3 Useful Home Depot Finds For Craft Rooms And Artists

Whether you create professionally or prefer practicing as a hobby, there's a wider world of arts and crafts to explore than what you learned in elementary school. If you're one of the many who enjoys spending time at a creative endeavor, chances are you have a dedicated space carved out in your home where you do your work — or hope to do so down the line at the very least. A craft room or workshop will differ drastically depending on your specific activity and needs, but every artist will require some supplies to get them going. 

At first glance, The Home Depot may not be the first store to come to mind when deciding where to get your materials. But as the old saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. While the brand is well-known for its wide array of handy tools, garden and yard supplies, and construction materials, it also possesses its fair share of products that can prove useful to artists and craftspeople alike. From drawing and design instruments to capable power tools for heavier-duty craft projects, you'll be surprised by what Home Depot has up its bright orange sleeves. Today we'll go over a few of these notable picks, which were picked based on their versatility, price, and reception from buyers. More about our selection process is described at the end of this article. 

Ryobi is largely recognized as one of the best power tool brands on the market today and for good reason. From compact handheld vacuums to industrial-sized lawn mowers, you can always be sure that whatever you get from Ryobi will be display superior quality and performance. Ryobi also carries a wide assortment of tools made for crafting, one of them being the Ryobi 18V ONE+ Glue Gun Kit.

A glue gun is a must-have for practically any workshop, whether for creative endeavors or not. Few items provide the level of strength that these tools do when it comes to sticking objects together and the Ryobi glue gun is among the strongest you'll find. Running on the brand's interconnected 18V ONE+ battery line, the glue gun doesn't rely on cords to keep it running. This, combined with its compact size that has been streamlined over the years, makes it easy to transport and move about your workspace. It takes three minutes to heat up and can run for an astonishing 3.5 hours of runtime on a full battery. The full kit, which costs $79, comes with a glue gun, three half-inch glue sticks, a battery, and a charger. On Home Depot's website, it sports a near-perfect 4.9-star rating from over 260 reviewers.

Having a sturdy platform to work on is crucial to creating a comfortably creative environment. Sure, drawing, drafting, or painting on a coffee table may not seem all that bad, but having a dedicated space can give you the freedom to experiment and expand your creative prospects without getting in anyone else's way. If you've never had an art or drafting table before, then the Studio Designs Folding Legs Craft Table from Home Depot might be a good one to start with. 

One of the best features about this table is its ease of set up and storage. It requires no tools to assemble, and is simple to fold and unfold. With its work area being 35.5 inches wide and 23.75 inches deep and having the ability to support up to 25 pounds, the table is spacious, strong, and sturdy enough for most applications without ever becoming overwhelming. This is aided by its durable steel gage frame and floor levelers for added stability. The desk can also be angled up to 35 degrees while possessing handy accessories such as four removable side trays to house your supplies and a lengthy pencil ledge. 

The table currently holds a 4.4 out of 5-star rating average from Home Depot buyers, who mainly praised how easy it was to set up as well as its overall build, although some have stated that it's not the strongest table. You can buy it for $138.44.

If you commonly work with woods, hard foams, or metals, then there's a good chance that you've come across a miter saw at some point. In most cases, these items are rather expensive and bulky, made to be a stationery alternative to circular saws and similar tools. While this is important for larger-scale needs, those who have small or mid-sized projects might appreciate the charming and compact Vevor Mini Miter Cut-off Chop Saw.

Coming in at under four inches in width and weighing only a little more than three pounds, there are few workspaces where you won't be able to fit this. The more manageable size also makes them generally easier to operate, especially if you're new to using miter saws and want to get accustomed. Nevertheless, it's still more than capable of doing its job. Sure you won't be able to stick lengthy 2x4s in this, but it provides plenty of cutting options for appropriately sized material with the gauge's angle adjusting up to 45 degrees. The saw is capable of hitting speeds of up to 7,800 RPM for fast, easy cuts while remaining far quieter than traditional miter saws. 

Best of all, the Vevor Mini Miter Saw is significantly cheaper than most, coming in at only $40.54 (whereas most regular miter saws go for up to $200 to $300 on the low end). It has also pleased most of its users, being rated a 4.7 stars on average on the site.

While no two artists or craftspeople have the same needs, we did our best to include products that could serve as varied a range of functions as possible as opposed to being hyper-focused on a singular skill set. Even if you don't feel like any of these tools is right for you specifically, they can at least give you a good idea of what is available at The Home Depot, better helping you along on your search. 

When it came to price, value was the name of the game here. We wanted to make sure that each item offered plenty to its buyer, it was important that whatever the price tag would be on each respective tool would properly reflect what it had in store. We determined this by inspecting each tool's range of features and functions, comparing its price to similar products within its category, and using our own judgement as consumers as if it would be a worthwhile purchase. Finally, we turned to the reviews of Home Depot buyers. This allowed us to make sure that real users found these products of good quality while also seeing what complaints they might have had that are worth bringing up as a precaution.