This post was most recently updated on January 1st, 2020
Our 8-year old LOVES to draw. She has an art table in our basement family room but rarely uses it. Instead, like any great artist, she prefers to make art when the inspiration strikes! This usually means right smack dab in the middle of the main floor TV room. So she’s always had a little art desk in there too. It’s been the bane of my existence! Her arsenal of art supplies is always in a tangle since her desk is in a small corner, without room for storage. I’ve tried a bunch of different things, but have never figured out how to organize it without crowding the room with a storage unit.
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{Note: Even though I’ll mention Martha Stewart’s wall manager product here, this is not a sponsored product review. I tried it, loved it and wanted to share!}
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(p.s., The chick and the egg on in this photo were colored by her 3-year old brothers. She’s totally die at the thought of anybody thinking she colored them, haha)
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This weekend I was at Staples to get a printer cartridge, but soon found myself with an armful of Martha Stewart chalkboard labels and stylish file folders. Are you as crazy for office supplies as I am, lol? Anyhoo, while there, I happened to notice this new ‘wall manager’ line that Martha offers, and thought it would be a perfect solution for how to organize this little disaster area…
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It comes in 12×12 ’tiles’ you place next to one another, so you can create a wall organizer as small or as large as you wish. In our case, we needed only two of them to create her art station, as her art space is limited to a small corner of the TV room. They were super easy to install. They even came with a little built-in level to ensure you hang them straight. (Would you expect anything less from Martha Stewart ;-)?) The whole process from start to finish took me about 10-15 minutes. That’s my kind of diy project!
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Once you’ve installed the squares, you can slide all kinds of cool little organizational gadgets on there – like hooks, caddies, trays, and clips.
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I used some chalkboard labels (also Martha Stewart home office) to label the different compartments so everything doesn’t get all mixed up again.
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In addition to the wall system, I hung her little pin board (one we already had) above it so that she could show off some of her (and her little brothers’) art. For all the other stuff she creates and wants to save, we bought a binder that she store it all in. Hopefully that will alleviate the pile of random paper that accumulates around her desk.
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The big question is, will it stay this organized? I am thinking it is pretty fail-proof, but then again, I’m not 8. A good sign was that she was super-excited about it. I surprised her with it. When she went out, her art desk looked like a bomb went off; when she came back, it looked like this. Gee,I wish somebody would do that for my desk!
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It just goes to show that you can pack a lot of punch into a small space when you have the right organizational products.
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Hope this product information might help you organize a small art station for your own child…or even for yourself!
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Until next time,
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Kerri 🙂
P.S. I’m sharing this tip at Beth’s:
Okay this makes it alot easier to organize my kids crayons and paint brushes, thanks for this Kerri!.
Kerri, thanks for sharing with me! Your daughter’s art station looks great. This little system does pack a lot of organizing power. So cute!
Such a lovely organised art station. Unfortunately, I cant get the Martha Stewart wall manager where I live 🙁