5 Home Art Studio Solutions for Small Spaces
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While creativity may come easy to us, the space we need to accommodate what we actually want to create might not be come as easily.
Trying to squeeze a home art studio into a small space like an apartment can be extremely difficult, but don’t give up yet!
In this post, I’m going to share some creative ideas of how you can create a home art studio setup in your own small space, even if you rent the tiniest of apartments.
But first, my own wild experience with small apartment art studio adventures!
Throughout the years, the space where I've created my art has taken many different forms:
Age 2-5: A plastic Fisher-Price kiddie table in the garage.
Age 5-14: Parent’s dining room table.
Age 14-18: Drafting desk in my bedroom.
Age 18-28: Dining room table in my apartment (many, many different apartments!)
*Moves to San Francisco with the one dream of having a separate small art studio room, although unlikely in one of the most expensive cities in the world, but hey a girl can dream, right?
Age 29-30: Converts half a garage into first shared art studio space. Very dark, yet functional.
Age 31: Grits teeth but shells out for a private art studio (with a window!) down the street.
Age 32-33: Scores big and takes over a (free!) super quirky triangle-shaped attic space at home above bedroom. Only accessible via very large, very high, very old and very treacherous wooden ladder. Pulley/basket system constructed.
Age (...ok sorry we're stopping with specifics now, lol): Moves into new not small apartment...with an empty spare room. Quietly waits months until one foolish roommate "has the idea" that maybe it would make a great home art studio setup!
Within a week, said room becomes main business and teaching HQ over the next 3 years while simultaneously achieving original pipe dream of having a separate art studio space.
Goal achieved...so let's make things as difficult as possible, right?
*Moves to New York with no plan, no apartment...
Current studio status: Working from home and cafés while keeping one eyeball on Brooklyn art studio listings, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.
Look, I have no doubt that if you're a creative and you need somewhere to work, you'll use your creativity to make it happen under any circumstance.
As you can see, I (usually) never had much of a place to create either, so I always had to work with what I had.
Just because you don't have a designated room for a 'home art studio' doesn't mean you can't make art at home. Creating room for an art studio in a small space is not as difficult as you may think.
Below are 5 art studio solutions for small spaces so you can craft your days away while in the comfort of your own home -
1. Set up an easel
via joanna rahier
If you're playing with acrylics, oils, or anything else that plays nice when it's upright, an easel could be an excellent solution for you. Easels come in all shapes and sizes, don't take up a ton of space, and most can be collapsed and be put away in a closet when needed.
You can also take your home art studio set up to go and take it outside or anywhere you like! Pretty sweet to have a portable studio space, right?
This set up obviously won’t work for all artists, for example, if you’re like me and like to create as you’re working OVER your canvas, fabric, paper, etc…but if you don’t mind working horizontally (does that make sense??) this could be a great option for you.
Don’t worry if this isn’t your cup of tea, there are more options for you below!
One more thing about working at an easel - don’t forget that you’ll also have to consider how and where to store your art supplies.
For clever paint supply storage, grab a compact rolling cart like this one for easy access while you work, or get crazy with a whole art cabinet situation like this clever option here.
You could go the simple route and pack all your paints into a traveling art box and just store it on a nearby shelf. Something like this bin could work great too.
However, if you are painting every day, it might be annoying to pack and unpack your art supplies all the time, so a better option might be to have something more like this, where your supplies are a lot more accessible.
Think about how you like to create and build your home art studio around that.
2. Go vertical
You may not have a ton of square footage, but chances are you have unused wall space that can easily be set up for the ultimate storage system.
Pegboards are great here as you can completely customize your art studio setup, with hooks, bins, etc to hold all your tools. You can hang it wherever you want, slide a small table below and you’re set!
* NOTE: If you’re using a pegboard and want to use hooks, make sure not to mount the board completely flush to the wall. It needs a teeny bit of space between the wall and the board for the hooks to push through.(Learn from my mistakes!)
One of my favorite space-saving bedroom desk setups that I’ve ever had was this ladder style desk. This works amazing if you have high ceilings, but not a lot of floor space.
Here is the desk I absolutely loved for a tiny space to work in my bedroom. It’s extra great because it comes with shelves, is well built, and inexpensive. It also is very easy to put together (grab a friend to help lift it though!)
3. Floating shelves & desks
Another way to use your available wall space is to install a few floating shelves on the wall above your artist workspace. These are also completely customizable based on your needs.
Floating shelves are basically shelves that are supported solely by a few metal brackets that attach to the wall and the shelf so that they appear to be floating.
This home setup is great because like I mentioned early, you’re building your space vertically, which means you’ll most likely have a lot more room to work with.
This also applies to your desk itself. You can install some sturdy L-shaped brackets anywhere on your wall, lay down a simple piece of wood, add a few screws and you should be good to go.
You can buy a finished tabletop from somewhere like Ikea, or just use a cut piece of plywood. I’ve seen this setup created beautifully and affordably in small spaces like NYC where you have to get creative to get by!
Running a 24” wide plywood board across the length of your room and tucking a comfortable chair underneath can give you a huge amount of space to spread out all your ideas!
If you have a little more space, you can use sawhorses as the desk base and lay the wood on top.
Using a floating desk and/or shelves can be a great solution for creating an art studio in a small space. They take up much less space than a big desk or bookshelf, but still give you the storage and workspace you need.
It’s the perfect place to create peacefully while you start thinking about what crafts you want to make and sell ;).
4. Rearrange/swap out your furniture
My guess is that you probably have a lot more space than you think in your apartment or bedroom.
As an interior designer, I always notice when I go into people’s homes how much wasted space there is, either due to the arrangement, or just the overall size of it.
Do you have any oversized furniture that you could scale down for something smaller? Would that give you more space for your dream home art studio?
If so, don’t hesitate to dump or donate it. Space is precious and you have to use it wisely!
Getting clever with your space planning and feng shui can mean the difference between feeling squished in your small space, versus feeling like you have enough room to function and create the way you want to.
A large couch can be replaced with a more compact love seat and make room for a small desk, table, or even art supply storage space.
Rearranging your seating area might offer the opportunity to fit in a small vertical workspace!
Sketch out some potential options using a pencil and graph paper. Look online for furniture that serves its purpose, but that also takes up less space.
Sometimes it just takes a little thought and creativity to move things around and make room for a small art studio space.
I bet you won’t even miss that giant recliner chair your old roommate left behind ;).
5. Make use of an underused closet
This won’t work in all cases, but if you have a closet that can be converted into a usable space, then by all means!
You’ll probably need some good lighting solutions unless you’re architecturally blessed, but that’s a small price to pay for a cute closet-studio set up :).
Try adding in floating desk and shelves like the photo above, then to close the closet, just tuck your stool underneath the desk and out of the way.
In some cases you might not have a closet, but a small cut out nook. These are also great places to set up a small but designated creative space.
Hopefully you now have some great ideas of how to create an art studio in a small space. Basically in my opinion, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
It won’t take much to create the smallest art studio of your dreams where you can design your own fabrics, or start your own craft business if you really want to make it happen!
Even if you have a small space :)
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