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ABM Studio: The Craft Room (Before)

Home Tour: ABM Studio
By Elsie Larson

Craft room inspirationOrganized studio inspiration via I Art U. 

I have a major soft spot for craft rooms, art studios and offices. I was trying to count, and I think this will be the eighth craft room I've organized and worked in. Crazy right? I think my favorite studio is still this one from 2010. Well, it's time to start fresh! We have a room in our new space that is designated for "making". 

Here are a few "before" photos:Craft room before This room is the first room at the top of the stairway, it shares a hallway with the bathroom, bedroom and photo room. 

Our first impression of this room was that we loved the three giant windows. We chose this room for the craft room because of the incredible natural light, which will be helpful for both a happy working atmosphere and taking photos of our projects in progress.Craft room before This is the wall you see when you enter the room. 

Craft room beforeCraft room before
There is a small closet too. 

Craft room before And a detail shot to show the wallpaper. It's the last time you'll be seeing that, as the first order of business in this room is removing the wallpaper, skim coating and painting. We decided to remove the carpet in all of the upstairs in hopes that we would find beautiful original hardwoods like we did in my house. That wish did not come true. We found Asbestos tile instead… not our favorite moment. So we moved on to plan B and had new wood floors laid (professionally and safely) over the tile. Goodbye Asbestos. 

We chose white walls and bright white trim for this room. It's becoming a great blank canvas! Our next order of business is to choose furniture, shelving, chairs, a rug and some great lamps so we can get productive in this room ASAP! Organized craft room inspirationOrganization Inspiration via Country Living and Njainschigg. 

After so many studios through the years I know that more stuff isn't always better. We're currently making (BIG) efforts to purge and donate all of our unused supplies. The goal in this new space is to keep it simple, clean(ish) and fun to work in. I know it will get messy, and it should. I mean, it's a workspace. But the goal is to have something that's functional and fresh, even when it's a mess. Is that possible? I think it is. 

We need a space for DIY-making, sewing, printing, scrapbooking and photographing steps as we go. We want to have all the supplies we need for those tasks and nothing else.

I am searching for organization solutions for storing our collections of paint, fabric and paper. We also have a lot of tools like glue guns, scissors and staple guns as well as machines like sewing machines and printers. We use all of these things on a weekly basis, so figuring out a great layout is essential. There is a closet to hide away a few things that aren't so easy on the eyes, but it's very small so we need to use that space wisely. Craft room organizationImage Design Files via Dwell. 

I like the idea of having a place to keep notes on current and upcoming projects. We always have at least a few projects going at once, so a way to visually record our deadlines, projects and supply lists could be nice. 

I've been collecting ideas on my Studio Spaces pinboard. I'll share more in the coming months as we move in and get settled. xo. Elsie 

Credits // Author and Photography: Elsie Larson, Inspiration images are linked throughout.

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