The updated desk/make up/craft area

We've been living in our current apartment for just over two and a half years now and I am finally working on updating/organizing my desk/make up/craft area. This area is a small-ish 15 square foot space on one end of the master bedroom.

When we first moved in, I only had a desk and chair. As you can see, there was a serious shortage of storage! The desk I got second hand from my work 'Craiglist' site. The desk is the Malm Dressing Table and it's perfect! It's got a glass top and one large drawer. I store all of my make up and make up bags (you know, the ones you get in the Clinique Bonuses, etc) in the drawer... which means there is no space for pens, papers, etc.

I got the chair from Winner's... but you can get similar ones from Restoration Hardware. I love the look of this chair, but it kind of annoys me how I cannot tuck my chair under my desk because of the chair arms... 

Due to a lack of storage, I bought a small filing cabinet from Best Buy. This unit is pretty functional. The bottom drawer is filing space (which only uses legal sized hanging files) and the top drawer is for pens and other junk you don't want in your face all.the.time

I also got a small shelf, also from Ikea. I bought one shelf door to hide my junk. 

This is how the wrapping paper and my craft supplies were stored. The wrapping paper was in a big purple bin (from Winner's) and my craft supplies were in boxes (from Michael's) stored in a big pink bin (from Ikea). The space was functional enough but it was not pretty to look at! Also, I was running out of space. I wanted to better organize my craft supplies, but I needed more bins.. and more space!

 So I went ahead and bought this shelf from Michael's... and two more boxes (the two blue ones).  Now all of my craft supplies are sorted... and easily accessible!

For easier access, I decided to put my pens, markers and pencil crayons in canisters. The gray tray on the left holding the scotch tape and washi tape is a utensil holder. The pink plastic box is from the dollar area at Staples many years ago. The metal canisters holding the white out, paper clips, etc was on clearance from Michaels....

These two metal canisters (and the larger green one from the previous picture) are all from Winner's. The sewing kit I made myself. I like having the pencil crayons/markers out because sometimes, I need just one or two certain colours for a certain art project. I like being able to just grab what I need instead of having to take the whole box out... 

And here is what the space looks like as of today! I am happy with how this space turned out! There's a ton of storage now with more space to grow. The bottom bin is completely empty, and the one just above that contains colouring books (which can easily find new homes).

Disclaimer: Since my desk is actually a dressing table, its pretty small. I pretty much only do my make up at this desk. I carry the art supplies that I need (which are now beautifully organized) and bring it to our dining table or coffee table when crafting :)

Next steps:

- Creating storage space for wrapping paper. The wrapping paper is currently hanging out in the spare bedroom. I want to create a space for it to be placed to the left of the craft shelf. I don't really plan on buying wrapping paper after my current stock runs out (they're pretty terrible for the environment because they are so wasteful! Gift bags, or no wrapping at all, is really the better choice) so I don't know if I want to spend time/effort/resources on this...

- Creating a better storage for the washi tape (and ribbons!)

- Decide if I want to upgrade my chair or not. I am thinking of getting this chair at Canadian Tire (which is actually on sale right now!)... but because I don't spend a lot of time sitting here, I am not sure if I want to spend money on a new chair. I might just get a throw pillow to make my current chair more comfortable...

Hope you enjoyed the space!