Gift Closet - Part 1

For the first 6 years that we lived in this house, I used this large closet for my linens. After years of never using the linens, I realized that this closet needed to be put to better use.  I wish I had a "before" photo, but surprisingly, I forgot to take one.  I decided to turn this linen closet into a "gift closet".  This idea stemmed from an accumulation of gift wrapping items as well as my new found interest in purchasing items on clearance (like after the holidays and such).  I needed a place to store BOTH.  So.... I started with the two doors.  I turned the inside of these closet doors into a storage system for my wrapping paper.

 Left & Right Door - BEFORE

 I hired a gentleman to make me two wooden door frames.

Tyson and I painted them navy blue.

 The gentleman I hired, adhered the wood frame to the doors.

I recommended and insisted that he install these cup hooks onto the wood frame.

I also purchased 36, oak round, 3/8"x36" wooden dowels, to fit into the cup hooks. These rods would be inserted into the wrapping paper roll and would be used to hang on the door frame.  

 Here it is!!! Wala!!! My envisions came to light!!!!!

I arranged all of my wrapping paper in rainbow color order.  I was shocked I had this many rolls.  It was such a pain, before, to get the roll I needed, so instead of using what I had, I always just bought another roll.  This is NO longer an issue.  Each roll is easily secured to the door and just as easily accessible to remove.  

If the roll had already been used, I secured the loose wrapping paper with a paper clip, on both ends.

The ONLY downfall to this system, which the gentleman warned me about, was that the wrapping paper roll would be TOO long and it wouldn't fit on the door. So... every time I buy a new roll of wrapping paper, I have to cut about 3 inches off of it. To me, it's so worth it.  

And so, before I could neatly arrange these wrapping paper rolls onto the door, I had to cut 3" off 36 rolls of wrapping paper.  The initial setup was a pain, but to do this ONE time, when I buy a new roll, is no big deal.  I use meat scissors to do this and it is a very painless process.

After this point, it took me over 8 months to finalize this closet to my liking.  This weekend, I put the finishing touches on it.  Here is the outcome...

 View from floor to ceiling.

 View from left to center.

 View from center to right.

 View from right to left. FULL VIEW.

I could NOT be more please with this outcome.  It is exactly what I envisioned x 100. I will end this post here, but I will start a new post, titled, Gift Closet Part 2,  explaining the set up of this closet in more detail.  My only WISH that would make this closet AWESOME is having a counter top to wrap my gifts on.  Maybe in our next home :)

Here is a small video I took of the closet.  Ignore my cheesy voice.