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Monday 19 November 2012

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 Are you ready for some turkey and pumpkin pie? This girl is!
And after the turkey hangover wears off, it's time for Christmas to begin! {YAY!} This is the first Christmas in our new home, and I'm SO excited to show you all the fun I'm having decorating! Which brings me to TWO big announcements...


Starting the day after Thanksgiving, I'll be hosting a 12 Crafty Days of Christmas series! 
Twelve days of Christmas crafts, gifts, decorations, and more! I've got guest posts from 3 amazing bloggers: Valerie from Occasionally Crafty, Kelly from Here Comes The Sun, and Hannah from We Lived Happily Ever After! AND the last day of the series ends with an awesome GIVEAWAY!

Mark your calendars from November 23 - December 4th! 

And to REALLY kick off the Christmas season...
how about a special Black Friday deal for Love Grows Wild readers from

Silhouette!
You won't want to miss this on November 23rd! I can hardly wait!!!

Ok, now onto today's project! Christmas gifts will soon fill our home, waiting to be wrapped up pretty and placed under our tree. But where will I wrap the presents? And where will I store all the pretty wrapping paper? How about here...


EEK! I cannot even believe I am showing you the DISASTER this closet is!! It's the closet in my craft room, and because it's a pretty good size, it has become the catch-all for everything.


But I couldn't stand the mess anymore; ESPECIALLY my wrapping supplies all over the floor! I needed an organized way to store all the supplies and make much better use of the space in the closet. So first, I pulled everything out. 


It's much easier to create a plan once you have a blank slate!


Then I found some inspiration from In My Own Style on how to create a beautiful and functional gift wrap organizer. Here's how I made mine:

Supplies
10' trim cut into two 35" and two 25" pieces
miter box
saw
wood glue
caulk
spray paint
twelve 1 1/4" cup hooks
six dowel rods or cafe curtain rods
drill
saw tooth frame hangers
Command stabilizer strips

To create the frame for my organizer, I purchased a 10' piece of primed trim and had them cut it for me in the store. It wouldn't fit in my car in one piece anyway, so I thought I'd save myself a step! 

I had them cut the trim into two 35" and two 25" pieces. I used 35" as the length because most rolls of wrapping paper are about 30" - 32". I used 25" as my height to allow for enough space for 6 rolls of wrapping paper, but you can easily add to your height to store more rolls of paper. 

Since we don't have a chop saw, I picked up this handy dandy miter box to help me cut 45 degree angles on the ends of the trim. 


Then I sanded the edges a bit.


I used wood glue to attach the angled edges together to create a frame. I put some heavy bottles from our garage on top of the joins to hold them together while they dried. Once the glue was dry, I also hammered in a finishing nail on the side of the frame to add stability. 


You could see some gaps in the joints, so I filled them in with Dap Alex Plus. Here you can see the joint before and after using the caulk.


Then it was time for some painting! I spray painted the frame and the brass cup hooks white. Here's a trick to help paint the hooks:
Stick the screw end of the hooks into some styrofoam so you can spray all the way around the hooks without having to flip them!



Once all the paint was dry, I drilled twelve small holes into the frame, six on each side, for the hooks to go into. I started about 2 1/2" down from the top inside edge of the frame and drilled a hole every 3". The hooks then easily screwed into the frame. 


To hold the rolls of paper, I stole the rods off an old, broken shoe organizer. Remember this from my Shoe Organization that REALLY Works post?


I knew the rods would be PERFECT for this project, so I held on to them. But you could use dowel rods or cafe curtain rods; both options would be fairly inexpensive. 


I decided to hang the frame instead of screw it into the wall because a) it would look prettier and b) I can easily take it with me if we ever move. So I added two sawtooth hangers on the back and used Command Stabilizer Strips to hold the frame in place when I'm pulling out the wrapping paper. 

I loaded the organizer up with paper and ribbon, and this is how it turned out!


I will warn you now, the pictures aren't the greatest since they are taken inside a closet!
To give myself some work space, my husband helped me screw some 1 x 4's into the wall underneath the frame, about 31" up from the floor, and then set some 1 x 6 boards on top. 


It was a simple and inexpensive way to create a work space, and now I've got lots of storage underneath the shelf!

To give me some extra light, I added a battery operated puck light above the frame, since the wrapping station sits underneath other shelves. 


And I set up a cute little bucket in the corner to hold some scissors and tape.


I love my new wrapping station!!!





NOW I'm ready to start shopping for those presents!

The total cost for my gift wrap organizer was only $13.62!
$5.70 for the trim and $7.92 for the cup hooks. So worth it!

You've seen how I organize my wrapping supplies... how do you organize yours? 

{here's where I party}

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