The Decoration

Let me start by saying that when it came to storing my gift wrap, my organizational skills were...well, non-existent.

For the past two and a half years that we have lived in this house, I have kept all of my gift wrapping supplies in a corner of our closet in our Master Bedroom.

Why?

The only answer I have is that the day we moved in, that was where it landed.

And that is where it has stayed.

Not only was it an ugly, cluttered mess to look at, but most often, I didn't even know what I had back there. So when it came time to buy a gift for someone's birthday, I would also buy supplies to wrap it...not realizing that I already had everything I needed back in the deep, dark depths of my closet.

But not anymore!

Check this out...

Ahhh...


Makes me happy!


Like many of you, we receive the Lowe's Creative Ideas Magazine that comes in the mail. The one that came in December featured a project that I immediately jumped on...

with an end result that looks like this...

And with project details like this...

it was a no-brainer.

We already had almost all of the necessary supplies, so the $85 cost estimate came way down.


We started with a sheet of peg board that was doing nothing more than collecting dust out in the garage...

I think it had probably been sitting out there for about two and a half years (yep - ever since we moved in), but it was left over from back when Will built his workbench and used peg board to hang up some of his tools and gadgets. It was no longer the prettiest or cleanest sheet of peg board, but with a coat of paint it would look good as new.

We did not follow the Lowe's guidelines on size. We had a specific spot in our laundry room where we wanted to hang it, so using all of our available space became the goal. Ours measures roughly twice as big as the one in the Lowe's magazine.

Will added supports to the back to make the peg board more rigid...

Then I gave it a coat of paint and waited for it to dry.

I used one of my favorite colors:

Benjamin Moore - Stratton Blue #HC-142

We bought three cafe rods at Lowe's that were less than $3.00 a piece.

(This turned out to be the only thing we had to buy for the project - everything else was already here.)

Once the peg board was dry, we laid it out on the table to measure out the best positions for the rolls of gift wrap...

We attached the cafe rods with the included hardware...

then hung it up on the wall, screwing through the perimeter frame behind the peg board and into the studs in the wall.

And then it was just a matter of going through all of my gift wrapping "stuff" and organizing it all to fit. We already had a box of hooks, so I pulled out what I needed and got to work...

Instead of buying cute, wire baskets like they used in the Lowe's version, I opted to use craft bags hung on a hanger to hold all of my cards and tissue paper...

It's not that I wouldn't have liked cute wire baskets, but the goal was to use what we had, not buy more. And as it turns out, the bags work perfectly...

As for gift bags, I saved only the ones that I actually thought I would reuse, and hung them in place. The rest got thrown away.

(I'm not one for saving bags that we get as gifts. I know that many people choose to save all of the bags and tissue that they get when they receive a gift, but I wonder how much of it they actually reuse? The bags that I chose to keep have come from Ellison's birthday's and I think they're pretty darn cute, so the possibility of reusing them is very likely...now that I can find them!)

I had no idea that I had this many balls of ribbon!

They all fit neatly onto small hooks...

A pair of scissors, so that I am never left searching for them...

Plenty of tape...

And three rolls of gift wrap that fit the season and my mood...

snowflakes

polka-dots in cool colors

and craft paper

The cafe rods simply pop out when you need to get the paper down or change out a roll.

I love that it takes up almost no room!

Using vertical storage is a huge space saver...

All I can say is...

it's about darn time we got all of that gift wrap out of our closet!


Not only will it be a breeze to wrap a gift now, but I am one step closer to having an organized closet that I actually enjoy walking into.


So I'm curious...when it comes to gift wrap, how do you keep it all organized?

P.S. I am posting this at:

Make Your Monday, Make It For Monday, Just Something I Whipped Up, DIY Day, Toot Your Horn Tuesday, Talented Tuesday, Making Your Home Sing Monday, Get Your Craft On, Trash To Treasure Tuesday, Show And Tell, Works For Me Wednesday, Look What I Made, Transformation Thursday, Thrifty Thursday,
100 Ideas Under $100, Get Your Craft On Thursday, Strut Your Stuff, Make It Yours Day,
Frugalicious Friday, Show And Tell Friday,

...into my newly organized laundry room which holds...

...everything I need, at an arm's reach, including...

...a mending basket for clothes that need buttons sewn back on, as well as...

...the kids' art supplies and favorite games.

I now have plenty of room to sort, wash, dry and fold all within this room.
So while it may not be the laundry room of my dreams, like this...

...or this...

...or this...

...or even these...

...it is now a place that I am happy to be in and it functions perfectly as
just a laundry room!

Why, you ask?
Because today was the day that my laundry room finally became
just a laundry room!

And I am so excited about it! You see, for the past year and a half this room has been working over-time as laundry room/office/craft room/storage room, all while washing and drying laundry for a family of five. It was far too much to ask and it was failing miserably. I wanted to take a picture of the "before", but it was so bad that I couldn't even bring myself to push the button on the camera.
It was that bad!

A while back we built a desk for a client and since it was too cold in the garage I had to paint it in my bedroom, so that it would be warm enough for the paint to dry and cure. It was then that I knew it was possible to carve out some space in our master bedroom and have an "office" all for myself.
(It makes me smile just typing that!)
My husband was not on board with my idea at the time, but yesterday upon opening the laundry room door and being greeted by a seemingly never-ending pile of clothes and a washing machine and dryer covered in cardboard, wood, paint and paintbrushes, he suddenly saw the light!

He began building me a desk right away!

Here is the corner of our room as it has always been and where I am putting my new office...

Here is a mock-up! Perfect spot, right?

My hard working husband building away...

The desk was built entirely out of materials that we already had. Bonus!

I love the wood grain! I'm a sucker for knots and imperfections! The more character the better, if you ask me!

This is a bookcase that we've had for many years. It has moved with us from state-to-state, house-to-house. And now it is getting a new lease on life!

A pretty routered edge on the top...

And brand new doors built from scratch by my handy man!

We added knobs and we're designing and building a top for it, so it will be like a hutch. It will sit behind my desk and hold everything that I need!

Today I got the laundry room all cleared out and now the only thing non-laundry in there is a basket full of the kids' art supplies which used to sit on top of the fridge. I was happy to be able to find a new home for it and the laundry room held the perfect spot for it. But other than that, all you will find is laundry inspired items!

And I'm quite happy about that!

Off to paint the desk and cabinet!