Organizing craft supplies by color is a great storage solution for the visual person! It keeps like items together, and makes it easier to find what you need!

My office space has been a work in progress and I was hoping to share the final reveal with you by now. However, I decided to break up what would have been one massive post down into manageable chunks. Update: see the reveal here!

So today I want to share with you how I am organizing craft supplies in my tiny office space. I'm a very visual person and organizing supplies by color not only brings me joy because it's pretty, it helps me to find things quicker...which can be an all-day task when you have as much stuff as I do!

If you're new to DIY beautify, welcome! I have previously shared that I've taken over our former piano room/sitting room and have turned it into a home office (a place to blog and craft). Before this, I had commandeered a large wall in our bonus room to store all my craft supplies and paints.

I did pare down my supplies quite dramatically...a very difficult thing to do when you are emotionally attached to your stuff! But I followed the advice in Sarah Mueller's new e-book, 'Step-by-Step-Decluttering' and it helped me tremendously to step back, analyze not only what I have but the feelings that so much stuff evokes (in my case, chaos and clutter which lead to me feeling overwhelmed). If you're looking for some helpful tips on decluttering your whole home, you can find her decluttering e-book here.

I did not go out and purchase all new supplies and furniture for this room, because that's not how I roll. I re-used and re-cycled items I already owned, except for a few strategic pieces, which I'll be sharing in these next few office reveal posts.

What really helped me organize, while still allowing me to have a lot of craft supplies, was adding a hutch and a pine bookshelf, brought in from other rooms. This gave me both hidden storage (as seen below), and open storage on the pine shelf.


I moved this antique china hutch into the space from my bedroom. It's narrow and tall, so it doesn't eat up a lot of square footage. I swapped it out with my old craft cabinet, which I repainted robin's egg blue and am using for my clothes in our master bedroom. You can see that cabinet makeover here.

So let's take a wee peek inside this cabinet to see how I'm using it to store craft supplies.


I re-purposed an old apothecary cabinet that wasn't serving any function for my collection of acrylic paints. I removed all the drawers, and sorted my acrylic paints into the open cubbies by color. This allows me to easily see what I have (so much nicer than the basket they were formerly in). They're easy to see, grab and put away! Yes, there was just enough room for my frog tape on top! I love a perfect fit!


The drawers were placed side by side on the shelf above and are used to store all my chalk paint supplies, again sorted by color as much as possible. I had space to put my waxes, polys and other supplies on the side.


To the left of the acrylic paint storage, I put my spice cabinet that I turned into button storage. In front of that is a galvanized tray set filled with all my markers and scissors. I found this at Michaels, I believe it was a little planting box but it suits the function of marker storage even better!

Everything is sorted by color, so if I need a blue button or pink marker, I can easily see what I have to choose from.


I used another drawer to store all my neutral acrylic paints and my craft brushes on the bottom shelf.


So, bottom line...all my chalk and craft paints are stored inside this hutch, as well as buttons, markers, paintbrushes and some other supplies. The large drawer of the hutch is filled with drop cloth, burlap and other goodies of that nature that I use frequently.

Another way I've incorporated storage by color in my office is using baskets and mason jars on my tall open pine bookshelf. These antique ball jars are the real deal! I bought them off Craigslist several years ago and they make the rounds in my home.


Aqua is the accent color used throughout my home, and it's used in abundance in my office as well. I love to look up from my desk and see all the color!


Okay, confession time...I am a ribbon hoarder!

I've been collecting and using ribbon for a long time, and my daughter (Little DIY) is taking after her mama! She's made over 30 headbands using ribbons and flowers from my stash!


I have so much ribbon that I needed to utilize a large basket to store it all!


I re-used this 3-tier metal basket (that formerly housed fruit and veggies in my kitchen) to hold my overflow of ribbon. I found it at Cost Plus World Market a few years ago, and while I don't think they carry it any longer, you can find similar storage towers on Amazon.

In my defense (why do hoarders always feel the need to defend themselves, lol?), while I own a lot of ribbon, it gets used and most was purchased on sale or clearance...so don't judge me, haha! Do you hoard anything?

The baskets on my pine shelf (bought from IKEA about 10 years ago) are from Walmart! I've been very impressed with their selection of baskets, especially online. The baskets with chalkboard inserts are so sturdy and I like that the mess inside is hidden. I utilize those chalkboards so that I can see at a glance what's inside. I also have a lined wire basket with chalkboard on another shelf. When I share the room reveal, you'll get to see the entire shelf and how it's organized. Hint: almost everything is labeled!

I hope these ideas spark something inside you if you've been struggling to come up with a way to organize craft supplies. Organization doesn't have to be sterile or boring! I think organizing supplies by color adds a decorative element to a room while keeping it functional.

Please PIN THIS for future reference!

Be on the lookout for more office space reveals in the days to come! And later this week I'm sharing a great wood slice DIY.


bringing beauty to the ordinary,