Craft Storage Solutions > Fay DH Designs > Blog 1

CRAFT STORAGE SOLUTIONS

INTRO

Many of us have piles of crafting equipment.   Be it spinning wheels, yarn, fabric, art materials – the list goes on.  Crafting is always made easier when you have great storage and you can easily access your things.  Crafting storage comes in so many shapes and forms and you can spend as much or as little as you like in getting the right crafting storage solutions for your home/studio.   

We have recently moved to a new house and that allowed me to set up a new crafting space, rejig what I was using for storage and create a space that really works for how I design and craft in that room.   Really simple things like having a permanent space where your sewing machine lives mean I am far more likely to use it!    Let me take you on a tour of my craft room to show you some of my storage solutions.  They come from IKEA, have been foraged, are from DIY stores or have been found second hand.   The thing that links most of my storage solutions is that they are modular.  That helps me to create distinct areas for the different crafts I do and that means I can easily swap things around if I need to in the future. 

SHELVING

I used to store my yarn in a glass-fronted Oxberg IKEA unit but when we moved that got to stay downstairs because it’s really heavy!  This is  a great unit for storing yarn in because it comes in single or double width and the glass doors help to keep moths out (they could still sneak in through the door crack if they were particularly determined.

Instead, my yarn is now in a set of shelves that has a honeycomb structure and it makes my heart sing every time I see it.  There’s a lot to be said for that.  I picked these up second hand on Facebook Market Place and regularly see them advertised there.  The Polygon Shelving Unit from Made.com is available in Ash (like mine) or walnut veneer.  What I particularly love is that you can change it to two sets of four shelves, or all eight as I have done.

I have added the link to the original seller of this shelving to this blog post.  When I showed off my new storage over at the Crochet Circle Podcast, so many of you wanted to know where I got it. 

As with the IKEA Oxberg, the Polygon shelves are the ideal depth for a skein of yarn.  I believe that the Polygon shelving is also durable enough to be used for books, but to do that you would want to secure it to the wall too. 

If you have the budget for it, you could go all out and vintage. I dream of having a full Mid Century, Teak Ladderax craft room someday – ya know when I’m a proper grown-up and everything!

There’s also this new version by String which is available from John Lewis.  It is very much based on Ladderax but you can go and see it in a shop (pandemic allowing) rather than take the second-hand gamble.

And also this sustainable option from Grain.  Their ethos & ethics are right up my street.

CUBBY STORAGE

This is where my craft room gets mixy-matchy because things have been added over the years, nabbed from my show stand furniture that I use for Provenance Craft Co. or I have just had a bit of a make-do attitude. 

So here are the easy shop-bought solutions for you:

IKEA options that people have used are the Besta range – this is at the higher end of the IKEA price spectrum but has decent sized cubby holes with a nice range of doors to choose from.  As is the way with most things in life, the more you pay, the better he quality generally is. 

I also have IKEA Kallax units in the craft room and their accompanying material box cubbies.  These units are really versatile.  Matthew (partner in crime and way naughtier than me) now has a load of my old Kallax units from my old studio in his office.  They scrub down well and stopped us from having to buy new office furniture for that room. 

The real beauty of Kallax is that it is very modular and you can quickly swap from open shelving to doors, to drawers, to cubby boxes.  The units are also stackable, so you can create configurations that will work in most situations.  Kallax will fit most crafting books too, so it is a really good, affordable option.

It’s also worth checking out what your large DIY stores offer as many of them are trying to replicate what IKEA does.  Here in the UK, we have B&Q and they offer a range called Konnekt that is not dissimilar to Kallax.

If you want to go even more modular, crates are a great option.  So long as they are sturdy and the same size, you can stack them in multiple combinations to mix and match portrait or landscape cubbies to suit your needs.

I have a combination of old apple crates that I bought from eBay.   There are pitfalls if you are buying old crates, so you need to look out for woodworm, beasties, check that they aren’t too rickety.  I think I got a pallet of 10 and had to throw two away and it took me months to find the wood burrowing beastie that was happily chomping away on one of them. 

On the upside, these are decent sized crates that hold a lot of stuff. 

IKEA also has crate options called Knallig.  These are quite sturdy – I have only managed to damage one so far while transporting about 10kg of crafting books in it!  These are generally smaller than apple crates, so you won’t fit as much in them.

In the new craft room, the only things I have added to the wall are for making the place feel inviting.  Eventually, I suspect that much of my crafting stuff will end up in the outdoor studio/office when we build it, so I don’t want to drill loads of holes in the walls of a room that is also out guestroom. 

So instead, I hung two IKEA Skadis pegboards and adorned them with all the things that make me feel happy, creative, and enthused to design.  These boards have all sorts of accessories that make them ideal for adapting their use to your craft.  Have a washi tape obsession?  They have a solution for that.  Need a crochet hook holder?   There’s an option for that.  Nik-Nak holders?  There’s an option for that too!

There’s even a mini Skadis pegboard door for the Kallax unit in case you are lacking space…

I have also used the Knallig crates as a wall hanging storage unit for lighter things.  I created a nice macrame strap with a curtain hoop that I attached to the crate so that I could hang it from the picture rail in my studio.  It wouldn’t do for my crafting books, but it’s a nice addition for dressing a room with crafty bits.

If you fancy something a little more bespoke, Etsy is full of lovely pegboard makers like this one.

My crafting desk is just a cork desktop (IKEA no longer sells these) on top of a range of shelving cubes.  This goes to show that you don’t need to specifically buy a desk, you can use whatever works for you.

If you want a ready-made desk, take a look at these options from IKEA or this amazing, customizable desk top from Grain (I love what they do).

SEEKING CRAFT ROOM TREASURES

Some of my favourite craft room features are the things I have foraged for or found second-hand, online. 

For instance, you can often find washed up bricks on stone beaches.  Sometimes these brick will have a series of holes in the centre of them, which makes them perfect for storing crochet hooks, scissors or knitting needles in.

I have added a shelf over my crafting desk that was a piece of wany edged timber for B&Q, sat on two crates.  I levelled up the next stacked crate with pebbles from my favourite local beach. It does the job and every time I look at it, I think of the sea. 

Looking at online second-hand sites like Gumtree or Facebook Market Place (you may hate FB as much as I do but Market Place is a great place to find local treasures that people are selling/giving away for free).  Have a look for things like sewing machine tables, sewing boxes, or storage and you will be amazed by what is available.  Likewise, charity shops can also be a great place to find crafting solutions.  My first sewing box came from a local Oxfam shop and my latest Mid Century sewing box was from Facebook Market Place.

PROTECTIVE STORAGE

If you want to protect your crafting fabrics and wool then you may want to go down the route of plastic boxes.  I know lots of people like Really Useful Boxes, but I find it super annoying that they don’t stack inside each other which makes them horrendously space inefficient when they aren’t being used and when they are in container ships coming over from China, they are literally transporting fresh air and the customer is paying for it!

Instead, I recommend these two options:

First up are the stackable grey boxes from B&Q.  They are made from 100% recycled plastic in the UK and have a great range of sizes and pricing points.  These are sturdy boxes that we will use over and over again. 

Secondly,  are the IKEA Samla boxes.  These are nowhere near as durable as the B&Q ones but they are clear which makes identifying what is in each box so much easier.  If you are buying these boxes, just note that you also need to buy clips for the lid and that these don’t close nearly as well ass the B&Q ones or Really Useful Boxes.  If moth proofing is your thing, I don’t recommend the IKEA Samla boxes. 

BEYOND STORAGE

Just a few other things to think about if you are creating a crafting space.

Make sure you have easy access to electricity sockets so that you can plug in lights, a phone charger, your sewing machine...

Go all out on the soft furnishings.  This is the place to show off your crafting skills and have a blanket to hand, a crocheted rug, or some handcrafted ornaments. 

If you love music, make sure to have a DAB radio in there too.  Having a separate radio means you are more likely to put your phone away and relax in your crafting space.

Good light is essential.  If you can place your favourite chair beside natural light, you will be able to craft to your heart’s content.  If that is not an option, make sure you have a good light and look at getting a daylight bulb for it. 

Get a comfortable chair to sit in.  I quite like a high, straight-backed chair and have the Agen wicker chair from IKEA at my crafting desk.  I also have an old Ercol (365 Tub) chair that I have in the window for when I want to slouch in natural light.

Posters and prints add quick and easy colour and focus to your craft space and can be simply placed up on the wall with washi tape.  I love my colour wheel one and some of the natural history ones from Willow & Stone.  They are actually meant to be used as wrapping paper, but they are made from lovely thick, recycled paper and make great affordable posters.

WHY MAKE YOUR CRAFT SPACE SPECIAL?

The main thing is to create a space that you enjoy going into that does not bring on the dreaded overwhelm.  I have masses of crafting materials and equipment and I have found that organising it so that things are easy to find and are visually appealing to me, allows me to enjoy being in the space rather than feel guilty about how much stuff I have.  This is my hobby and my livelihood and it brings me all the joy!

LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH

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About Fay Dashper-Hughes

My name is Fay and I design crochet and knitwear patterns.  I love proper woolly wool and showing crochet off for the beautiful, versatile craft that it actually is.    Inspired by nature, architecture,  Scottish landscapes and British wool.  

Generally found in my happy place, my craft studio, affectionately known as The Hive.