Our office tends to be the dumping ground for our family.  Anything that doesn’t have a home seems to wind up getting stored in the office, leading to a large accumulation of crap stuff-I’m-sure-I’ll-need-some-day-and-can’t-possibly-throw-away.

One of the things that was taking over the office was a large amount of gift-wrapping supplies.  Not only was it all over the place, it wasn’t pretty to look at and was causing a large amount of visual clutter.

Me + Visual Clutter = NOT good bed-fellows

When we had our new floors installed, we had taken advantage of the fact that we had to move ALL of our stuff and had purchased new furniture for the office. The new furniture made it really comfortable to work in the office.  Unfortunately, all of the “stuff” made it impossible for me to relax in there, let alone be productive and get anything accomplished.

Operation “Office Clean-out” was initiated.

I sorted and tossed a lot of the non-essential stuff, but the gift wrapping supplies made the “save” pile.  But, where to put it all???  I needed a gift wrap storage overhaul, but I had limited space.

The closet was already full, so that wasn’t an option.  The bookshelves and desks were occupying 90% of the wall space, but there was a tiny bit of unused space behind the door.

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What I used:

• Curtain rod and clips
• Wire shelf (found in the pantry-organization section of the home improvement store
• Adhesive hooks
• Black spray paint (for the wire shelf and adhesive hooks)
• Wall anchors

I started with the curtain rod, which would be used to hang rolls of frequently-used wrapping paper, as well as the rolls of paper that are too long for the under-the-bed storage bins.

(Hoarder’s Confession: In addition to the 21 rolls of wrapping paper that are now hanging in my completed storage system, I also have four under-the-bed bins that are FULL of more wrapping paper.  My husband has banned me from purchasing any more wrapping paper.  Ever.)

Back to the project: I measured the longest roll of wrapping paper (about 42″), added a few inches, and hung the curtain rod 48″ from the floor.  I wanted the rod to be sturdy, so I used wall anchors.

If you’ve never used wall anchors, they are a game-changer!  Anytime that I’m mounting something on the wall and I’m not going into a wood stud, I use these little buggers.  They’re super easy to install (just hammer in a little, and then screw until it’s flush with the wall), and they ensure a good, secure installation.  Buy a box and keep them on hand for anything that needs to be screwed into the wall – they’re worth their weight in gold!

The anchors I used are rated for a 50 lb. project load.  I used four total (two for each bracket), so I figure this rod won’t be going anywhere.

After I got the curtain rod mounted, I eye-balled where I wanted the wire shelf – the bottom of the shelf is about 4″ above the curtain rod.  I wanted the shelf to match the curtain rod, so I hit it with a quick coat of black spray paint.

Don’t forget to paint any brackets or mounting hardware that will be visible!

Finally, I added two adhesive hooks to hold gift bags.  I couldn’t find hooks that were the color I wanted, so I painted white hooks with the same spray paint that I used on the wire hangers.

I’ve already had to use my new gift wrap storage station to wrap a few last-minute gifts, and it was so nice having all of my supplies visible and easily accessible.  I am definitely NOT missing having to dig through boxes to find gift tags and ribbon, or the giant mess in my office!

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