Setup by @andrealakecreates
Inside Andrea Lake's pegboard setup—and what it teaches us about organizing creative supplies you actually want to see.
There's a point when a craft supply stops being something you own a few of and becomes a collection.
Three bottles can live in a drawer.
Thirty bottles are a different problem.
You need to know what you have. You need to find the color you're looking for. And when the project is over, you need to be able to put everything back without turning cleanup into another project.
That's what caught our attention about Andrea Lake's pegboard setup.
Andrea is a scrapbooker and creative educator behind Andrea Lake Creates. Her workspace is filled with the materials she uses to make, teach, and experiment. In this setup, she turns part of her pegboard into dedicated storage for a growing collection of colorful craft supplies—keeping them visible, individually accessible, and right where she can use them.
The finished wall is satisfying to look at.
But the more interesting part is why it works.
Why Are Large Craft Collections So Hard to Organize?
A drawer can be perfectly organized and still make finding something difficult.
The problem becomes more noticeable as a collection grows.
Put dozens of paints, inks, markers, or other small supplies into a bin and you may technically have everything organized. But now you have to search through the container every time you need a particular color.
Large creative collections tend to create three practical challenges:
Visibility. Can you quickly see what you already own?
Access. Can you grab one item without moving everything around it?
Reset. Is it easy to put the item back when you're finished?
Andrea's setup approaches those problems differently.
Instead of asking, "Where can I store all of this?" the wall seems to ask a more useful question:
"How can I make this collection easier to use?"
That small shift changes the way the entire space works.
What Makes Andrea Lake's Pegboard Setup Work?
One of the most useful details in Andrea's setup is that the collection isn't treated as one big group of supplies.
Each bottle has a dedicated place.
That means Andrea can see the collection at a glance, scan the available colors, remove exactly what she needs, and return it without disturbing everything else.
The wall also turns unused vertical space into working storage.
Instead of adding another container to a desk, shelf, or drawer, the collection becomes part of the workspace itself.
And because the storage is modular, the arrangement doesn't have to remain exactly the same forever. Holders can be repositioned or added as the collection changes.
For anyone whose hobby has a habit of growing—and most of ours seem to—there's something useful about an organization system that isn't finished the moment you install it.
It can change with you.
Why Does Visible Storage Work So Well for Creative Supplies?
Not everything needs to be on display.
But some creative supplies become more useful when you can actually see them.
Think about choosing between dozens of paint colors, markers, inks, or threads. Seeing the collection together makes it easier to scan your options without opening drawers or digging through containers.
Visibility can serve two jobs at once:
It helps you find what you need, and it helps you remember what you have.
That second part is particularly useful in a creative space.
The materials around you aren't simply inventory. They're choices.
A color you forgot you owned might suddenly work for the project in front of you. A combination you hadn't considered becomes obvious when the materials sit beside one another.
That doesn't mean every craft supply belongs on the wall.
It means the things you regularly need to see, compare, and reach are often good candidates for visible storage.
Organize Around the Collection, Not the Container
When we organize a room, it's tempting to start with the container.
What bin should I buy?
Which drawer will this fit into?
Where can I put another box?
Andrea's setup suggests another place to start:
How do I actually use this collection?
If you regularly choose between colors, being able to see those colors may matter more than fitting everything into one container.
If you reach for the same pair of scissors during every project, accessibility may matter more than hiding them away.
If you rarely use a particular tool, compact storage might matter more than visibility.
There isn't one perfect way to organize creative supplies because different supplies ask different things from the space.
The best storage method isn't determined only by what the object is. It's determined by how you use it.
That's what makes a creative workspace feel personal rather than simply organized.
Three Craft Room Organization Ideas to Borrow From Andrea's Setup
You don't need Andrea's exact collection—or even her exact layout—to borrow some of the thinking behind it.
1. Give Growing Collections Room to Grow
A storage system that perfectly fits everything you own today may become frustrating after your next supply run.
If you collect paints, markers, threads, tools, or other materials over time, consider leaving room for expansion.
Modular pegboard storage makes this particularly useful because the layout can be rearranged rather than completely replaced as your collection changes.
2. Keep Choices Visible When Choosing Matters
Ask yourself which supplies you tend to compare before using.
Colors are an obvious example.
Paints, inks, markers, thread, and similar materials can be easier to choose when you can see several options at once.
Those may deserve the most visible parts of your workspace.
3. Make Putting Things Away as Easy as Taking Them Out
Good organization shouldn't only make starting a project easier.
It should make finishing one easier, too.
Andrea can remove an individual item and return it to its place without unpacking a box or reorganizing a drawer.
The easier a system is to reset, the easier it is to use again tomorrow.
Meet the Creator: Andrea Lake
Andrea Lake is the scrapbooker and creative educator behind Andrea Lake Creates, where she shares scrapbooking inspiration, classes, tutorials, and creative planning.
Her work is centered around helping people craft with purpose, and her workspace reflects that same practical approach to creativity.
Rather than treating supplies as things that simply need to be hidden away, her setup keeps the materials she uses accessible and part of the creative environment itself.
You can follow @andrealakecreates on Instagram to see more of Andrea's projects, tutorials, and creative ideas.
Your Craft Room Doesn’t Have to Look Like Anyone Else’s
A good creative workspace doesn’t need to look like Andrea’s.
That’s actually the point.
A scrapbooker organizing a growing collection needs something different from a sewist arranging thread, a miniature painter choosing between dozens of paints, or an artist storing markers and brushes.
Andrea’s wall works because it reflects what she creates.
And perhaps that's a better way to think about craft room organization in the first place.
Don't build your workspace around what an organized room is supposed to look like.
Build it around what you want to make there.
Ready to Give Your Paint Collection a Wall of Its Own?
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