Rolling Gift Wrap Cart

For my first post I decided to share a recent project which involved organizing gift wrap, tissue paper, and curling ribbon - oh my!  I'm up to my eyeballs in gift wrap supplies!  

{after}

I like having a good variety of supplies but they tended to accumulate in random places around our home - hall closet, chest in guest room, and even under the bed.  I've tried a few organizational systems but they just didn't work for me.  Either they didn't hold everything or they weren't accessible enough.  I ended up buying more supplies which I didn't need because I couldn't locate the necessary supplies.  It's been driving me crazy to have these supplies scattered all over.  I wanted to have them all together in a central location which was portable (and preferably in my home office/creative space).  Is that asking too much?  Maybe...because the only space available was a small area (16" x 21") next to the built-in cabinets.  I needed a better system that was more accessible.  I've been problem-solving this for a few weeks and was determined to find a solution.

So here's the BEFORE picture of the small area I was talking about - roughly 3 square feet.

But I found the perfect solution when I came across the Raskog kitchen cart and plastic containers from IKEA.  The cart comes in turquoise, dark gray, and cream.  I chose turquoise because it coordinated with my room and the color just makes me happy.

I assembled it on my own in less than 30 minutes.   Super easy!  The cart is small enough that it could also be stored in a closet and it's portable.  It holds everything and I still have room for more supplies.

The bottom shelf holds 15 rolls of curling ribbon.  

The middle shelf holds a variety of paper shreds, 2 small plastic jars (empty for now), a collection of greeting cards (that's a simple project I'll share on another day), and a take-out container box.  

The top shelf is home to 3 magazine holders (which I already had on hand and decided to repurpose) - one holds gift bags and tissue paper, the second one holds small boxes, and the third one holds gift wrap rolls (10 rolls - can you believe that?).

I got lucky when I discovered the small white plastic containers (also from IKEA in the kitchen area) which hang from the end.  These come in a variety of colors so you can personalize this project to suit your style and decor.

These small containers hold: tape/adhesive, scissors, gift tags, pens. Two of them are empty so I have room to grow.

 

Here's the finished project in all of its organized glory.  It was a fun and easy project and I am thrilled with my new rolling gift wrap cart.  Well, that's a wrap!