So some posts back I promised I’d share my craft centre but I hesitated only because it is sort of a work in progress. I’m going to go ahead and show you the pictures now though and then whenever I get around to fixing it up I’ll post pictures again.
We purchased this two door stand alone closet many years ago when we lived in a much smaller home. My kitchen at the time didn’t have a pantry so this was what I used instead. It worked perfectly to fill that need and now we use it in our basement for crafts, games and puzzles.
The top half holds all my plastic shoe boxes of craft supplies. I say “my” craft supplies but really you must know I mean the kids because I don’t touch the stuff. Believe me, I’m totally allergic to arts and crafts. I’d rather stand on my head for hours straight than have to glue pom poms onto popsicle sticks. Of course that would require me to actually, you know, be coordinated enough to stand on my head which I’m totally not and so would have to learn first. But back to the crafts…here is a closer look:
I love plastic shoe boxes and they love me back, I know they do!! They flirt with me every time I open the doors.
The stuff on the top shelf on the right hand side is where my daughter keeps all her scrapbooking supplies.
The bottom half of the cabinet is the “work in progress” section. It is where I keep the kids games and puzzles.
What’s wrong with it you ask? Well nothing except that we have many more games than this…in another cupboard upstairs….gasp! What can I say, we love board games in this house and all of them get played but having them in two different locations drives me insane!!
What I’d like to do is use this whole cupboard to contain all the games/puzzles in one area and find another home for the craft supplies. However, the crafts do need to stay in the basement as that is where the craft table is. I’m trying to come up with an inexpensive storage solution that will still keep them out of the way of the baby. Maybe just some shelves on the wall but preferably something with doors. Unfortunately the playroom doesn’t have any closets. I’ll be looking for some inspiration when I hit the Solutions store again in just a little less than a week. Yeah!
Of course a little purging of the games won’t hurt either. First on my list will be Candyland! I’ll happily sit and watch that one burn! Thankfully Katrina and her game reviews have helped us move beyond the dreadful game that NEVER ends!!
I’ll let you know what I come up with…..try not to let the suspense kill you 🙂
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crazydaisy says
I love it! I am totally headed down to the basement (ok, first thing in the morning) to put my craft stuff in the shelves! We have the exact same kind of pantry with shelves from a previous house that didn’t have ANY shelves in the kitchen and now it’s in th basement with 1 #10 can in it. Craft central, here I come! Thanks!
Rona's Home Page says
Looks great Laura.
Oh, just so you know we had a major move…from San Diego to Las Vegas. And with limited Internet access I was missing all my favorite blogging buddies.
Well, I’m back.
I hope you still are hosting Menu Mondays.
The Chatty Housewife- says
I would look for a matching cupboard with half the shelving. That way you could store all the games in one, and all the crafts in the other. I really like that your cupboard has doors, because it hides the cluttery look of craft supplies and games.
MotoMom says
We just had an Ikea store open. People began camping out in front of the doors 3 days before it opened. I am getting twitchy knowing all those storage cabinets, bins, and boxes are so close, yet still so far away. Once the crowds die down a bit I am planning an afternoon of drooling over all the possible storage solutions.
KarenW says
Looks great to me! Don’t you wish that games came in a standardized box so that they would stack neater?
Faerylandmom says
I’m sure it won’t take you too long to figure something out. 🙂
Org Junkie says
Crazydaisy, send me pictures!!
Hey Rona, welcome back!!
The Chatty Housewife ~, I would love a similar cabinet, I’ve been keeping my eyes open at garage sales.
motomom ~ I might get to go to Ikea as well on vacation, that would be so exciting!
Karenw, I couldn’t agree with you more!
Faerylandmom, I hope you are right!
Laura says
Laura, swing on by to see what I’ve given you today. (it’s not the contest… it’s something else.)
MeganS says
I am so glad you did this… I am right now, as we speak stuggling with games. My kids are just starting to find their passion with them and we seem to be accumulating them. Sadly, space is an issue no extra room to speak of. I like the idea of cabinet with doors… Currently, they are on top of a bookshelf in a stack… Can’t wait to see all the other suggestions!
Tis me.... says
What I’d do for a basement *swoon*
Jennifer, Snapshot says
LOL, I agree about liking Katrina’s game reviews for the exact same reason.
Don’t you dare forget your “designated space” rule!!
DeAnna says
I love this set up for the board games…especially that it has doors! I need to get something like this for mine. Right now they are driving me crazy in that bathroom closet way high up on a shelf, there’s 20 or more and they are stacked so high that I have to get a chair and hope they don’t all come tumbling down! Plus the different size boxes and broken up boxes are driving me crazy *sighs* You truly ARE a genius when it com es to organizing!
Thanks for your blog!!!
DeAnna,
[email protected]
Katrina says
Oh yes, Candyland simply must go! 🙂 Our games are slowly taking over our entire basement. I dream of having them all on one set of shelves one day…but I haven’t found big enough shelves, yet! 🙂
Kim C. says
We got brave with our board games: Since so many of the boxes are 3/4 empty, we took out the boards and labeled the outside of each one. They all stand side-by-side like tall, thin books on our game shelf.
We put the game pieces and instructions in a ziplock, clearly labelled the bags, and tossed them into a plastic tote.
This saved a ton of space for the great majority of our games. Those few games that actually *used* the space in their original boxes just stayed in their boxes.
We also did something like this for puzzles: We cut out the picture of the puzzle, then put the picture and the pieces into a large ziplock bag. With the excess air pressed out of the bag, this takes up about 75% less space than the box.
It was all a little scary, but many months later, we haven’t regretted it yet.
Munchkin Land says
Oh, Laura, you make me smile! =) It sounds like the kind of project you enjoy. I’ll wish you luck and can’t wait to see the pictures when its all finished.
Sybil says
boardgamegeek.com is another great site for user reviewed games
Lisa says
Oh no, not Candyland! I have been looking for one of these. Not new from the shelf – only a cheap one for my toddlers to play with. Ah, but yes, even Candy land must go sometimes. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
CarolinaDreamz says
forgive me for repeating any ideas already in comments.. I haven’t read the comments yet..
I did want to share, before I forget or get lost in blogland, which is so common for me.. ha ha what we do with our games and puzzles..
For our puzzles..
We put the pieces into a large manila envelope (I use interoffice larger 10×13 because they string wind closed). The envelopes were stood up in two rows, in a new plastic kitty litter pan on a bookcase shelf! We cut out the front photo and put it into sheet protectors in a binder. We put a circle sticker in the top corner, with a number on it, and put the same number on the large envelope.
When the children were younger, and their puzzles were smaller, I would turn them over, after they were put together and I’d put a number on the back of each piece, too. This number also corresponded with the envelope and it was easy to put away a stray piece when we came upon them.
For games.. I found two old briefcases at the thrift store. I sorted game pieces into packages (zipper bags or envelopes, although today we use more cloth drawstring bags and zippered fabric bags) All the game boards were put into a large canvas bag. The game rules were cut off the boxes or removed from the boxes and put into sheet protectors in another binder.
These systems greatly consolidated the game piles!
~Heidi
sasa says
a yo i dont love it it is so ugly like i could have made that but me bad it was already in me room lol i could have did this bull.s. an me lil sis can do it to lol boreing im just sruching on google an i happend to find this mass lol