Operation: Organization 2014 ~ Gift Wrapping Organization

Welcome to Day #4 of Operation: Organization. Today, Amanda from Burlap & Denim is going to share how she built a wrapping paper station in her laundry room. It’s amazing! Here’s Amanda:

Have you ever been to a Paper Source store? On our last trip to Carlsbad my husband and I happened upon one of their adorable stores. One entire wall of their shop was lined with beautiful wrapping papers. They are a mix between fabulous scrapbook paper and amazing hand made wallpaper I’m not gutsy enough to glue to the wall. I knew right then and there that I wanted a place to display beautiful papers. I wanted a wrapping paper station that was compact, affordable, and displayed beautiful paper. A few months later inspiration struck.

I decided to make my own Wrapping Paper Storage Station. We’ve been working on our basement and just finished up all of the trim. I looked around and found a few scraps that would work perfect. I cut them to be the same length making them 4.25″ x 52″. I sanded the bottom of each board.

After a trip to Lowe’s I found these corner L braces in a 4 pack for $2.97. Since they are 3″ deep so they would fit within the trim. I marked where the screws would go and drilled a pilot hole for each of the 8 screws that would secure the trim to the braces (NOTE: when securing the braces to the trim, be sure that the screws aren’t too long, I used the ones that came with the package for the thicker parts of the trim, but used shorter screws for the thinner parts).

I took a trip to Walmart and bought 10 28″-48″ Mainstays sprint tension rods for $2.17 each (cheapest of anywhere I found). Be sure to buy round rods so that the ribbon will slide on easily.

Here is a layout I did on my kitchen island. I measured the width of the wrapping paper and used that to set my distance for the braces on the wall (30.75″).

After a lot of measuring and leveling, I secured the four braces to the wall. Then I screwed the trim to the braces. The right trim is just off the wall because it turns out like most houses, it wasn’t quite straight. Plus it gives me a little space to store stuff on the side unseen (note: while I haven’t yet, I plan to buy a magnet strip from IKEA to hang extra stuff on the side).

Then unscrew the trim and prep for paint.

In classic form, when I drilled my pilot holes I accidentally drilled a little bit too deep in the center of the trim. No worries, a little Fast ‘N Final patch it was all good.

A quick sand, prop up the boards on some soda cans and paint away. I used a primer and paint in one spray can.

Re attach the dry painted trim and prepare to fill it up.

Then I slid a tension rod inside each roll of wrapping paper. I expanded it about 1/2″ larger than the space between the pieces of trim and layered them. Being the neat freak that I am, I measured the space between each rod and leveled them out. The great thing about THIS system is that it is fully adjustable. If you only have a few papers or a lot of ribbon you can change how close or far appart each of the rods are with no tools. It looks great if the bags are with in the frame or hanging below it. Figure out what works best for you and go with it.

After the eight rolls of wrap and tissue paper it was time to add the ribbon. I chose all smaller bolts so that they wouldn’t take up too much room or be crazy heavy.

I put up one last rod toward the bottom. On the left side I slid a cute clear light weight can and put odds and ends of decorative toppers and my Scotch wrapping paper cutter. The rest of the rod holds gift bags. To secure them I found some old clips that came with a set of curtains I bought a while back. They hang with a clip secured in the center of each bag. If you don’t have these laying around you could use clothes pins, shower curtain rings or just slide the handles through the rod (but then you have to take the rod out each time you want a bag).

I love that even though I have a tiny laundry room (as seen below) I can still have the luxury of having a wrapping station easy at hand.

So, to “wrap” things up:

CHEAP-this cost me about $25 for the brackets and the rods, everything else I had already. It could be done for even less if you didn’t want as many papers out.

SMALL-it takes up virtually NO space. My door handle sticks out farther than the entire station.

EASY-this project is a one woman, one day beauty.