yardsticks edge the bottom shelf to keep my paints in place.



If a jar had a stubborn label or sticky residue I used book pages, laces and trims to cover it up so that they became pretty AND useful. I was not about to go and buy matching storage for my craft room, that's not the way I think. But making something pretty and functional from what I have? That IS the way I think.

I've stored my paints in these Dollar Store baskets for years, and in just such a way. So convenient and visually appealing. I also love to have my laces and ribbons in jars so I can see just what I have to work with. I used what I already had so I didn't spend any money on this section. Wait, the shelf brackets were $3 a set but luckily we had some on hand. I figure about $30 on shelf brackets for this room.

Here is the far back corner and just a glimpse of my HUGE stash of fabric. I have 4 bookshelves full in here and more in storage. It's ridiculous the amount of fabric I have but I "shop" it all the time and rarely have to buy fabric for a project. And when I buy at thrift stores and garage sales I have a project in mind so I don't just "buy to have." Up top are more Mod Podged storage boxes with a few trimmed in pretty scrapbook paper at the corners. Sure wish I could find more of that red and turquoise flowered paper, it is perfect for this room. I didn't spend any money on this part of the room. I made the small shelf unit from a recycled drawer!

Turning the corner, this is on the right side of my room. More dolled up bottles and jars line up on this bookcase, with more storage boxes and baskets stacked up, too. Oh look, more fabric, lol!

A close up of those pretty jars and bottles. LOVE the way they came out!

The right corner viewed from my work table. Everything is in sight and easily accessible. Love the black and white houndstooth paper on that box, but that's all I had. I'll keep my eyes open for more, for sure. The Welding Man built the awesome shelving unit to exactly fit bankers' boxes with lids. It holds 7 of those puppies in a small space and they are easy to slide in and out. This was a birthday present a couple of years back. Yay Welding Man, you rock!

And another view of that awesome storage tower. The red foil wreath base was on clearance at the Dollar Store for 25 cents. I bought 12 foil wreaths of various colors at that price! Love clearance sales.

Behind the door are these narrow shelves that are just perfect for an array of smaller jars and bottles. These boards were $1 each at the Restore. All the metal brackets were $6 at a yard sale. I painted the wall hook turquoise and hung it up next to the shelves for this hot pink feather boa. It is too bright and pretty to stick in a box.

And here's an area that still needs work. My vintage steel tank desk with the metal shelf that The Welding Man made me. We stacked the mirrored unit from our old bedroom dresser on top. It is perfect for dozens of small jars and bottles, plus my big floofy coffee filter wreath looks great up there. I'll be painting the desk and chair soon, probably turquoise, and adding some small shelves to the left of my screen for convenience. Cost of this area? Um, I already had everything here but it did take $3 to make that wreath around Christmastime. More storage boxes are on top. And on the left is a glimpse of the blue bookcase that started this all.

I figure over the last ten months I've spent about $85 to set up, organize and fancify my craft studio. This includes 8 bottles of school glue for the book page projects and $6 for a jar of matte Mod Podge for a sturdy top coat. I know $85 would NOT buy dozens of brand new matching storage boxes much less the shelving I needed. So for less than $10 a month, I have the studio I envisioned. And I love the mixed eclectic vibe in my studio now, with a place for everything and everything in it's place. It's a little shabby chic, a little vintage style and alot of practical recycling. I know it is not a super elegant and simple space, but it absolute works for me!

Have a question about something you see in the photos? Just ask and I'll tell you all about it.

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