That's a Wrap - DiY Organization

Sooo, I’m an organizer. I like to organize things and make things functional. However, if organization is not maintained there is little more than organized chaos. This means that organization without function (in my experience) still turns out messy. Additionally, if you have too much stuff in a limited space, though organized, it may still pile up especially if you continue to add to it. This is what happened to my guest room closet. This closet is where I house extras: extra picture frames, house décor, tissue paper, gift bags, ribbons for wrapping, extra canvases, craft paint and the list goes on. I organized it once but my organization wasn’t functional as well as I had too much stuff in there, so it ended up a mess yet again.  

So here it is:

It isn't too bad but as you can see to the right my ribbons, gift bags and tissue paper are a bit crinkled up and the big gray rubbermaid (which contains my craft paint) is not easy to access. The drawers are full of picture frames and house decor and everything else is a bit piled and messy. Additionally, I have a tub under the guest bed that also contains more gift bags and tissue paper. Yes, I have a ton of gift bags and tissue paper. When we got pregnant people were so excited that they showered us (literally 6 baby showers) with gifts and blessings. So I came out of that with lots of extra bags and tissue paper because you certainly can't throw them away. Also, for my daughter's first birthday people were very generous and we ended up with a bunch more not to include the selection I already had.

So I drug everything out and began to think through what I could do to get this closet organized once and for all  ~ in a functional way.

I had a pants hanger that I had emptied a week before from my clothes closet and was just itching to get my ribbons put on it (found here http://blogs.babble.com/family-style/2011/10/17/get-organized-25-totally-clever-storage-tips-tricks/?pid=7800#slideshow from a pin on Pinterest). I was totally excited about this cause we all know ribbons can get out of control. I also stuck a sewing pin in the end of each ribbon spool to hold it in place so that as the others turn they won't all unwind.

For the larger spools that wouldn't fit on the pants hanger I took a wire hanger and straightened it out used the hook to hang it and slid the ribbon spools on and bent the bottom end up to hold the last one on. It doesn't look crazy pretty but it is very functional. Again I pinned the spools so they won't unwind.

Then I got a little closet organizer that had been adding to the pile in this same closet and decided it would be perfect for the piles and piles of tissue paper. The rod that was just sitting over in the corner got put back up and all the stacks of gift bags got a new home. I categorized them (baby, birthday, kids, plain, any occasion, etc) and folded each set into 1 bag of the same category so they could be easily accessed while hanging. I resorted all the items in the drawer bins and made them more functional as well. Emptied all the picture frames out and reorganized what I had chosen to leave in the drawers. I was able to get everything in to fewer drawers than before and used the extra empty one as a place to put extra sheets for the guest bed (score).

Since the tub under the bed was now empty I opted to use it for picture frame storage so I could get them all in one place.

And the finished product:

The bag hanging contains empty paper towel rolls (to be used for some projects soon and the corner to the right now contains wrapping paper standing in a trash can and extra canvases. All in all I am very please with the new functional closet.

I know an extra closet can be a luxury but don't be discouraged if you don't have one. There are great options out there for gift wrapping storage.

Here are a few I found:
http://pinterest.com/pin/256845984968454160/ http://pinterest.com/pin/256845984969332415/ http://pinterest.com/pin/256845984969332419/ http://pinterest.com/pin/256845984969365355/
Let me know what works for you!

Happy organizing,
Daspri