The BIG reveal

I'm not 100% finished with my craft area makeover, but I'm excited to show off my hard work. This will be the last time I speak of this, since I've blathered on about it for days.

So, here's the BEFORE. Let me just say that this was at the epitome of craft craziness. This room didn't always look like this, but throw in a few harried crafts, a sewing project and two girls who don't pick up after themselves and this is what you get.



This is the AFTER. I still need a big more organization on those shelves, but for now, it works.


Here's a close up of the pegboard organization.

The pegboard is from Home Depot. Randy had to measure and cut it to fit the area. He then added wood trim behind the board to allow for the hooks to not pierce the sheet-rock. The wood and trim was $25.00.

I purchased the pegboard metal hanger accessories at Walmart. The accessories were less than $10 and had 48 assorted pieces.

I purchased the hanging wire basket from IKEA for $2.00.

The clear paper sorters are from Goodwill. I purchased these several years ago, so I was excited to use them on the peg board. I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than a buck for each.

The jars in the basket are also from IKEA. I originally bought them a year or two ago for my bulk spices but decided I didn't like them for that purpose. So, I pulled them from my spice cabinet and re-purposed them for the craft room. I paid $3 for them.

The mini aluminum buckets were purchased many years ago from Walmart in a Valentine's Day clearance sale. I paid $.50 for each bucket. I have been using these buckets as "gift bags" for small gifts, etc., but decided that if I haven't used all of them by now, then they were just taking up space on the shelf. Since I had enough, I thought it was a purpose well served. I also love the uniformity of it.

On this side of the pegboard, I set up a mini gift wrapping station. I love to buy the small rolls of gift wrap paper at Target in the "Dollar Spot" and they are the perfect size for this area.

Using the metal pegboard accessories, I placed wooden dowel rods with the rolls of ribbon and wrapping paper on top. It's a great set up and will keep everything neat and organized.

I ended up buying long wooden dowels rods at Hobby Lobby and cutting them to the size I needed. I bought 5 rods for $5.00.

The Container Store stackable bins were purchased at Goodwill several years ago. I placed all of my paper punches in the top bin so the girls can reach them easily. I paid $1.00 for each bin.

In my "before" picture you'll notice I had the Elfa Storage baskets on top of the table. In these baskets are store bought crafts that they receive for their birthdays, etc. I placed it on the table because it was easier for them to see what they had in there. This time around, I put it on the floor underneath the table. Since they are not accustomed to the contents of the baskets, they'll know to look there first for fun crafts. (By the way, I bought the Elfa Storage baskets and frame at Goodwill last year. $3.99 for the entire thing! Total Score!)

My goal for this area was to make everything easily accessible for the girls. Before everything was stored away in plastic bins with lids so they hardly ever used any of it. Now, that I've made everything within their reach, there's no stopping their creativity.

My out of pocket expense for this project (not including the items I already had in my possession) was $42.00. Not bad, not bad!