Crafts Room Storage and Organization Ideas

A simple solid-core door provides plenty of work surface for this studio bench, designed for hobbies and crafts. Shapely mail-order legs--counter height is a good choice--support the door. A vintage hutch, found at an antiques store, sits on the surface.

Customized storage makes the bench even more hardworking. Pegboard and a sheet of galvanized (magnetic) metal are mounted inside the hutch doors to hold small tools and swatches; a metal shelf bracket screwed to the bench on one side of the hutch keeps reference books from toppling. A painted wooden box attached to the underside makes a handy stashing space and is accessible through a lift door cut from the work surface.

Under the bench, a caster-fitted piece of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) becomes a dolly, making it easy to roll out heavy equipment, such as a sewing machine. Finishing touches give the unit charm--from the wood appliques glued to the hutch crown to the wallpaper-backed shelves within the hutch and colorful bin pulls on the hutch drawers and dolly.

Editor's Tip: Find inexpensive cabinets, chairs, and tables at used-furniture stores. Brush on a coat of paint, add new hardware and cushions, and these items will be nearly new.