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Studio Organization — Custom Storage For My Jewelry-Making Supplies

I’ve finally begun getting my studio organized, and I started with organizing the supplies for my current favorite pastime — making jewelry. I didn’t realize how many supplies and beads I had accumulated until I started planning out how I was going to organize them. But I came up with a way to organize all of it that I’m really excited about. For someone who doesn’t love the process of getting organized, I sure do love the results after an organization project is finished. 😀 I’ve gone back just to look at and admire my newly organized storage closet many times over the last few days, and I’ve done the same thing with my jewelry-making supply drawers over the last 24 hours.

So let me show you what I did. Since jewelry-making supplies are all pretty small, I decided to use three of the very shallow drawers in this middle six-drawer cabinet.

IKEA Sektion cabinets used in studio, painted and customized with gold leaf detail, countertop made from laminate flooring, bold floral wallpaper mural, checkerboard painted floor

And since I work on my jewelry projects at my desk, I needed a way to easily transport all of my supplies and tools to my desk, and then to easily bring them back to the drawers to store them when they’re not in use.

My solution? Two very easy-to-make custom sized trays that fit the drawers perfectly! Here’s the drawer with the tray for all of my tools and supplies except for the beads. Here’s a view of it before I added all of the items to the tray so you can see how perfectly it fits the drawer. The sides of IKEA Sektion cabinet drawers are curved, which works out perfectly because it leaves room for my fingers to wrap around the handles.

Custom tray made for IKEA Sektion drawer; how to organize jewelry-making supplies

And here’s what it looks like with the supplies and tools on it…

storage for jewelry-making supplies -- custom tray built to fit IKEA Sektion drawer

So when I want to work on some jewelry projects, I can just grab the whole tray and take it over to my desk…

Tray for storage of jewelry-making supplies

To store my beads, I bought two 40-pack boxes of these 2-ounce clear jars (affiliate link). And then I stored them upside down on the tray that I made for this drawer. For this drawer, I sized the tray to the jars rather than making it to the exact size of the drawer so that the jars wouldn’t slide around. The beads at the back are ones that I haven’t used yet, so they’re still intact from the store.

How I store beads for jewelry making -- clear 2-ounce jars on a custom tray made to fit IKEA Sektion drawers

This tray also makes it very easy to bring all of my beads over to the desk, and since my desk is pretty big, both trays fit on the desk very easily, with plenty of room left in the middle for actual work space.

Trays for organizing jewelry-making supplies made to fit perfectly inside IKEA Sektion drawers

These trays were so easy to make, and they cost me nothing because I used scrap plywood and lumber leftover from past projects, and I already had everything else on hand. I started by cutting a piece of 1/2-inch plywood to the dimensions of the bottom of the drawer, minus 1.5 inches for each measurement (length minus 1.5 inches, and width minus 1.5 inches). Then I cut come scrap 1″ x 2″ lumber that I had already ripped on the table saw (again, from a previous project) so that the actual measurements were 3/4 inch by 1 inch. I used my miter saw to cut it to length so that it fit the exact dimension on the sides of the plywood, and then nailed it into place using 16-gauge 1.5-inch nails. I repeated that on the other side.

How to make an easy rectangle tray - cut plywood and nail frame board to the edges

And then I cut pieces for the front and back to cover not only the edge of the plywood, but also the ends of the side frame pieces. In other words, I didn’t bother to miter the corners. I just cut all four pieces straight and nailed them on the edge of the plywood.

How to make an easy rectangle tray - nail frame boards to the front and back of plywood

Then I used wood filler on all four corners and all of the nail holes, and then sanded everything smooth with my sander and 150-grit sanding discs. I went back over everything by hand and very quickly with 220-grit sandpaper before priming and painting the trays.

How to make an easy rectangle tray - wood fill corners and sand

I used Rust-Oleum spray primer, and then sanded again by hand with 220-grit sandpaper before painting the trays with a brush in Behr Polar Bear (my go-to white paint for trim). When that was dry, I brushed on two coats of General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in a matte finish (affiliate link). It’s my absolute favorite water-based topcoat, and even though it’s not recommended for use on white paint (for some reason, it can yellow on white paint), I decided to chance it. That smooth finish is more important to me than the color.

I had some leftover cabinet handles, so I used those as tray handles. And here’s how the tray looked when it was finished.

How to make an easy rectangle tray - Painted and clear coated, cabinet handles used as tray handles

I still want to get some felt pads to put on the bottoms of the trays so that I won’t have the hard wood bottoms of the trays sliding on my desk. But other than that, these drawers are efficiently organized and very useful.

Custom tray made to fit inside IKEA Sektion drawer to hold and organize jewelry-making supplies
Custom tray made to fit IKEA Sektion drawer to store beads for jewelry-making

I mentioned that I used three of the drawers for my jewelry-making supplies, but the third drawer didn’t require a custom sized tray. Here’s what it looks like for now…

How I store my jewelry making supplies

I’m sure this drawer will end holding more items in the future. But for now, it’s being used to hold three things. (1) I have a tray that holds my necklaces and earrings that are in process but haven’t been finished yet. (2) I have a container that holds leftover beads from necklaces and earrings that I’ve already made. These don’t get their own jars because these aren’t seed beads or other filler beads that can be used over and over on multiple necklaces. These are more specialty beads that I don’t really want to reuse because I already have a necklace made with them, and I don’t need another. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with them. And (3) necklaces that are finished, but they need adjustments.

I have room to grow in that drawer. In fact, there are things on the main supply and tool tray that I don’t use often, so I could actually move them to this drawer and give my main tray a little more breathing room. But for now, these drawers are finished and efficiently organized with custom trays that make carrying all of my supplies to my desk a breeze. I’m pretty excited about how this organization project turned out!

How I store my jewelry-making supplies in three shallow drawers

 

 

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16 Comments

  1. I have to laugh because you let things get so out of hand and messy at times and you are OK with that….until you organize the mess and you become obsessed with the neatness
    Not a criticism because I just know when things get crazy you get organized.

  2. The drawers look AWESOME!!! I had a thought about your leftover beads… I’m in several Facebook groups relating to junk journals where people post things for swaps. I’m sure there are also groups for beading, its a great way to get rid of leftovers and get different things for a very low cost (just postage). Just an idea! Can’t wait to see how the rest of the organizing goes – it’s one of my favorite parts!

  3. I made jewelry for years. Loved making it. Then I stopped to really look one time, and I thought….I’m never going to be able to wear all my jewels the rest of my life. So I then started giving it away. Sold some, but mainly gave it away. I just ran out of room to store it. Lol But it was so fun to make while it lasted.

  4. Kristi that is awesome organization! It is pushing me to finish organizing my art room. I have been procrastinating because l’m finally almost done with my yard. Praise God that the temps are not like last summer!! My yard is 11,301 square feet. It doesn’t sound too big but l am 75 years young and do it all myself. I can’t wait to see how you organize the rest! You are my inspiration!

  5. I saw something on Pinterest yesterday before work, and I realized, “Kristi hasn’t mentioned anything about her bead-jewelry.” And lo and behold! You made a post about it. LOVE the DIY trays that fit in the cabinets.

  6. The custom trays are perfect for organizing supplies and carrying them to your desk to create jewelry. Oh, and they are beautiful as well!

  7. Oh, that is wonderful! You have made it so much more convenient, and visible to pick out colors, etc. AND, you can move them to where you want to work on things as well.
    When you want to organize, you are SO creative, even then! Looking forward to more!