It’s A Wrap

That whole To-Do List thing is supposed to keep me in line, huh? Well, it’s the end of February and I’m just getting around to organizing the wrapping paper and ribbons that I had fully meant to tackle back in December. The goods have been crammed behind the closed doors of one of the cabinets in the dressing room a.k.a. third bedroom, but extracting even a roll of tape was nearly impossible without provoking a avalanche.

Sure, I could have went out and bought one of those tupperware upright containers for the wrapping paper since they were everywhere around the holidays, and I could have bought lots of little boxes for ribbons and tape and bows, but didn’t feel like parting with the money just for the sake of organizing. Decided instead to use the available space I had, which, turns out, worked quite well.

Here’s the story:

Once upon a time, I swiped an abandoned 6-drawer dresser from an apartment I was moving out of. I refinished it many years ago, sanding down the thick glossy varnish to expose the natural hardwood, and then stained it a dark brown. It’s traveled with me from apartment to apartment and finally to the house, where it was recently retired after I bought the IKEA storage units for my bedroom.

And then it sat empty for 10 months. I’m hanging onto it because I have full intentions to refinish it once again when the weather improves (oh, the plethora of projects I’ll get around to when I can sand and paint on the deck again). In the meantime, it’s 6 empty drawers were just calling out to be used for something. Like all of this ribbon I bought on clearance.

Boxes and gift bags are now sorted into one of the deeper drawers. It’s a nice change to not have them crammed and crumpled together.

The ribbon spools found a home in a shallower drawer, which has been a nice way to display the variety I’ve accumulated. (Side note: I’ve found lots of ribbon at garage sales; last year, I stumbled upon a sale organized by a woman who was ending her gift wrapping business; there were hundreds of spools. I demonstrated great self control but still walked away with 5 spools, 100-yards each, $1 total. Wow.)

The wrapping paper’s going to find a new home too, since it’s way too crammed into the cabinet. My initial thoughts are to expose it in this unused IKEA flowerpot in the corner.

I don’t think it needs to be hidden away completely, but it’s certainly concealed behind the door. When the tall red snowflake roll is gone, it’ll fit right back in the cabinet to the left. (Yep, Cody looked when I pointed at it).

More to come on that whole dresser rehabilitation. I’ll be sure to share it with you when it’s underway.