Gift Wrap Closet

I feel like this next sentence is the most grown up thing I've written in awhile....

I, Courtney Shearer have a gift wrap closet. I mean, how luxurious does that sound? HA! I really do have a closet that is now dedicated to all things gifts - cards, paper, boxes, bags etc....and it was fairly easy to get. I simply cleaned out a closet in our guest bedroom and utilized the space for something specific instead of another place to just shove all the things. Earth shattering I know, but I'm pretty excited about the end results monetarily and organizationally speaking!

So, the closet is in the Guest Bedroom we have been making over. It was actually one of the first things we did in this space before we started selling furniture and trimming out walls. Here is a shot of the before:

As we have slowly fixed up various rooms in the house I feel like our junk piles just get moved from room to room and closet to closet. This particular closet was out of control. You see I had to pull out junk just to get one of the doors to completely open! From clothes to sell, to Lot's jump-a-roo and everything in between this closet was FULL and I prayed for any guest who needed to actually hang something in the closet. Good luck to them.

With the closet cleared out you can see what we were working with. A single wire shelf. 

The space is not deep front to back, but does have some length to it, so we wanted to add more function and actually utilize the space we did have. Now, we could of gone all out here, I mean I do work around some amazing closet designers and we all know Brent can hold his own when it comes to building out some cabinets, but for this space we decided to go the fast, in-expensive route and just stay with the wire shelving. The game plan was to keep the one shelf we had and add 3 more shelves underneath. To maintain some long hang we got the 3 additional shelves in a shorter length to leave 32" open for guests to use.

Brent spaced the shelves 12" apart and he got to work setting the new shelves in place.

It was a relatively quick process and that was with two little people "helping".

Next, I went to work selectively loading the shelves. One of the great things about a project like this is the opportunity to purge. When you have a new cabinet, a new shelf or a new room you don't want to fill it with junk, you find yourself more inclined to thoughtfully go through items and either donate, relocate or throw out. I knew I wanted this closet to house guest room essentials like extra pillows and blankets and beyond that it would house seasonal throw pillows, my giant dressing-making bowl that won't fit anywhere else, and our gift wrapping supplies. 

I have two large containers full of wrapping paper which I pushed all the way in the corner. I also stacked an assortment of boxes back there too.

For the front section I got little baskets to house ribbon, tags, tissue paper, etc...I even found a box to store all of our cards. I labeled each section per card type - birthday, get well, congrats and thank you.

And finally I used 3 hangers to hold all of our gift bags!! It's like organizational heaven. Extreme I know, but it feels so good and fresh and organized and honestly it couldn't come at a better time because with the holidays upon us and gift wrapping about to ensue, knowing where all of my supplies are is going to save me time and money! Hallelujah for that!

All photo are my own.