I don’t share much by way of home design, styling, or our renovations. I love unleashing my creativity on our home, but nothing ever feels finished. Additionally, most of the things we buy are in the “budget” category and certainly not on-trend. We know what we love and what makes us feel cozy. We’re inspired a lot by the natural elements of the places we live.
But I do love organizing! And I love arts and crafts!Â
So the opportunity to organize our kids’ art station – moving it from an art station for little kids to a homework station/art station for our big kids – was really fun.
Our kids have done arts and crafts for YEARS. As a (primarily) stay-at-home mom for 10 years, we had a good routine, and we worked in daily time to create and draw. It wasn’t forced, but it was thoughtfully cultivated.
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Over time, the arts and crafts area had exploded with items, kits, half-used projects, loose paper, too many markers and pens, and things were just a mess…
The hardest part of the project was first:
LETTING GO!
We had to sift through what was worth keeping, what was trash, and what was worth passing along. Every time I do this clearing out nowadays, my heart breaks a little. I love the memories we’ve made, and I could go back to those ages in a heartbeat. Today we are in middle school and high school, with all the different challenges and relationships. Sitting on the floor, cross-legged, surrounded by crayons for little hands and art journals they had filled years ago was hard. It was a reminder that we’re not going backward.
After shedding a few tears, I went through everything and eventually created an organized homework and art station to move us forward…
This storage system is all built and pieced together from IKEA furniture we’ve had for years. The desk is a system from Target that, again, we’ve had for years.
We kept quite a few of the kits (shout out to the butterfly kit), paints, pens, and pencils since, while older, art and creativity is still a part of our lives.
The key was to be thoughtful about what we wanted, what we would use, and to store it in a way that was accessible to both get to and put away. (No more crowding.)
The front of the cabinets had been covered with a stick-on wallpaper that was a good match for my desk when I was a freelance writer all those years ago and had a private, quiet office looking over the river. But it no longer fit the intended use and space it had been moved to.
We recovered the front of the cabinets with something slightly more masculine, grown-up, and dynamic, which we found in stock at our local Target. The doorknobs are from Anthropologie – I love Anthropologie for all of my cabinet hardware if I can afford it.
We placed a lazy Susan (also found at Target) on the top of the desk to store things that needed to be easily accessible to the person working or were just fun to have out. After all, it is nice to still have trinkets that bring joy displayed at all times.
So what did we get rid of in our art supplies and craft kits that we loved? Here are the things we used all the time when our boys were smaller that make for a good art station for younger kids-
Great Art Supplies for Younger (or Little) Kids
Once we went through the piles of old art we displayed some of the work by our kids on the nearby wall. While we have a more temporary display system in the kitchen, it is nice to install more permanent pieces here.
We also used mason jars to collect pen, pencil, and marker sets. They are cheap (and can be found at the grocery store). Yet they look clean and keep everything easy to find.
Paints and paint supplies were also pared down and stored in clear plastic bins. When kids can see things, that’s when they use them.
We gave away a lot of the art kits the boys used when they were younger, but here are some of our favorites (all tried and true) –
Great Art Kits for Younger (or Little) Kids
So what do they use today?
Now there is more homework and Scouts work than there is art going on. But our middle-schooler in particular still finds solace and inspiration in sitting down to draw (particularly comics).
Here are the supplies and kits our older kids use in their art station-
Great Art Supplies for Older (or Big) Kids
Great Art Kits for Older (or Big) Kids
It was hard to let go of the past. But seeing the new station morph into what we need it to be now has been therapeutic as well. And, bonus, the art station is being used nearly daily now, even by my “older” kids.
So don’t be afraid to change with the times. While hard in the middle of the work, things feel lighter in the end. It feels simpler and calmer at the art station now, which are feelings I definitely need to cultivate in my life right now.
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