How to Make Room for Craft Supplies in a Small Home

You don’t need a dedicated craft room to keep your supplies organized. When space is tight, look for storage that goes up instead of out, fits into unused areas, or can be moved out of the way when you’re done crafting. A spinning craft tower, folding craft cabinet, packout, toolbox, or narrow bookshelf can hold a surprising amount of stuff without taking over your home. 

Key takeaways 

• Take advantage of vertical space with tall craft towers, pegboards, and narrow bookshelves. 
• Choose storage that can do more than one job, such as a folding craft cabinet with a built-in work surface. 
• Use portable storage, such as picnic baskets, toolboxes, and packouts, if you don’t have a permanent crafting area. 
• Customize modular packouts with drawers, organizers, crates, and other components based on the supplies you use. 
• Use bins, baskets, jars, and small drawers to make shelves hold more while keeping supplies separated. 
• Measure your available space before buying large craft storage furniture. 
• Look for storage that can fit into a closet, corner, or under furniture when you’re not crafting. 

Use a craft tower 

For extra-small spaces, there may not be any better home for your craft area than a spinning tower shelf. They typically have shelves on four sides and spin so you can easily access what you need. They’re also very tall, so they use vertical space, which typically goes to waste. You can also put a decorative basket on top of the tower to extend the vertical storage even further. 

Look for spinning tower shelves that have extra organizational features like paper organizers, drawers, and adjustable shelving. These little features let you get the most out of the shelving.  

If you have room, add a spinning pegboard tower to your crafting area. Pegboards are a great place to organize tools, scissors, thread spools, bobbins, and more. 

Ultimate craft storage: The folding craft cabinet 

If you have enough wall space for a wide bookshelf, you have room for the ultimate craft storage solution. The folding craft cabinet is the Narnia of the crafting world looks like a bookshelf with doors, but opens up to include a fold-down craft table and a huge shelving unit.  

Before you go shopping, be sure to measure the area where your craft cabinet will sit so you can buy one that fits just right. Make sure there will be room in front of it for the table to expand and the doors to open.  

Picnic basket storage 

A very cute and very practical place to store your craft supplies is a picnic basket. It’s large enough to fill with your crafting odds and ends or your latest project, and it has handles, so it’s easily portable. Even better, it looks nice if you have nowhere to store it out of sight. 

Buy a packout 

Blue-collar workers have been using packouts to organize their tools, screws, bolts, and other whatnots on-the-go for years. Now, crafters are starting to catch on to how useful these storage systems are. 

Packouts (also called “modular tool storage systems” or “modular rolling toolbox systems”)  are customizable, stackable storage bins that connect to a dolly-style system so you can easily move the storage bins from one area to another. The stackable bins lock together so they don’t topple over, making them easy to wheel around. 

The best part of packouts is that you can get several different types of bins to fit your needs and you don’t need to buy all of them at once. You can gradually add on to your packout configuration as your craft supply collection grows or as your budget allows. 

Here are some of the different types of bins and accessories you can get for your packout: 

• Rolling carts or dollies: Wheeled bases that let you build a stack using whatever modules you want. 
• Large tool boxes: Deep, lidded boxes for bulky tools, power tools, yarn, and larger supplies.  
• Medium or standard tool boxes: General-purpose boxes for smaller supplies.  
• Compact tool boxes: Smaller boxes that let you separate tools or supplies into categories without dedicating a full-size box to them.  
• Drawer boxes: Stackable units with pull-out drawers. These are handy because you can get to what’s inside without dismantling the entire stack.  
• Organizers: Shallow boxes, often with removable compartments, perfect for beads, needles, thimbles, bobbins, thread, charms, and other tiny items. 
• Crates: Open-top stackable bins that give you quick access to frequently used items.  
• Totes: Open storage with handles for things you want to grab and carry separately.  
• Work surfaces: Flat tops or worktops that attach to the system and turn the stack into a small mobile workstation. Great if you need a little crafting table. 

When you’re not crafting, you can wheel your packout into a corner or closet. Then, when you need it, you can pull it over to the couch or kitchen table. 

The only downside is that packouts can be kind of ugly. You can jazz them up with your crafty skills. Cover them with a collage of stickers, glue on rhinestones, spray paint them, draw on them with paint markers…be creative. 

Get a toolbox 

If you don’t have that many supplies, a toolbox could be just the right size for you. They also come in a wide range of sizes and colors and often have customizable trays for different supply sizes.  

When you’re not using it, you can slip your toolbox under your bed, in the bottom of your closet, or under a side table. 

There are a lot of crafting boxes that can be found at big crafting stores, but they often work the same as a toolbox and cost a lot less.  

Buy a skinny bookshelf 

There are many very narrow bookshelves on the market that can be utilized for craft storage. You can place them wherever you have a little open wall space. Maximize the storage by using bins or baskets on the shelves to organize your crafting supplies. Jars filled with beads, buttons, or other small items can also go on the shelf. Boxes with drawers that fit on the shelves are another good way to maximize storage. 

Craft storage FAQ 

How do you store craft supplies when you don’t have a craft room? 

Use portable storage that you can bring to your work area when you want to craft and put it away afterward. Toolboxes, picnic baskets, and modular rolling storage systems can work well when your kitchen table, couch, or desk doubles as your crafting area. 

How do you organize a lot of craft supplies in a small space? 

Use vertical space rather than relying only on floors, tables, and countertops. Tall craft towers, narrow bookshelves, wall storage, and pegboards can provide additional storage without requiring a large footprint. Divide supplies into smaller containers so they’re easier to find. 

Where can you store craft supplies in a small apartment? 

Look for unused spaces in closets, corners, under beds, beneath side tables, and along narrow sections of wall. Portable containers can also make it easier to store supplies in one location and carry them somewhere else when you’re ready to work. 

How do you organize craft supplies without buying expensive organizers? 

Repurpose containers you already own. Picnic baskets, jars, small boxes, baskets, bins, and toolboxes can all hold craft supplies. Before buying something marketed specifically for crafting, compare it with general storage and tool organization products that perform the same job. You can usually find a better price on non-crafting storage. 

What is the best way to store small craft supplies? 

Use divided organizers, small drawers, jars, or containers to separate items such as beads, buttons, bobbins, thread, needles, and charms. Clear containers can make small supplies easier to find without opening multiple boxes. 

How do you create a craft area that can be put away? 

Keep your supplies in portable or rolling storage. When you want to craft, move the storage next to a kitchen table, desk, or other work surface. When you’re finished, return everything to its containers and move the storage back into a closet, corner, or other designated spot. 

Are modular tool storage systems good for craft supplies? 

They can be useful if you have a large or growing craft collection. You can combine deep boxes, drawers, small-parts organizers, totes, crates, and work surfaces to create a storage setup for your particular supplies. Because the components lock together and can be placed on a rolling base, you can move the entire setup when needed. 

How can I keep craft supplies from taking over my home? 

To keep your supplies under control, give your supplies a defined amount of storage space and return everything to that area after each project. Organize supplies by type, and periodically go through your collection to remove dried-out, broken, duplicate, or unwanted materials. If your collection grows, add storage vertically or consider moving less frequently used supplies out of your main living area.