Art Supply Organization: What’s in the baskets?

Art Supply Organziation 2

Whenever I share a photo of our art space, I often get asked, “What do you keep in the large baskets at the bottom?” As an art teacher, I became accustomed to keeping large bins easily accessible for over-sized art materials like paper towel rolls, egg cartons, scraps of cardboard, fabric pieces, or bits and bobs of broken toys. Now in our home art studio (as well as my client’s art spaces) I always include these types of items without even thinking. But, of course, these materials don’t always come to mind for most people when thinking of art supply organization or setting up an art space for kids. So thank you for reminding me of this! I’m excited to give you a peek today into our large art bins and what we do with the materials.

A Peek Inside Our Current Baskets

  • Fabric and ribbon remnants
  • Broken toys, random do-dads, lots of scratched CDs
  • Wood bits
  • Cardboard/recycled items and used gift bags

Art Supply Organziation 3

Choosing Baskets

When our art space gets messy, having streamlined baskets helps it look less cluttered and keeps me feeling a little more sane, (but that’s just me!). We use these Half Tone Cube Baskets from The Land Of Nod, but I often use these medium Water Hyacinth Bins from The Container Store for clients who want a streamlined look at a lower price point.

Here are some other ways to find large bins on a budget: Look around your house for unused baskets, use cardboard boxes, check your local thrift store, dollar store, or big box retailer. Our previous baskets that I had collected from around the house worked great for years!

Art Supply Organziation 4

If you have a toddler, these types of storage bins can be a great distraction from an older sibling’s art supplies. Items like toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, fabric scraps, etc, are toddler-safe and fun for little ones to explore. Just keep the amount of items in each basket to a minimum so you don’t have a huge pile to put away later.

Art Supply Organziation 5

What Do We Do With These Materials?

The items in our large baskets tend to be the most flexible and open-ended of our art materials. Really, the sky’s the limit! We’ve used them to make sculptures, habitats, doll accessories, castles, costumes, and so much more.

Art Supply Organziation 6

Art Supply Organziation 7

Do you keep recycled items, fabric, and other bits and bobs in your art space? If so, where do you store them? Please share about it in the comments below.

If you are looking for a little more guidance in setting up your art space, check out my recently launched e-guide, The New Playroom, here.

The New Playroom

 

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8 comments

  • Dganit Platt June 11, 2015  

    Those art bins look great, I love the teal color scheme! Bins are a really nice way to organize art supplies–far better than cluttered drawers! It’s so awesome that the projects included in this post are open-ended, a great way to foster creativity for children. If you want to reserve the bins just for art supplies and you’re looking for another place to keep the finished projects, you can save them and cherish them forever with Keepy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utE5WJ-LG8

    • Megan Schiller June 11, 2015  

      Keepy looks like a great app. I love that you can add audio or video recordings to the saved items.

  • Megan July 27, 2015  

    It looks so inviting. I am wondering where you purchased the pencil/pen holder you show in teal in these photos. Thank you!

  • Kristie November 17, 2016  

    This is SO inspiration for our art nook in the works, thank you!!! Where are the white oval metal buckets from with the dot art in them?

    Thanks!!!! :)

  • Samantha February 14, 2017  

    Hi would you mind sharing where your 9 drawer coloured little storage thing is from on the middle shelf? Thank you :)

    • Megan Schiller February 15, 2017  

      Hi Samantha,
      The colored drawers are from the Land of Nod, but they don’t carry them anymore. They have a new version with different colors and different sized drawers, though. It’s too bad, I love this one!