DIY Art Caddy

I recently ran across a DIY blog post from the Crafter's File Box on how to make an art caddy from a lazy susan, similar to the one Pottery Barn Kids has. I had a rather large lazy susan that I loved to use on our round table, but now that we have a rectangular table, it wasn't getting used as much. And I desperately was looking for a way to organize the girls' art supplies, yet make them readily available for my four-year old whenever she wants to create something.

What do you need:

-little buckets (dollar section at Target)
-one large bucket (optional, dollar section at Target)
-Drill, drill bits, short screws OR strong glue like E-6000 (Hobby Lobby)
-paint and paint brushes, if not using spray paint
-sand paper
-face mask or rag

I used Rustoleum Heirloom White, only because I had it on hand.
Otherwise, I would have used regular paint.
I have come to the conclusions that I just don't like spray paints, but
I did like how quickly it dried.

Lazy susan slightly sanded to rough up the surface and help paint to adhere.



Sanding painted surface and distressing the edges all around.
FYI: I had to put on some gloves because I couldn't stand how much paint dust
was getting on my hands and under my fingernails as I sanded.



You also need a face mask. Breathing in paint dust just CANNOT be good for you.



Word on the street has it that if you don't have this glue in your crafting supplies,
you're not a REAL crafter. I ran out to get this glue asap! :) $3.99 from Hobby Lobby.
The original tutorial used this glue, but since it was too cold for it to dry and had a VERY strong odor,
my husband suggested screwing down the buckets instead of gluing them. I was glad we went with this way of securing the buckets. But I am happy that I have that glue on-hand now.




Pre-drilling the bottom of the buckets. I REALLY wanted to use solid colored buckets with girly colors, like the big, pink one in the middle of the caddy, but Target only had the princess ones. These are fun for Laney because they are princesses, plus they fit the budget at $1 a piece. Hobby Lobby had some in their Spring section, but they were $2 a piece. The main goals of this project was to be creative with what I had on hand first, provide space for Laney's art supplies, and spend as little as possible in the process.  In time, if I run across some solid colored ones, I can replace these if I still want to. Oh and Target had boyish Batman buckets as well. You could do half boy/half girl buckets.



Up-close of pre-drilling. He didn't want any pressure on the bottom of the bucket while
screwing it onto the lazy susan, so as to avoid bending the metal. This worked great.

Holding the bucket still while the Hubbs drilled

View inside the buckets after being secured to lazy susan with a screw

I added the big bucket in the middle to hold bigger items like water color paints, etc.

Four buckets attached, four more to go. The big pink bucket is not attached yet.

Laney was SO excited to put her art supplies into the buckets!
In this picture, I only had four little buckets. I added four more buckets a few days later.

All done!

Still hoping to add some paint brushes and a few other things to her supplies.
Any suggestions?

I must say, I absolutely LOVE how it came out. I love how practical it is.
And most of all, the girls love it!