Inside: How to make a DIY Gift Wrap Organizer out of a basic bookshelf. Transform a small corner of your home into the ultimate wrapping paper station!
I love the holidays, but I feel like they creep up on me every year and I end up scrambling no matter what. I’m trying very hard to get organized this year well ahead of time and so this year I took an afternoon to turn a small basement corner into a DIY Gift Wrap Organizer! 
Here’s what the corner was before. It was just…a corner.
{Have you been following along? Here are the projects we’ve done down there so far}
- Demolishing the walls
- Laying the farmhouse plank sub flooring
- Installing the giant storage cupboards
- Refinishing the vintage lockers
Clear a Space for your Gift Wrap Organizing Station
This actually sounds fancier than it really is – I swear. But ever since I was a teenager and saw Martha Stewart’s wrapping ROOM, I’ve wanted a dedicated space for paper products and wrapping. It took me years, but I finally made it happen and now I have a gift wrap organizer that doesn’t take up too much space and is made from an old Ikea bookshelf. I scoured the house, found all my wrapping stuff and threw out or donated what I knew I didn’t love. (This post uses affiliate links.)
It was TOTALLY sad after years of being neglected in our back storage room and I couldn’t figure out how to disguise the awful back and sagging shelves, until someone suggested just covering it with burlap. Goodness knows, I love my burlap.
Update and Prepare your Bookshelf
The process is fairly simple. I laid the shelf down and measured. Cut two pieces out of my burlap (which you can get at the fabric store for $2/yard usually.)
I ironed the burlap REALLY well. My trick is to use spray starch (this one is my FAVORITE) and a super, hot, dry iron. The wrinkles will fall out. I swear.
Then with some plain Mod Podge, I stuck the burlap to the back of the bookcase and trimmed the edges. Now, here’s where I ran into a teeny issue. The edges of the burlap don’t cut nicely with scissors or a utility knife – so I had these jagged areas that looked all janky. To cover them up, I cut strips of burlap about 1.5″ wide, rolled them up with hot glue to make piping and then glued them down the edges of my shelf.
How to turn a Bookshelf into a Gift Wrap Organizer
Now for the wrapping part. To finish off the gift wrapping paper storage station I used:
- basic metal magazine files (6 of them)
- four plastic storage totes
- 5 5/8″ wooden dowels
- 2 small wooden crates
- a few decorative vessels (I got mine at the grocery store! But these are similar and very cool)
- chalkboard sticker labels
- a basic white bookcase (obviously!)
- a kitchen cart (wait for it! You’ll see what I mean!)
I used the metal magazine files for tissue paper, gift bags and sticky bows. It makes it so much easier to see when I’m running out of something and to see what colours I have.
The plastic storage totes are used to hold various holiday ribbons and gift tags. I also used one for Thank You and Note cards with envelopes. (I especially love the cards available at Minted! OMG beautiful!)
The decorative vases, with some chalkboard labels, house my pencils, scissors and Sharpies.
The dowels! Drilled into the top shelf to hold my paper rolls! No more bent edges and creased paper! And it is SO much easier to see when a roll is running out! In terms of paper, I get mine from a variety of sources. This year I shopped at Canadian Tire (a major retailer up here), but I also frequently order from PaperSource and Spoonflower (super cool because you can customize your own designs there.)
I deliberately left extra space to drill more holes and add more dowels down the line. I hope to cash in on some Boxing Day sales and pick up some new patterned papers for next year!
I’ve got my Silhouette Cameo on here too, along with some of my Silhouette crafting kits. The wooden crates are for notepads and ‘bigger birthday decor’ like banners, streamers and balloons and the plastic bin holds all my wires and plugs that go with my printer and my Silhouette.
So I know, you’re sitting there like – nice, she has a wrapping shelf, but no place to wrap. Well, here’s the sneak peek! I moved our old kitchen trolley (here’s the exact one I have!) into the studio space a few months ago. It was meant to be temporary. But then, I LOVED IT. 
It’s obviously on wheels, so I can reorient it around the room as I need to. 
I keep smaller pots of paint in the cupboard, photo staging equipment and our ink jet printer on the shelves. 
The top is a bit scuffed, but I figure that’s okay! It’s a working space after all and I don’t like feeling as if I have to be super tidy ALL the time. If I’m doing something really messy, I just tape down some brown craft paper to make clean up easier.
It works perfectly as a spot to wrap presents, work on blog posts or search for inspiration for my next project.
I feel like we’ve come so far in this space and yet we have so much further to go. My next goal is to tackle the 8-feet long laundry room cupboards. Wish me luck! Not sure I can do that one in 5 minute increments 😉
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