I don’t yet keep my craft room as green and organized as Lenore does, but it is one of my New Year’s resolutions to decorate my house more nicely (along with learning to sprout seeds, exercising every day, and getting a book contract), and it is part of our family ethic that anything we do must be done as green and thriftily as possible (per my green crafting manifesto), so Lenore and I are going to be craft room buddies pretty soon, I think.
I work almost entirely with found and recycled materials, so one of my biggest problems is the storage of…stuff. Old postage stamps, orphaned game pieces, costume jewelry, wrapping paper, comic books, beach rocks, buttons, and tinsel–you name it, and it finds its way into my work, and if I can’t see it and access it, I can’t use it.
Yeah, I’m tempted every time I wander into some big-box store, 40%-off coupon in hand, by all those clear, organized, neatly-portioned craft bins they always sell. Look, a different compartment for each kind of bead, and I can see them all! Look, slide-out drawers for each different kind of paper!
But I also want my craft room to have character, to not only contain the things that inspire me, but also, itself, BE an inspiration to me. So I have not bought those clear, organized, handy-yet-bland plastic bins. Instead, I try to find vintage, thrifted, or otherwise recycled containers for all my storage needs. Here’s part of my collection of vintage containers:
Vintage suitcases are popping up all over the place lately and have been upcycled into some amazing storage options. Creating the perfect craft storage solution is a journey not a destination. As our craft stash grows so must our storage options. If you are ditching the plastic bins for vintage containers, you must consider using vintage suitcases.
