Transforming a Cookie Room
I just recently wrapped up a really great project. Obviously it was great – the title says it all – an entire room all about COOKIES. Yes, please. This room was a multi functional space – a cookie decorating room for a local cookie artist (like a true artist, these things are gorgeous and yummy!), a cookie packaging room, a sometimes kid’s craft area, a home office.
Over the holidays when it wasn’t in use, this room became a catch all. That’s what happens a lot – if a space isn’t organized, we don’t know where things go and have trouble keeping it clean and then it sort of snowballs. We were at the snowball stage. And that’s OK – I love the snowball stage! I really do – because I can already see how big the transformation is going to be and know it will make my client’s life so much simpler!
OK, you’ve seen the snowball.
Are you ready for the AFTER pics?
Some items that had made their way into here during the snowball phase got moved out but everything else got ORGANIZED. I utilized a lot of wall space to make this happen – adding shelves and pegboards.
Snowball, what snowball? It’s a bright and sunny day in here!
Make the space work for you, not vice versa
Pretty much the first question I ask a client is how is it working now and how does it NEED to work?
I like to break up a space by functions. Breaking up by functions is efficient – it makes your life easier and helps keep a space organized.
The main functions in this space were
- decorating cookies
- cookie tray storage
- cookie cutter storage
- taking photos of cookies
- packaging cookies
- the home office + the occasional kid craft sesh
I considered all the furniture in the space – was it working and was it working where it was?
I moved the desk so when you looked at this space from the hall, it was like BAM, here I am. If you knew my client, you would understand she deserves that BAM moment. The desk worked either way but turning it made the room feel instantly more spacious and looked better from the hallway too.
Cookie Decorating : the desk + green drawers
The desk is where my client creates her masterpieces – there’s a projector, an airbrush and lots of tools. To make all this happen, I wanted to give her a clear desktop with just those tools so she’d have the space to create. You saw the desk before (or rather, you really couldn’t see the desk itself under everything) – that wasn’t going to work and while that was not the norm, I wanted to set her up to keep it clear.
One easy solution was a caddy for all her tools that she could easily move (hello, handle) when she was done with that piece of decorating. Acrylic looks sharp and allows you to see what’s inside to find the perfect color or brush. You can disregard the brownie – it’s a perk of having a client that bakes.
I designated the green metal drawer unit as decorating supplies only. I removed all the office supplies and misc and dedicated this to fun stuff like sprinkles, food coloring, airbrush colors, icing tips and bags, stencils, you name it. This unit is lightweight and can easily be moved around under the desk and out from it so it’s a great place for all these items.
The drawers weren’t organized and so they weren’t being used to their full potential. Some drawer dividers and makeup trays (HELLO, dollar store!) contained all the colors and sparkles so they could be easily seen.
Cookie Tray Storage: the black metal cabinet
Once my client’s cookies are out of the oven, they come straight in here on their cookie trays. Cookies are important in a cookie business. I did not like the way the cookie trays were precariously hanging inches over the built-ins when I first saw this space. I’m not a risk taker. I utilized some sturdy cookie tray holders inside the awesome black metal cabinet she had (such a great piece!). I loved that they fit nicely and also the doors could be shut also to keep them extra safe.
Of course, that meant I had to find a different home for everything that HAD been inside the metal cabinet. It was full mainly with the small blush bins of cookie cutters, paperwork, and some empty pencil boxes. When I asked my client what the empty pencil boxes were for she said “oh, you can get rid of them”. Ha, no my friend, we will USE them!
Cookie Cutter Storage: hello, cookie cutter wall
Cookie Cutter Wall. I somehow doubt I’ll do another one of these in my career! If you make custom cookies, you bet you have a lot of cookie cutters. She was already utilizing these sweet blush bins so I increased the number to account for all the new cutters and created this wall of shelving. It’s a fun way to display them and bring in some color to the room.I wanted somewhere where each labeled box could be easily seen and grabbed. Also, this space wasn’t being utilized well before – it held what I call a “family command center”. Don’t get me wrong – I am totally on board with a family command center, but this room is a dedicated work space and so it needed moved to a spot in the house the whole family sees on the reg.
The Instagrammable Cookie: enter the rolling cart
The client was using the desk to decorate cookies, then very carefully, one by one, carrying them across the room to her “photo table”. Here, she’d bend down to the low table get a good shot on the marble tray. This was not working for her.
Enter: a rolling cart. It rolls right up to the desk where the cookies are, rolls over by the window to get the best light for an instagrammable shot and then rolls back to an out-of-the-way spot. Plus, it’s an easy height to work with and provides extra storage. I made sure the one I selected was hefty enough to support the marble tray. I use rolling carts throughout my house – they’re a good solution for a lot of spaces, like for kid shoes in the mudroom and for books in kid rooms.
The Cookie Packaging Station: table + claiming unused space
I created a packaging station – this was a big function of what happens in this room. I wanted a one stop shop for my client when she’s packaging up her creations – everything from the bag sealer to the boxes, labels, ribbon, etc. It is all right here in this space and by utilizing the walls (go up -always look up when looking for space to organize), I was able to have the table clear for her to do the packaging on.
She already had these open blush bins for the clear sleeves she seals her cookies into and smart gal she is, had used command hooks to hang them above the desk. It just wasn’t quite working – the sleeves needed divided and ribbons needed a new spot to call home. She also had some curtain rods for tulle that while great in concept, ended up not being sturdy and she doesn’t use her tulle often. We edited the tulle a bit, utilized her drawer space for those and I hung up pegboards for all the other small things like twistie ties, ribbon, stickers, labels, so on. A couple hooks on the wall were a must for aprons and a broom/dustpan.
Pegboards are an awesome solution in so many spaces – craft room, office, garage, even kitchens, playrooms, nurseries. It allows you to organize all these smaller items up off of counters and move around and adjust as your needs change.
The wall to the right of the packaging table became the box wall. And honestly, it became a bit of a MOMENT on that white shiplap wall with these gorgeous (& inexpensive!) gold shelves I’ve been dying to use in a space. And with the acrylic bins, I dare say, it’s leaning towards sexy. The acrylic bins not only looked amazing and didn’t take away from the gold shelves but it’s easy to see the boxes. Chalkboard labels were a great option because the sizes of these boxes may change in the future and this will allow her to easily re-label them as needed.
Speaking of the gold shelves and blush bins – doing a personal space means a little more fun when it comes to decorating – while her husband likely wouldn’t want blush throughout the house, we were able to use it in her office as a pop of color.
There is also paper shred for the boxes that the sealed cookies are placed in. This was sitting on the floor in boxes when I got there and there is A LOT of it! If my client is delivering the cookies, she places the boxes in tupperware containers for easy traveling. These were the last two pieces of the packaging station I needed to solve. Enter the under the table space. This isn’t used as a desk, the space under the table does not need to be empty so I used it. Plastic bins kept the shred stored nicely – one for each color and smaller bins for the overstock as this comes in very large boxes. And a rolling bin (ahh, rolling bins are so handy!) for all the tupperware containers so she can easily grab them when needed. A clear bin for duplicates of the ribbons she already has on the pegboard was an easy solution until she uses up some of the tulle in the drawer and has room there.
The Home Office: the built ins
The last category or function in this client’s space was the paperwork, office supplies and random non-cookie craft supplies for the occasional kid craft session. I had gathered these things up from all over – the green drawers, the metal cabinet, the floor (ha!) and I had decided they would all be relocated to the built in shelves and cabinets this gorgeous older home had come with.
There are a lot of desks and shelves and cabinets in this room but really, no drawers (the deep black cabinet drawers went to personal stuff in one and room to grow in the other). I wanted a drawer for those little office supplies you’re always reaching for – I didn’t want her to have to open a bin for them so I added a clear drawer inside the cabinet. Actually, a shoe drawer, but works perfectly.
She had a lot of different boxes and containers but we chose to spend a little to get matching all white boxes with lids that can stack. It feels so much nicer to open the cabinet and have a clean, uniform look. I believe having a clean, calming aesthetic like this will inspire you to keep it clean. That said, with opaque bins like, this, labels are a MUST. Labels mean you know where to find what you’re looking for but also keep it organized because everything has a spot and you know where that spot is!
These cabinets were organized into areas that made sense – printer ink and paper below the printer, extra office supplies in one spot so she could easily see what she has (here we used some organizers she already had).
A lot of organizing can be accomplished using things you already have. Remember those school supply boxes? I used those to organize things like coupons, tech stuff, hot glue gun, command strips. Super easy and inexpensive solution!
When I found all the washi tape inside a box I was a little excited and knew I could display it in a fun way. Craft rooms can be a ton of fun to organize because so many things are fun to look at – don’t be afraid to use a lot of glass and acrylic. It’s a functional decor moment, y’all! I considered using the accessories on the pegboard for it but decided against it – there was so much, it would have taken an entire board and that wasn’t the best use of space. So, I used mason jars she had sitting around the house to display them on her shelves. Separated by colors and themes, I loved the look of the jars without labels but that isn’t user friendly so I added labels to one side and turned them around for display. It’s not something she’ll be using daily so it’s not a big deal to turn a jar around if needed. For you non-lovers of labels, this is a thought – the label doesn’t always have to be in view to be helpful.
Since we’re talking about labeling – I use post its for labels until I’m completely sure that I’ve got it right. Organizing is a lot about trying something, seeing how it works and then figuring out a way that’s even better. If you dropped by and saw me mid-project you might think, ‘oh, that’s looking good’ but come the end, everything is even better! It’s easy to move a quickly written post-it around, not so easy with the final labels.
Room to Grow
You’ll notice the rest of the shelves are pretty sparse. I adjusted the shelves so there was room for some bins for more commonly used office supplies out in the open, a spot to park icing bags, some decor (I made sure to bring in some pops of gold to tie the new shelves into the room), binder clips and a little jar for the many business cards she is handed. But there’s lots of space here and there’s a reason for that. You’ll notice it on the pegboard too – space and empty containers. The rolling cart had a few things for an event she was doing but nothing that was set to stay full time. The reason for all this is because my goal is not just to organize what’s currently in a client’s space but to leave them ROOM TO GROW. It’s very important to me when I leave a client’s space, I leave them with some room to grow – extra shelf space, bin space, etc – if not, the second they add something new, the space will instantly be unorganized and the snowballing can start. And I KNOW this Momma’s business is gonna grow.
The countertop on the built-ins I wanted to use for things commonly used. The printer stayed, the large black box looking thing that was on here is a dehydrator for the cookies and it was taking up a lot of prime counter space so I used that low, table we had moved the marble top off of and put the dehydrator in the back corner of the room. That new space was immediately claimed with the addition of the pink file organizer and a laminating machine.
I utilized this great white riser she had to make the most of the counter space, creating a mailing station below with a bin of thank you cards and stamps. A mailing station is almost always a space I create. It can be in a cab, on a wall, on a counter, whatever works best for you. Put the return address stamp/labels, thank you/etc cards, stamps, all in one place so it’s easy to send one when you need. I keep some gift cards and new neighbor welcome cards in mine so I’m ready to be thoughtful without having to think about it!
On top of the riser, went her receipts. Originally I had different ideas for her receipts (which up until this point really didn’t have ONE spot) but I realized that we needed an open container to make it completely simple for her to drop them in. As an organizer, you have to be aware of people’s habits and routines and work with them. I LOVE this open metal bucket that I found holding ribbon in the room (I turned it over to see where it was from, hoping to get one myself -Target – $5 in that front $ section. How did I miss them?!) and it fit here perfectly, size and look-wise.
Last and sorta least: cable management
Now, I am not going to try to pretend that cable management is the sexiest part of organizing. But, I will say I always picture myself as a cowgirl when I do it, lassoing in those cords, wrangling those power supplies, breaking those little doggies into shape. [—–silence—–] No, just me? Cowgirl fantasies aside, it really does make a huge impact! No joke – all those wild cords are now neatly inside that pretty little white box.
I don’t know about you, but I can rarely look at the end of a cord and know what it belongs to. So, I label the ends of the cords with electrical tape and sharpie. This can be so helpful later when you’re moving things around or looking for something specific to unplug.
That’s a wrap, folks! This space was so fun with all the different functions and problems to solve. At the end, when those double doors opened it was a magnificent feeling! Now, go have some cookies.
You can always check out my Pinterest for links to items used in this post.