Ever since we moved into our new house, I've been searching for the perfect spot to store all of my wrapping paper and ribbons. At the old house, I stored them in two long, skinny tupperware containers under our bed. I guess the carpet in our master bedroom is more plush in this house (causing the bed to sit lower) because they won't fit under there now! For months, the two storage containers have been on the very top shelf in our closet, and every time I have to wrap a present I have to drag out a stool and climb up to retrieve all of my supplies. Such a pain!
So when my friend Emily said she was getting rid of this wardrobe that they were no longer using, I quickly volunteered to take it off her hands. Can't beat a free piece of furniture! Especially since I already had a plan for it.
They had purchased it at a second-hand store years ago and it was still in really good condition. We replaced the bottom shelf but other than that, it was pretty structurally sound. It came with two doors but I had already removed them before I snapped my before picture. Oops.
My original plan was to give it a quick sanding before slapping on a couple coats of paint and then distressing it so the brown stain would show through. The problem with that was that it was stained a deep red-brown and the stain bled through my paint. Darn you, cherry stain!
So I had to back up and break out the primer. I hate priming things, but sometimes you just gotta do it.
In the picture below, you can see how bad the stain was seeping through. This was after just one coat of primer. We ended up having to do three coats and still weren't sure if we'd blocked it enough.
I already had my paint color on hand. It's some that I had color matched to our curtains back when we moved in, so it doesn't have a real name. Kinda blue-greenish, maybe? Thankfully, after two coats of it, there was no more sign of red stain! Hooray!
Painting was the quick and easy part. The next part was trickier - figuring out how it could become the perfect wrapping paper storage wardrobe.
I decided to add peg board to the top half of the inside. This was only hard because we couldn't screw through the back and sides since they'd show on the outside. With my Dad's help, we managed to get the peg board attached securely without damaging the exterior.
I hit up Lowe's to purchase the rest of the supplies to outfit the inside. I bought two black garbage cans, one wire basket that could hang on the peg board, and twenty long pegs.
Then came my favorite part: filling it up with all of my supplies! The 20 long pegs now hold all of my different ribbons and the wire basket holds tape, scissors (if I could find them), and gift tags. One garbage can is just for Christmas wrapping paper while the other one holds all other wrapping paper as well as tissue paper. Gift bags are organized by occasion and size on the right side and gift boxes are stacked in front. I hope I can actually keep it this clean and organized!
The very last step was just putting the doors back on. Rather than being hinged, these doors sit in a track and slide from side to side.
I can still easily access everything I need...
...from either side. I've already wrapped two gifts with my freshly organized supplies and it was great!
Total cost of this wrap-tastic storage wardrobe was only about $40, and that was just for the pegs and garbage cans at Lowe's since we already had paint, primer, and the furniture was free! Can't beat that. Now I just need to find some fun stuff to go on top of it so it doesn't look so plain sitting in the corner of our room. Guess I'll have to go shopping...
I'm not the only one that's thrilled with this new setup. The now-empty storage tubs that used to hold all my wrapping supplies quickly became Katie Wynn's new favorite toy!
She spent the better part of Sunday afternoon cruising around the carpet in her tupperware "boat." Love that sweet girl and her silly face!
If you're like me and in desperate need of a place to store all of those wrapping tidbits, might I suggest looking for a wardrobe? It was super easy to convert! I think I may be way more excited about this than a normal person should be.