I do not think it is possibe to fit anymore storage in a 3 foot section of wall. When we decided to transition our boys from daycare to staying at home with a nanny, it was very important to me they still have a “classroom”. There was already room in the laundry room for a large table under the window (seen here in the post about laundry room curtains). I wanted to maximize the tiny bit of wall space available in the laundry room to create a mega arts and crafts storage center. My main requirement was storage to not only contain all the arts and crafts supplies, but also to keep them easily accessible. This is so much easier said than done.
Here is what I created:
In keeping with the laundry room mood board, I chose to use the Ikea Trofast storage collection. This made meeting my requirements of containment and accessibility really easy. These pieces are super quick to assemble and have a nice streamlined look. I used two lower trofast boxes to form the base, which hold up to six bins each. I used one wall unit above, which holds six smaller bins. The area above the base units serves as a counter.
In the base units I used all single-depth bins in green. I wanted the maximum number of bins, so I could thoroughly sort the supplies and store only like things together. These bins hold all kinds of craft and art supplies, from paper to yarn. The bins pull out and can easily be taken to the table when needed. All of the items in these bins I considered safe to keep within the kids reach. I used the included mounting brackets to safely secure these units to the wall to prevent tipping.
On top of the base units I added two turquoise paper boxes (from the Container Store) to store artwork…one for each boy. I find it really handy to keep these storage boxes accessible, so art can easily be added and contained. On the “counter” there is also a bamboo mail sorter that holds the nanny’s clipboard (from Target) for her daily log and reward stickers. I found the magazine racks at the Container Store. Two of them fit nicely side by side just under the wall unit. The magazine racks hold frequently used activity books on the left and Spanish learning books on the right.
In the wall unit, there are 6 individual bins for all the craft supplies I did not want the kids to be able to reach, like glue, paint, and scissors. By keeping these up high, they need an adult to help them get and use these supplies. These bins also pull out easily to take to the table when the contents are needed for a project. On top of the wall unit, I added some storage buckets and containers to hold even more supplies and tools. The polk-a-dot and stripe buckets were the boys Easter baskets buckets from Target. They now hold dry-erase marker and paint brushes. (Yes, I totally bought buckets to match the laundry room so I could repurpose them after Easter).
The total cost for this storage solution was less than $175. We spent about $133 on the Ikea Trofast frames and plastic bins. We spent another $40 on the paper boxes and magazine racks. We had all the other containers around the house.
This small, but living big, arts and crafts storage center has transformed the laundry room into a well-organized classroom. It is easy to pull out just the bins needed for a particular activity. They return just as easily for clean up. My mom and I scrounged through our craft supplies to stock the art center. We both donated items from our stash that we no longer needed and would make great fodder for kids projects. It helped clean up my overstock of craft supplies. Now, if only I could organize all my mommy craft supplies this neatly.
Want to see what we are keeping in all of the bins? See what craft supplies we keep on hand and what they are used for. Also, check out the newest addition to the storage center: flash card organizers.
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