Free For All Friday: Closet Makeover

T.G.I.F.  everyone.  

It feels good to return to the familiarity of our Free For All Friday routine - especially after what feels like a busy week. Polling, voting, celebrating, blogging, gossiping, and today... problem solving.  

For those of you new to the scene, we use Free For All Fridays to talk about, and brainstorm, whatever is on the mind of our readers.  Earlier this week I got a Free For All Friday request from one of our readers.  I'm excited, because it's a dilemma that's RIGHT up our alley.  Today we will talk organization.

Let me set the stage.

This reader is planning a renovation on a fairly large closet space, so that it will accommodate her craft supplies and work records.  Essentially, she hopes to turn it into an office nook.  She has supplied us with a before picture and with the essentials for what the space must provide.  It is our job to share with her our collective wisdom. 

Items she must accommodate in her nook include:

• wrapping paper
• ribbon
  
• gift sacks
  
• tissue paper
  
• greeting cards
  
• supplies to make greeting cards
  
• rubber stamps 
  
• ink pads
  
• Work related items such as files, bills, customer contact information, etc... 

Is this right up our alley or what?!?!?!?!

So, the question... If you had the luxury of renovating a space, specifically designed for your craft supplies and paperwork, what would you do?  What are some of the best, most creative storage solutions you have seen to accommodate such items?  Dream BIG.  She can take the best, most cost effective, suggestions and leave the re

st.

Before I share the picture... two more Free For All Friday points of business and then, I'll let her rip.  Normally we would be brainstorming a Secret Ingredient in preparation for next weekend's Super Bowl Snack Food Throw Down.  But, as gently pointed out last week by one of our competitors, I got ahead of myself and had you vote last week.  So the secret ingredient for next week is Peanuts.

The second item of business before I turn it over to Operation Organization is in preparation for next week's topic.  I need blog readers to identify five numbers between 2 and 63.  Everybody can post one and I'll draw five from all those suggested.

Now for the before picture of our reader's closet.

The back wall is 87" and both side wall are 49"

Some of my favorites...

• In Kentucky I had all of my spools of ribbon organized in gutters (like those attached to your roof).  I screwed the gutters to the wall and then placed the spools down in the gutters with a length of each color hanging down.  It was perfect.  They took up no counter or shelf space.  They were easily accessible, AND all the colors (I probably had upwards of 20+ colors) made my space look brighter.  Eventually, I'll get to doing it here too.
  
• Second.  I store my rolls of wrapping paper, packaging paper, and celophane in a big metal garbage can.  Ideally it would fit under the counter in my work space, but it doesn't.  Instead I keep it close at hand in the garage.  Mind you, my Christmas wrapping paper is stored separately in covered plastic containers, because I only pull them out once a year.
  
• Finally, my storage space has lots of Lazy Susan's built in and I love them.  It means that I don't have things tucked away deep in the back of a cabinet.  Everything is easy to access, simply by spinning the Lazy Susan.
  
• One thought... I would take the doors off and either try to get a pocket sliding door or come up with some other decorative solution.  The door frame in the middle seems like it will make everything more difficult to access.

How about all of you?  Share your most ingenious ideas or something great you've seen in a magazine, at a friend's house, or even in a store.  We'll all benefit from this!

Signing off until tomorrow, where I'll be reporting from New York and preparing to have dinner with our good friend, Maureen (maybe she'll wear her purple boots!).