Picture Perfect Room Challenge - Gift Wrapping Organization

I have to admit... I've been moving slowly on my A Week of Change - Part 2: A Picture Perfect Room challenge by Funky Junk Interiors.  I get overwhelmed... bogged down... not knowing where to start.  My workshop is in such disarray that I end up moving this stuff over here and that stuff over there just to get to the space which is next on my list to organize and fix up.  This stuff and that stuff ends up on another horizontal space that is utilized slotted for something else.  Can you see the viscous circle forming here?

Oops... did I say I had a list of what's next to organize and fix up?  Silly me... no, no, no... my "list" is what I'm inspired and motivated to do that day.  At some point I had to stop fighting myself and beating myself up when I "failed" at getting my workshop set up.  Progress is progress.  I learned to go with what I was able to do that day... and accept it.  Some is more than none!

A while back, I saw Delightful Order's gift wrap center post where she hung tissue paper on hangers and used cafe curtain rods to hold wrapping paper.  Delightful order, indeed!  I knew I had too much in my stash a well curated collection and that it wouldn't be practical to hang that many curtain rods and hangers, but I couldn't stop thinking about her post.  Once an idea gets in my head, it's in there and I'll make it work... by golly!

So, what were my options?  I have a lot of vertical space to utilize... and blessed that it's all covered with peg board. Click here for [BEFORE] pictures.  I refused to buy some new, commercial organization system when I have plenty of shelves and cubbies and racks laying around just waiting for their next opportunity.  After mulling around a few ideas... and trying some of them out... here's what I came up with...

Rolls of wrapping paper went on wooden dowel rods [$0.97 each] and large/long peg board brackets [about $1 each] for support.  The diameter of the wrapping paper roll will determine how many will fit on the brackets.  I used one layer of wrapping paper dowel rods to create a shelf and stacked the surplus on top.  No need to buy dowel rods for each roll and there's room for more!  I organized each "shelf" as its own category of paper [Christmas, flowers/girl, foil, general/birthday, basket wrap, etc].  If I didn't, I would just go nuts!

This black wire shelving was stored in my attic space until I was ready for it.  Once I saw it, I knew this was it and the idea to hang the tissue paper across the bars, as if it they were hangers, was born.  Voilà!

Next was to tackle the gift bags.  I could pile them up on the bottom shelf or store them in a plastic bin, but I knew having to rummage through them wouldn't work for me.  I needed "S" hooks.  The bags could hang neatly organized and make it quick and easy to find just the right one.  Ugh... the bags would be hanging from front-to-back instead of left-to-right... another little quirk I wasn't going to be able to live with.  Solution: change the direction of the hooks.  After spending a bit of time wandering up and down the aisles of my local Lowe's, I made it over to the garden section and found these:

Flower pot chains!  Whodda thunk it?  Don't limit yourself to the everyday, ordinary uses of things... you never now what will inspire you and the creative ideas you'll come up with!  The smaller chain on the left [$2.27] has links with a twist in them; the larger chain on the right [$2.46] doesn't.  The twist is necessary to have the bags facing left-to-right.  They are made out of metal, but can be manipulated with needle-nose pliers and a wrench.  Yippee for left-to-right facing bags!

The smaller links were PERFECT, but they weren't able to hold as many bags on each hook as the large ones.  To get them into this twist, first I used a wrench to squeeze the link so the top half would bend in (the links are already split on one side) which enabled me to slide it off the chain.  Second, I held the bottom of the link with needle-nose pliers and used the wrench to twist the top part to one side.  I'll be saving the smaller chain for a future project.  I'm sure they'll come in handy somehow!

Once the hooks were placed on the wire shelving, I used the wrench to squeeze the top half even further to ensure it wouldn't come off.  I didn't have to squeeze or twist the bottom half of the link... it was perfect for what I needed it for... but it's definitely something that can be done to fit another application.  Oohhh... do I see the wheels of creativity turning?

I have a ton another well curated collection of bags... I just have to find them... and hang them.  The shelves are adjustable so I might slide the bottom one up a bit and see what fun stuff I can store underneath.  And, there's actually a second half of this shelving unit... just waiting for curiosity to hit!

Have you been working on your Picture Perfect Room?  Will you be ready for the First Bragfest Linkup on Friday, January 27th?  I am almost done with the yarn/knitting/crochet corner of my workshop.  As things move along... even slowly... I am hoping other things will fall into place.  It's either that, or hoping the Picture Perfect Room fairy will pay me a visit one night as sugarplums dance in my head.  I'm thinkin' I have a lot of work ahead of me...