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How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room

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When we lived in our 2-bedroom condo, I had very little space for crafting. My so-called “craft room” was in the living room with my sewing machine sitting on top of a cheap card table. So when we moved into our single-family home, I knew a craft room was in order (but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money!).

How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room - Thrift Diving

Because I love thrift stores, it only made sense to buy everything second-hand.

So here are a few tips to help you pull together your own affordable thrifted craft room!

 

How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room

Here are some craft room ideas that won’t cost very much money.

TIP #1 – Paint Everything the Same Color.

The thing about second-hand is that everything is usually mismatched–different color woods, different styles…I guess that’s true for any room that gets all second-hand thrifted furniture. The best way to unify everything is to paint it the same color, or at least, complementary colors. Who cares if you have different styles of furniture?

If you’re new to painting furniture, be sure to check out this post: What’s the Best Paint for Furniture? You generally won’t have to sand or prime the furniture because furniture paints work well without sanding or priming.

 

TIP #2 – Plan What You Need Before You Start Shopping

Whenever you’re planning a room makeover, including a craft room makeover, you’ve got to plan properly. So I created this Room Makeover Journal printable for you to download so you can start planning your craft room makeover!

Just enter your name and email to download the printable:

 

 

How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room - Download this Room Makeover Journal packet - Thrift Diving

 

If you want to get super crafty, you can even use scrapbook paper to create DIY journal notebooks to help plan and organize your craft room makeover.

 

How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room - Create this Room Makeover Journal notebook - Thrift Diving

 

TIP #3 – Look For Cheap Wall Shelving

The point is to get things off your desk and on those walls. I found this wall shelf for only $5.00!! It ended up working out perfectly. If you can’t seem to find any shelves, look for crates that you could turn on their sites and mount to the wall to act as shelving. Or, even use dresser drawers from old dressers you’ve found at the thrift store!

 

How to Pull Together a Thrifted Craft Room - Pretty turquoise craft room. - Thrift Diving

 

Here’s what it looked like when I bought it:

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Hang wall shelving to keep items off your desk. - Thrift Diving

 

It’s a great place to store old cans with craft supplies in them:

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Hang wall shelving to keep items off your desk and use aluminum cans for storage. - Thrift Diving

TIP #4 – Make Your Own Crafting Desk (Or Buy One Thrifted)

I am in LOVE with my vintage Anco Bilt drafting table that I found at the thrift store for only $30! It was truly a steal. I decided to keep it rustic and natural because, well, it is more valuable that way. But if you’re crafting on a desk, you’re going to be dropping pins, scissors, etc., and you may just scratch any desk you decide to use if it’s painted. I like the rustic look more. Any nicks and dings only add to its character :).

On eBay these drafting tables have sold for about $300, so finding mine for $30 was a steal!

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Use a vintage drafting table. - Thrift Diving

 

BONUS TIP: Position your crafting desk perpendicular to the wall because it creates a nice little alcove-ish area for you to call your own, especially if you’re sharing the room with your spouse! Cap it off with a bookshelf on the end and stack crafting books on it. I bought this one from a yard sale for $10!

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Place a crafting table perpendicular to the wall. - Thrift Diving

 

You can also find two similar-sized file cabinets and lay a door, old countertop, or a large piece of wood on top to create a really affordable crafting desk.

This desk only cost me $15! Check salvage shops for old doors or an old countertop piece.

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Place a door on two file cabinets to create a crafting desk. - Thrift Diving

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Place a door on two file cabinets to create a crafting desk. Paint it for a unified look. - Thrift Diving

TIP #5 – Buy Extra Lamps (Or DIY Your Own!)

Craft rooms need lots of light, so look for an old thrifted lamp, or make an awesome DIY pendant lamp to hang over your drafting desk. I made mine out of my broken Crate & Barrel wire fruit basket! You won’t believe the cool light art that it creates on the ceiling when I turn it on!!! I love it!

(For the full tutorial on how to create your own DIY pendant lamp like the one I did, here are the video tutorial instructions.)

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Create lighting for the craft room. - Thrift Diving

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Create pendent lighting for the craft room. - Thrift Diving

 

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Create DIY pendent lighting for the craft room. - Thrift Diving

 

TIP #6 – Keep Your Sewing Machine Out of the Limelight

If you have kids, I guarantee they’ll grab your thread……your needles……and, oh, your leg press that allows you to even raise and lower the sewing machine. HA! Better to keep it under wraps when it’s not in use. Try to find an affordable sewing cabinet from the thrift store, or check Craigslist.

I got this one from the thrift store for a mere $40! I haven’t refinished it yet….

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Find a sewing cabinet to store your sewing machine. - Thrift Diving

 

TIP #7 – Go For the Uncommon

Yes, my friends….that right there is a vintage shoe shine caddy. Find uncommon ways to store your craft supplies! I got this one from the thrift store for about $6.00.

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Store craft supplies in uncommon ways. - Thrift Diving

As a crafter, you will never have enough markers, pens, pencils–you name it. Use a bunch of cans on your desk, some of which you can easily find at the thrift store. Some of them will be food cans. And some, snack cans! The more, the merrier! 🙂

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Store craft supplies in tin cans. - Thrift Diving

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Store craft supplies in pretty vases. - Thrift Diving

 

TIP #8 – Don’t Expect It to Be Perfect!

Even if you get part of your crafting room done, you may still have areas that still look like a tornado hit. Or maybe you didn’t get the curtains done. Or this….or that….

Just keep working towards creating your dream craft room and you’ll be surprised how it all comes together!

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Pretty turquoise craft room. - Thrift Diving

Just get some things that you really love in your craft room (like my pretty little DIY card catalog that I love, love, love–found at the thrift store for $18!). The more you love it, the more you’ll want to create.

 

What If You Don’t Have Space for a Craft Room?

Yep, not everyone has a dedicated room for crafting. In that case, here’s what I would recommend:

  • Use your dining room table. Who actually eats there, anyhow?? If you can, get a buffet in your dining room and use it to store your craft materials. Those things hold a lot!
  • Clear out a closet. I’m sure you’ve seen the closets-turned-crafting-space. It’s an option…..
  • Craft at a friend’s house. If you have a friend that has more space than you, set up regular dates to craft over at their house instead.

 

Tips for pulling together a craft room - Pretty turquoise craft room with thrifted furniture. - Thrift Diving

 

So tell me…Do you have any great tips for pulling together a thrifted craft room? Leave a comment below to share!

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58 Comments

  1. Love the pics of your work in progress. I was planning on having my sewing desk on one wall with storage on the ajacent wall L-shape. But now I’m thinking about trying the desk perpendicular to the wall with storage behind it like yours. Just sayin’… :>

    1. Hey, Tammie! The perpendicular look is so nice! It really makes it feel a bit cozier! Glad I could inspire you 🙂 Thanks for your comment!

  2. You did awesome! I love you thrifty style. The cans and that green desk are some of my favorite details. I see you found Cowgirl Up via “Stone Gable”. I hope you come back to the party each week- I like your blog and your style!

    🙂 Samantha @ Crafty Texas Girls and Cowgirl UP!

  3. Glad you shared this at my party but now I am looking around at my craft/office room and feeling really guilty. I need to get off the computer and start organizing myself. This room looks great!!!
    Hugs,
    Marcie

    1. Marcie, don’t feel bad! Once mine starts getting some use, it will start to look ragged, I’m sure! And besides, a messy crafting room is a creative mind at work! 🙂

  4. What a transformation already! I love seeing things in progress and the best thing about it is you’ve repurposed a ton of stuff, my kind of gal!

    1. Thanks, Wendy! I LOVE doing this! It’s so much fun to find new purposes for things that other people couldn’t see past the “ugly.” 🙂 Thanks for commenting!!!

  5. Your room looks awesome!! I have to say too that I love the Blue butterflies!!!(notice fb name above and blog name http://bluebutterflyrenew.blogspot.ca/ ) i am addicted to thift stores 🙂 Do you have a Michaels craft store where you live?? They have 40% coupons every week for one item (you can print them off their website). An idea for baskets would be to go each day and buy one using the coupon till you have the amount you need 🙂

    1. Kerry, that is a great idea! We do have a Michael’s, as well as a Hobby Lobby. Do you have one of those? They’re awesome! Okay, I’m going to take your suggestion and get one basket at a time 🙂 And thank you for finding that link to the blue butterlies printer paper! I’m going to post it here for anyone that wants to know the paper brand. Their website doesn’t make those butterflies look as gorgeous and glossy as they are in real life!:

      http://kellypaper.com/shop/11×17-hammermill-laser-print-28lb

  6. This is a great post! I love it, and I love the fact that you showed us pics on the way through it, thrift stores are the way to go I love the cans on your shelf, when I have cans like that I collage them with themes in sets of 4 sizes from small to large I collage and then modpodge or similar to protect them. I love the shelf from the thrift store and the backing paper for 5.00$ that is truly the way to go, crafting can mean green nowadays I thank you for your post!

    1. Hi, Janet! Thank you so much! I debated on whether to post pics of my “IN PROGRESS” craft room, because I feel like it wasn’t Pinterest worthy, but after all this luv that you guys are giving me, it’s evident that there was value in showing you pics now, versus trying to show you the fake staged version 🙂 And affordable is the way to go! I know I don’t have tons of money to put together an expensive room. Plus, this is much more satisfying! Thanks for your comment!

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