A Space For The Creative . . .

Here at the Lee house we’re a creative bunch who loves to draw, sculpt, collage, glue and imagine.  Art supplies are high on my list of must haves for kiddos. And a spot to house all that creativity is also important to me. Thankfully, I have finally finished organizing the spot where my kids and I make all sorts of crap crafts.  

Welcome to the half of our basement we call the craft room.  I love my IKEA EXPIDIT bookshelves. Each “cube” holds several totes of craft supplies, books, baskets, magazine holders or large storage boxes.  And it’s purty, too.

After we painted the basement the palest silver blue last summer, I knew it would be an ideal backdrop for our collection of vintage globes.

I’ve got open baskets for frequently used items like scrap paper and dragonfly stationary.

Then I’ve got about thirty of these IKEA SAMLA bins to corral art supplies that need to be kept away from little hands.  Each bin is labeled because I’m an organizing nerd like that.  And because then my kids can’t tell me they didn’t know where to put something away since they can all read.

Some shelves have random baskets for things like gift bags and stationary the whole family uses.  When it’s time to write thank you’s we can pull out these baskets, sit at the table and express our gratitude as a family. {reality: the kids fight while I tell them what to write.}

The ‘fatal error’ items, like scissors and Sharpies are stored in white cups on the top shelf out of everyone’s reach.  They only come down with my permission. I also keep my vast stash of cut ribbon in biscuit jars on the top shelf.  It comes in handy for tying a quick gift in a glassine bag or tying Hannie B.’s hair in a ponytail.

Little Ollie is not allowed in the basement unless one of us is down there with him.  When he is down there I let him color with chunky crayons or play with the pop beads, but I also spend a lot of time redirecting him away from the craft supplies.  He will get to use more as time goes on and he gets older.  Hannie B. is a free spirit in the craft realm.  RedDog loves to make things too and occasionally {very occasionally now, dang teenhood} I can get Big C. down there to create.

It’s a happy place for me.  Hope you’ve enjoyed the tour.