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How to Organize a Craft Closet

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring and providing product for this post! My favorable opinion of amazing organization products is 100% my own. 🙂 For more information, see my disclosures here.

I have to confess, sometimes we bloggers can be a little sneaky. Our rooms may look all neat and tidy, but sometimes the camera may not show everything that’s going on in a space.

Take my fabulously feminine home office, for example. It is for sure one of my favorite rooms in our house, and I’ve shown many photos of it on the blog. I’ve shared shots like this one of my pretty bookshelves and pegboard…

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

And this one of my little desk and chair…

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

But there is one shot of my office that I’ve never shared on the blog before. On purpose. Because it is a huge mess and they would probably fire me from blogging if they knew it existed. I’ve never– before today– posted a photo of my office closet. Prepare yourselves, friends. It is not pretty.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Eeeek! Kind of scary, right?! This closet has always been a hodge podge of whatever leftover storage pieces I could find around the house: a sinking plastic drawer set, a rickety tower that we used to use in our laundry room, diaper boxes as storage bins… and I haven’t had a kid in diapers in almost two years, so that tells you how long it has been like this!

This closet was in desperate need of an overhaul, and since the new year is the perfect time to tackle all of those organizational projects I’ve been putting off forever, I decided it was finally time.

This transformation was actually easier than I expected to be, and with a little help from Donnie, we pulled it off in just a few hours. Here’s how we did it:

1. Remove the old closet pieces.

The single metal shelf and rod weren’t doing us much good, so Donnie tore them out to make room for something more efficient.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

For some reason the builders of our townhouse decided to use closet doors that go all the way to the ceiling. Unfortunately, they aren’t engineered very well and break easily, so we have slowly been building headers on all of the closets in the house and replacing the floor-to-ceiling doors with ones that are standard size. We got rid of the one remaining door that was left on this closet and will eventually add a header and new doors here as well. {Add that to Donnie’s “honey-do list”! 😉 }

2. Remove everything from closet and touch up paint.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I always like to start with a blank slate! When I take everything out of the space, that means I can be really intentional about what goes back in. If I don’t absolutely need it and use it often, it gets thrown away or donated. Of course (in the interest of full transparency) to get my blank slate in the closet, the rest of my office had to look like this for a little while…

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Yikes! Don’t worry! It didn’t stay like that for long! I went on a purging spree and got rid of a ton of stuff I hadn’t used in years, which felt amazing!!

3. Install functional, beautiful, yet still wallet-friendly closet system!

Y’all, this is the third time we’ve used the ALGOT closet system from IKEA (now called BOAXEL) to organize a space, and I can’t help but go back to it again and again! (We also used it to organize our main closet and our pantry space.)

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I always knew that I loved it because it was inexpensive {and, let’s be honest, I’m pretty much the cheapest thriftiest person alive!} yet was still incredibly sturdy and easy to install, plus it was oh-so-functional; we could choose the exact pieces that would work to fit our needs. But THEN I learned about the IKEA concept called Democratic Design, and it all made even more sense– they do it on purpose!

You see, every product made by IKEA has to meet their high standards in 5 areas– form, function, price, quality, and sustainability. I almost laughed out loud when Donnie was installing the ALGOT system in my closet and he said, “You will never find any closet system that is a better price, easier to put together, looks as good and is as high quality as this one” because without even knowing it, he totally summed the Democratic Design concept. It’s that easy to see in their products.

When it comes to the design of the ALGOT system, IKEA designer Francis Coyette said,

I wanted to make a simple, discrete storage series that could be used in many different ways and for many different things. The challenge was to minimise the amount of material we used but provide maximum strength so that ALGOT could cover all the different storage needs in a home and still be affordable.

I would say he certainly succeeded; so many of those reasons are why we keep coming back to the ALGOT system again and again!

Need more details about how to measure for an IKEA ALGOT closet system? See this post.

4. Put everything back together in an organized way.

After I had purged out all of the items I no longer needed, I had to find a way to organize the things I had left. I ended up using three different sizes of FJALLA boxes as well as a few clear SAMLA boxes to hold some heavier items. Take a look at how it all came together…

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

So much better! As you may have noticed, there was one more thing I had to do after I had all of the pieces in the bins…

5. Label EVERYTHING!

I love to label! To me, it’s an essential step of organization because it makes it so much easier to see what goes where. I printed small labels on card stock to fit in the label spots provided on the FJALLA boxes:

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Since the larger FJALLA boxes were turned sideways to fit on the shelves, I used my Silhouette machine to cut vinyl labels for them as well so they were easy to see.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

The SAMLA boxes got vinyl labels too.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I also took an inventory of what was in each bin…

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

…and attached a list to the inside of the lid so I could quickly and easily see what each box held.

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

And after everything was organized and labeled, I had the neat and tidy craft closet of my dreams! 🙂

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

One final item that I added to the space was a few STOTTA lights. They clip right onto the ALGOT shelves and I can easily tap them to get a little extra light when I’m looking through boxes or putting things away.

Want to see the “before and after”? My favorite part!

I love how she organized her craft closet to make it totally functional and beautiful without spending a ton of money! Click through to the post for a full source list and all of the pretty details! | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I used to dread searching for things in this closet, and now everything is easy to find when I need it. Oh, and it looks prettier too!

Just in case you are looking to organize a craft closet of your own (or any closet for that matter!), here’s what I used to complete this transformation {Note: Materials needed will vary based on the size of your closet.}:

3 ALGOT Wall Uprights

5 31.5″ x 15″ ALGOT Shelves

3 23 5/8″ x 15″ ALGOT Shelves

13 ALGOT Wall Brackets

1 ALGOT Clothes Rail

[FYI… IKEA recently discontinued their ALGOT system and replaced it with BOAXEL, which is very similar.]

2 SAMLA Boxes with Lids

4 Large FJALLA Boxes

3 Medium FJALLA Boxes

3 Small FJALLA Boxes

1 TJENA Box

3 STOTTA LED Spotlights

[Psssttt… Organize every room of your house with our 100 best home organization tips!]

Thank you so much for stopping by to check out our closet transformation today, friends!! Happy organizing!

Small Signoff

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring and providing product for this post! My favorable opinion of amazing organization products is 100% my own. 🙂 For more information, see my disclosures here.

IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. and is used with permission. The views, ideas and opinions expressed here are my own.

45 Comments

  1. I love the pictures of your closet, especially the one that shows the new shelves filling up! Isn’t it amazing how much stuff can fit in one little closet? You don’t realize it until everything is taken out and put in a room. I noticed that you have one whole shelf dedicated to pillows and wanted to pass along a hint from a friend of mine. She buys cloth napkins (usually on sale after a holiday) and sews pillow covers for her existing pillows and changes the covers out whenever she wants and the covers take up very little space! Have a wonderful day and enjoy the snow!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for the tip Betty! Have an awesome week! ~Abby =)

  2. Christeen says:

    I was just talking to my husband about getting some Ikea storage boxes for our master closet that we are working on. They make some awesome and affordable storage solutions. Also – I love a good label project :)! I’m going to have to make a trip there and look at all the boxes haha – and try not to get carried away looking at everything else.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Easier said than done at Ikea! LOL! I am definitely loving these boxes… Hope you do too! Have a great week! ~Abby =)

  3. Sarah @ The Teacher's Wife says:

    Oh wow! I think I may need to make a trip up to IKEA soon! We live in a 1940’s home with really awkward and small closets. We recently put in the wire shelving system in our newly renovated upstairs bathroom, but I’m not really a fan. From the looks, I think I would love this closet system! Thanks for the inspiration – it looks awesome!! 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much Sarah! Have an awesome week!~Abby =)

  4. What an amazing transformation Abby! Great tips my friend!

  5. allroundbetterme says:

    I am so jealous of your office/craft room and closet. I have a ways to go (including some renovations) before I can start putting things back together, but this will definitely act as inspiration. So awesome!

  6. chaoticallycreative@gmail.com says:

    I did this months ago but alas I have not labeled a single thing. I have got to get on it. I love the idea of taping a list of contents on the inside of the box lid. I’ll be doing that asap.

  7. I need to do this with all my craft stuff but just haven’t been motivated until now.

  8. Nothing makes me happier than to admire an area that has been organized and labeled. Beautiful closet!! I am on the verge of attacking my studio! My son had moved back home temporarily and was sleeping in my studio for 6 months. He just moved out this week. I am so excited to purge and organize everything again! I have a reason to hit up Ikea this weekend, lol who am I kidding like there needs to be a reason! Thanks for the great tips and the inspiration!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      LOL! Totally agree Sherry! There is ALWAYS a reason to head to Ikea! 🙂 Hope you’re having a wonderful week! ~Abby =)

  9. This is awesome! I too enjoy organizing small spaces and making them functional. Thanks for the tips and inspiration! 🙂

  10. What an amazing job you did here Abby! I have my own chaotic craft area in the corner of our basement and I’ve been itching to finally organize it properly this year – it’s been on my ‘to-do’ list for quite some time now. I really love those Ikea boxes you’ve used – am planning on getting those for my craft corner now 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much Jelica! I am loving the Ikea boxes and hope you will too! Have a great week! ~Abby =)

  11. Abby this is definitely inspirational! I just redid my entire studio (moved desks, took stuff apart, boxed stuff up and put in the basement as long term storage – or until I decide I really don’t need it) and have plans to bring in some fun big comfy chairs to add for a visiting space. I don’t have a lot of stuff labeled but I love how you used your cutter to make the pretty letters that blend with the rest of your beautiful office. Happy New Year!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for your sweet words Heather! Sounds like your studio is going to be a fabulous space! Hope you’re having a great week! ~Abby =)

  12. Emily, Our house now a home says:

    This looks great! I am in the process of doing this to my craft supplies. I am glad to see I am not the only one that has piles of throw pillows “just in case”, frames and other random home decor. I always say I am going shopping when I go in my basement craft room. I love anything with labels and all of this organization is making me antsy to get mine done!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Sounds like we’re two peas in a pod Emily! Labels, organization, and throw pillows… What else is there? LOL! Hope you’re having a great week! ~Abby =)

  13. Lovely Decor (@lb_lovelydecor) says:

    Wowee!! That is quite the transformation, and so much pretty in one photo. I would love to go in their everyday to look for something!!

    Great work guys!

    Lauren Baxter | Lovely Decor
    http://www.lovelydecor.co
    xx

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much Lauren! You’re too sweet! Hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday! ~Abby =)

  14. I JUST organized my craft closet this week. Doesn’t it feel so good to go through all of that stuff and make it pretty again?! I should really add a light to mine- that section of my house is so dark. Your closet turned out so beautifully!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      SO GOOD! Thanks so much Ashley! Have a wonderful week! ~Abby =)

  15. With a pretty wardrobe like that you wouldn’t even need a door! It would cover up all the prettiness. Might I suggest an aqua coloured net/chiffon curtain. It will add a little more pretty but not hide the how nice the cupboard looks.

  16. Ivana @ The Charming Avenue says:

    This is such an incredible transformation! I love IKEA, I have so many of their storage boxes at home – they are really handy! You’ve got me thinking that I should label them, and do the inventory, too – that would save me TON of time! Thanks so much for sharing this inspiring project!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Ivana! I agree– IKEA has awesome storage products! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  17. KAMM Designs says:

    Abby I am so amazed how God leads and directs if only we submit to His will. I purchased your Building a Framework: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook, which is amazing! I was over here on your site and happened (led) to this craft room reorganization, which is sooo timely, as I am in the middle of redesigning and reorganizing my office/craft room. I am definitely going to use some of the ideas here. I love the clean and crisp look, it clears the way to functionality! Great Job!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much for your sweet note! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Framework! Best of luck with your organization project!!

      ~Abby =)

  18. Hi Abby, just found your blog today. What a blessing you are to young moms! I wish your were around when I was starting to raise my kiddos, but the internet wasn’t invented then. 🙂 Yikes, I’m showing my age. My husband and I are now helping raise our two granddaughters, ages 6 and 10, so I’m so enjoying your blog. It is such a blessing to be able to impart into their little lives with the knowledge that comes with years, after using their mom and uncle as childrearing guinea pigs. 🙂 Keep up the great work! You are an inspiration, even to your folk’s generation.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much for your sweet note, Sara! And bless you for helping to raise your granddaughters! Grandparents are such a blessing! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  19. This is amazing! I have looked at those FJALLA boxes in Ikea and thought about buying some for some open shelving in my laundry room. These look fantastic – I may need to buy some now!!!

  20. Mark Anthony Harrison says:

    I love this Abby. So much so that I am going to start mine today (a combined shoe/clothes/knick knacks closet). You’ve even encouraged me to share a ‘before’ picture which frankly scares the life out of me but as you say, in the spirit of transparency! Great work from you both as always.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Mark! Happy organizing! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  21. Hey Abby! Thanks so much for this post and the post on your master bedroom closet. This is exactly what I needed, ideas and pretty pictures to get creative with getting my space(s) organized. I had no idea this closet system exist at IKEA so I’m looking forward to taking a trip there. I luv your organizing tips and ideas. Keep them coming. xo MK

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, MK! We LOVE the ALGOT system and have used it in 3 closets now! Highly recommend it! Best of luck with your organizing projects!

      ~Abby =)

  22. Loved this post. Pinned it for sure! Can’t wait to come back & pour over all the details again because my office closet looks a lot like your “before” pic!!! Thank you for the wonderful info!

  23. Courtney Cartwright says:

    Do you have any suggestions for organizing a little girls room that is over flowing with toys?

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh I so hear you about the toy struggle! It is a tough one! So the first thing I do with toys is purge often to keep their toy collection to things they truly love. Then we have specific bins and shelves for each type of toy. If the boys get something new, then something old has to go to make room for it. We never extend beyond the dedicated bins and shelves. And then I purge some more, lol. 🙂 I hope this helps! Have a great weekend, Courtney!

      ~Abby =)

  24. Hello Abby –
    Thanks for the How To and Pics. I love the look of an organized closet!
    Quick question – did you use anything to “secure” the Fjalla Boxes on the bottom? I’m a little concerned that after putting in my craft supplies or photos etc. that the bottoms are going to break open.
    Thoughts or Suggestions?
    Thanks so much!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Hi, Julie! I did put a piece of clear packing tape on the bottom to reinforce them a bit. They are stronger than they may look! They survived our crazy move totally in tact and are still going strong, so I’m a fan! I hope this helps!

      ~Abby =)

  25. Hi! I ended up here after reading your pantry post and watching your latest video on your organized pantry (it was awesome by the way!). Do you mind sharing where you got the open paper holder/organizer? I am a teacher and need something substantial for my classroom (not the cardboard ones), but also not too expensive since it comes out of my own pocket.

    Thank you!
    Sheila

      1. Thank you so much for the reply and the link!

  26. Hi Abbey this system looks great- however I am doing a craft wardrobe and wonder if this system needs a wall or if it would work inside a solid furniture wardrobe?
    Many thanks!

    1. Abby Lawson says:

      You would need to use a wall for the ALGOT system. It would need to be screwed into wall studs or at least use wall anchors to be sturdy enough.

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