My boyfriend and I live in a 2-bedroom apartment and those of you who live in small apartments know that storage is at a premium.  We are lucky enough to have an extra bedroom to help out with storage.   The only problem with having a second bedroom is that it does become basically that- another storage room.

We were having trouble with putting the room together after the move and up until the other week, it had been filled with boxes of things we hadn’t unpacked yet and random furniture we hadn’t been able to find a place for.   We finally came up with a plan for the room and it  started to come together.  Once again, our second bedroom became the guest bedroom –slash- office-slash- craft room.   The only problem is that because the room fills all of those functions, I need a different type of storage for my crafts so that I can I take out what I need when I need it.

This is what the craft closet looked like before:

Total chaos.  It was so hard to fine anything, which is not really conducive to creativity.

So what do you need?   I bought a bunch of 16 and 6-quart Sterlite storage boxes from Target (they were the cheapest here: only $2.60 and $1.00 respectively) and a label maker from Amazon.   You don’t really need a label maker to do this project- you can easily print out labels from your computer, cut them out, and put them on the box with clear mailing tape.   Then, organize everything into all its own boxes and create labels.

You can box together whatever makes sense for you, but I had a box for: stationary, cookie cutters, fabric,  ribbons and strings, sewing,  paper cutters, paper, sprinkles and baking cups, and labels and markers.

Ta Da!  I love the results- It is so much easier to find everything.  Also, we finally got a tool box to fit both of our tools we have collected over the years.  There are two file boxes on the floor for both of our files.  I left them out in the open like that so we can put away important paperwork more easily and stay ahead of the piles of paper that build up so easily.

The games pretty much stayed the same, but I put the small games in a box together and it made them look neater.

This is my favorite storage label because I figured out how to use the icon on my label maker!  A cupcake icon for the baking cups and sprinkles.  Mmmm …makes me both happy and hungry for a cupcake!  Yay for organization!!!

What projects have you been working on in the New Year?