This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases. My full disclosure policy can be found here.

I recently found some long divided crates at the thrift store. They were $1.99 each and I thought I could repurpose them to corral and store my large acrylic paint collection.

I'm one of those people who loves the idea of having a completely organized home, every room, drawer and cabinet organized and clutter free. However, I struggle to get there! Being organized is a challenge for me. I need to see my things (to remember what I have), rather than have everything tucked away behind closed doors.

When I'm crafting or DIYing, I tend to make a huge mess! In my studio/craft room, I have a lot of space, and I've managed to completely fill it up! I need to do a major tidy up every couple of weeks to stay on track of the mess. I try to keep it pretty organized, with specific places for specific things, and I find that organizing supplies by color makes them easier to find.

As a creative, I have a lot of paint of all kinds. I keep the larger paints in the metal lockers, but I was struggling to find a way to corral all the bottles of acrylic paints.

Let me show you how I organized the bottles of paints using thrifted crates.

I could have used these small thrifted crates as is, but I wanted them to match the decor in my office studio, so they needed a vintage makeover!

I started by brushing on some dark furniture paste wax, to give them a dark base. I like Annie Sloan dark wax because it is very creamy and easy to apply.

Once I had the crates covered in dark wax, I buffed them with a soft rag (old tee) to remove excess paint and really work the wax into the wood.

Next, I brushed on two coats of creamy white chalk paint (I'm loving this product). If you like even more of a creamy white, this paint is a good alternative. I didn't go heavy with the coats, but let some of the base coat show through. See how nice that dark wax looks peeking through the white?

Once the paint was dry, I distressed the edges a little bit and set up a corner in my studio with the crate storage as well as a few other supplies.

I organized the acrylic paints by color in the crates, which I stood on their ends and butted together so it looks like one large crate. It's going to be so much easier finding the right paint color now! I find that having the bottoms pointing out not only helps me identify the colors, but it also looks so good! Here's another post about organizing craft supplies by color (this was my office when we lived near Nashville).

While I was at it, I added another crate that I already had. I'm using it to store the specialty paints (fabric, suede, metallics, etc) and there's enough empty space left for any additional purchases 😁

Several years ago I recycled a vintage spice rack and the glass bottles as button storage, you can read more about that project HERE. Again, I organize them by color to make finding the right one even easier! I get inspired to make something just from glancing at this space.

So now this corner of my office holds all my paint supplies, both in the locker and above it. I have some aprons hanging on the door (that I need to remember to actually WEAR when I paint, so I don't get paint splotches all over my clothes!).

SHOP THE POST

Are you pretty organized, or is this a struggle for you too? Have any additional tips to add? I'd love some tips for organizing fabric! 

You might enjoy seeing all my offices/craft spaces in our various homes since I started this blog: