How to Organize Your Tools in a Craft Room: Creative Wall #2

This is step 2. There are five parts to this craft room organization wall project: Make Your Creative Wall Frames; How to Make a Gift Wrap Organizer; How to Make a $20 Photo Studio; How to Add Crown Molding to a Craft Wall.

If you have been following me the past week, you know I have been working on the “Creative Wall” in my craft room… aka… my Studioffice.  This wall side of the room in general is where I create  – hence the name I have given the room as it is more than just a home office – it is a creative studio + office = Studioffice.  I am making this room everything I need it to be –

1. Functional in not one, but four ways:  I need to have a place to  – write blog posts, wrap gifts,  make and create things, take photos where there is lots of light.

2 Pretty

3. Place for everything

4. No clutter

The tool frame is the most utilitarian aspect of the room, but without it – the room would not function and without the function the design of the room would be a failure. Before making this tool frame, I kept the tools I used daily in cache pots I made that I kept on the worktable. These looked very pretty, but whenever I began to make something– they were in the way and I had to move them – not functional. The tools on the wall keeps my worktable clutter free while the tools are still easily accessible.

This is what I love about design and decorating  – customizing for the way I live and work in a space –  the process is the same for every room.  If you read in your living room, do you have the right type of task lighting to make reading easy or is there only one ceiling light that makes it hard to read?  Is there a place to curl your feet up and a side table to place your drink?

When I look at a room – these are the first things I consider-

What is this room’s main purpose?  What items will make that purpose happen?  What needs to be added?  What is not needed?

Editing. It makes me happy and enables me to create a home that meshes perfectly with how my family and I live, not some arbitrary source that says a room should look or be a certain way.

How to Make the Tool Organizing Frame

supplies needed:

• Frame
• Pegboard
• Pegboard Organizer Kit
• Staple gun
• 1/2-inch staples
• Saw tooth hanger and wall hanging nail and hook
• White gloss spray paint
• Tin cans
• Ribbon
• Awl
• Hot glue and glue gun

The last wall frame is where I will set up to take photos of the items I make. I will show you it in my next post.

Before

To see how I made the frame, you can click over to this post – Putting the Creative Wall Together.  I bought the pegboard at Lowes. It comes in white, but only very big sheets of it. I only needed a small section, so I opted for this $6 brown piece and spray painted it white.

Once the paint was dry – I stapled it to the back of the frame using 1/2 – inch heavy duty staples. You could also nail it on with small nails

I added two saw tooth hangers to the back of the frame – one on each side, then hung it on the wall. Since the frames are butted up against each other, use a level to make sure you are placing the picture hanger on the wall in the right spot.  If you have trouble doing this – here is a picture hanging trick that may help you figure out exactly where the nail and hook should go on the wall.

I bought this pegboard organizing kit at Lowes for $12.  I didn’t use all of the items.  The blue plastic just didn’t do it for me.  They would be fine if this was in my basement, but in this room, I decided to use tin cans covered with ribbon to hold some of the smaller items I use daily. I used an awl to punch a hole into the top edge of each can and hung them on hooks that came in the kit.

Details count!  I wanted to change the blue tips that were on some of the hooks, so I went into my daughters’ stash of nail polish. Having two daughters means I had quite an array of colors to choose from. I picked pink and green. I dipped each blue tip on the hooks into the nail polish and let it dry. Now I have colors that coordinate with the room. Easy!  I used nail polish instead of craft paint since it is shiny and has an enamel finish.

If you look closely, you can see the green and pink tips in the photo below.

Form does not come first for me, function does.  What good is a pretty item, piece of furniture, or room if it is uncomfortable or serves no purpose in your life?  It may look good, but if you never sit in it -what good is it?  If it makes you smile then it serves a purpose :)  the best kind of purpose!   If it doesn’t then I would probably edit it – out of my life.

Trying to come up with functional pieces that also look good for my craft room – is what good design is all about.