The Posh Space

Playroom Makeover Part 5 – Displaying Artwork

In December I started my girls playroom makeover and it was going great.  You can see Part 1: Stuffed Animals,  Part 2: Collections,  Part 3: Box Refresh,  Part 4: Dress Up, and a side post on Organizing Fairy Wings (you’ll only need this if you have young girls) by clicking the above links. Then, I’m sure you can relate, my family and business life got very busy and my project had to slow down.  It happens, even to organizers!  So here is what I’ve been working on over the past few weeks.

I was struggling with how to display my kids artwork.  I had tons of ideas but nothing was clicking.  Then I started looking at every available frame we had in the house.  Ah ha!  I remembered that we had this cork board that I had never used and this mirror that I just wasn’t ready to part with in the attic.  Oooh, my vision was starting to come together!  My number 1 assistant (my husband) carefully removed the beveled mirror (which was glued) from the white carved frame.  Fortunately it came out in one piece!

Then we gave each frame a few coats of high gloss black spray paint for about $7.00.  The white was nice, but the black POPS against the walls.  Next we found this galvanized sheet metal at the home improvement store.  Amazingly, one sheet was exactly the amount we needed for both frames!  The metal cost about $10.

We glued the metal to the frames using a hot glue gun then tacked the backs of the frames back on.

The frames were positioned and hung and I used a metal magnetic clip for the first frame.  I love that these are magnetic so we can move things around and I don’t have to worry about tacks falling on the floor and getting lost in the carpet.

Since my cork board frame was very simple I added an embellishment to the top that I found at Hobby Lobby for about $9.00.  I didn’t even have to spray paint it!

Then I used magnetic sheets to make magnetic photo corners.  Are those cute or what?

My friend Barbara had told me about these sheets for another project so I had recently purchased these from Office Depot.  I cut a piece of card stock into a 3 inch by 3 inch square and then cut a diagonal line to make two triangles.  Then I cut out the little notches.  I just eyeballed the first one and then used it as a template.  I ran the card stock through my sticker maker (but you could just use scrapbook glue if you have some) and then attached it to the magnetic paper. I cut the pieces out with scissors and then I was done! Super easy!

So now I have an easy way to change out my children’s artwork!  What I also liked about this project is that I think these magnetic boards can grow with my girls.  In the future when they want to hang up posters of Justin Bieber or Harry Potter now they have a place.  Oh, wait that’s already happening.  Oh well, maybe I can fen those off for a little bit longer. Ha, ha!

Overall this DIY project cost me about $26.00.  Not bad.  Let me know what you think or tell me about what you were inspired to do with your children’s artwork.

Playroom Makeover Part 4 – Dress Up

Ooh la, la, now that’s what I call a dress up closet!  If you follow my blog you know I’ve been working on my girl’s playroom since before Christmas, so no one will be happier than me (well maybe my husband) when this makeover is complete.  This week I put the finishing touches on the girls dress up closet.  Yes I said dress up closet!!! When I asked my girls back in December what their favorite things to play with, dress up and games were top on their list.  So I got to work creating a dress up area they would love!

The picture above is a really bad before of the closet.  As mentioned in the Playroom Make Over Part 1 -Organizing Stuffed Animals when I stared to actually work on taking the room apart I got so excited about organizing I forgot to stop and take pictures.  We were using the IKEA Trofast which had worked well in our previous house but never fit well here.

One of the biggest complaints the girls had was that EVERYTHING was stuffed into the the large drawers in our old Trofast system and in order to get something they had to pull everything out and make a big mess.  So the first things I did was start adding smaller containers, like the little zebra box I showed you in Part 3 of the makeover,   for all the tiny purses and coin purses.  We also made the hanging rack on the wall with a piece of chair rail moulding and pulls I found at Anthropologie and World Market.

Now instead of digging to the bottom of the bin for dress up shoes they are prominently displayed.

Even the wands have a more magical place to go!

Smaller bins (not too big to prevent too much stuff and overcrowding at the request of my girls) for extra clothes, scarves, and headbands are tucked away neatly with cute labels.

Necklaces; both long and short, now have a place to hang without ending up in a tangled mess. I used the the 3M Command Jewelry Organizing and the Command Key Holder.

The rest of the jewelry stayed in these little IKEA boxes but they got a refresh with ribbon and tags which I added using a hot glue gun.

Have you ever wondered what to do with fairy wings?  I found that using a child’s pant/skirt hanger works best.

Before it was difficult for the girls to find their own clothes and dresses.  I tried to keep my oldest daughter’s clothes towards the back, but that didn’t work.  So this time around they each got their own side of the closet.

Now I have two happy girls who are actually doing a great job keeping their playroom clean!

If you missed any part of the series find them here:  Part 1 Organizing Stuffed Animals, Part 2   Organizing Collections , Part 3 Box Refresh.

See you next wee for Part 5, will it be the final reveal???  Maybe, tune in to see!

Gift Wrap Organizing Part 5

Now that the holidays are over, here are a few final unique ideas for gift wrap storage.

Pictured above is a great idea for long-term gift wrap storage solution.  Use galvanized wire or twine and a few screws to turn your unused closet ceiling space in to a handy gift-wrap storage area.  Thanks to Frank Farm for this idea! Love the use of this often forgotten space!

Here is another unique idea to store lots of gift wrap in a nice compact area.  Use the Rationell Varirera plastic bag dispenser from Ikea.  This can also be used to store large pieces of paper or scrapbook paper.  Thanks to the blog Gall-erry from Germany for this fabulous idea!

Need more ideas and inspiration to store your gift wrap? Check out my previous posts Gift Wrap Organizing Part 4, Gift Wrap Organizing Part 3, Part 2 More Gift Wrap Organizing, and Part 1 Gift Wrap Organizing.

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Do you have a unique or fun way you are storing your gift wrap?  Or have you created a gift wrapping station that would make us drool?  I’d love to see it.  Go to my “contact form” and send me a note!

Gift Wrap Organizing Part 4

This round of gift wrap organizing is dedicated to people with less space.  In the photo above from BHG they used a desktop file box to hold rolls of gift wrap.  They used a wall mounted grid system which holds different size baskets for all your gift wrapping  accessories.  You could put this in a closet or a corner of a desk.

A gift wrap drawer!  I love this!  This comes from blog The Complete Guide to Imperfect Home and would be perfect in the bottom drawer of a guest room.

Now this simple compact gift wrap center from Home Made Simple may take the cake!  Use a laundry hamper to hold rolls of gift wrap.  They used over the door hooks to hang bags from with gift wrapping essentials.  Store the hooks and bags inside the basket when your gift wrapping is complete.  Love how portable this self contained gift wrapping wonderland is!

(Click any image above to view the original page.)

Next Wednesday will be our last set of gift wrap center ideas for this year!  You can also see my previous posts Gift Wrap Organizing, More Git Wrap Organizing, and  Gift Wrap Organizing Part 3.

Gift Wrap Organizing Part 3

Tis the season for gift wrap and gift wrap organization!  If you follow my blog you know I’ve been posting weekly on Gift Wrap Center Organization.  In Part 1 Gift-Wrap Organizing I shared some tips on using the back of a door or built-in shelves to organize gift wrap and Part 2 More Gift Wrap Organizing I shared three clever ways to organize ribbon. This week I will share thee creative ways to organize a variety of gift wrap supplies.

In the picture above from BHG I like the use of the wire fruit basket to keep all the bows, ribbon, and gift tags close at hand on the counter but still looking gorgeous!  It looks very Anthropologie to me.   If you have a favorite wrapping paper that you use for everything you may want to consider a wrapping paper dispenser as show here.  What a smart idea!  You will never loose your roll of wrapping paper again in the sea of presents, paper, and tags while you are in a wrapping frenzy.  You should also be able to tear the paper off the dispenser too and it should be a straight line! What a fun idea!

In this picture from Real Simple they use a tiered slack hanger to store ribbon and tissue paper.  Skirt hangers were used to hold folded gift wrap and gift bags.  In the back on the left you can see a multi-pocket shoe organizer that is being used for gift tags, ribbon and tools.

Finally, this simple and clever idea to store rolls of wrapping paper using a wine rack comes from Scrapbooks etc.   Another great idea for keeping paper close at hand during the holidays so your paper isn’t getting lost in the shuffle.  So simple yet so smart!  Love it!

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More Gift Wrap Organizing

This month I am bringing you lots of tips and ideas to help you get your gift wrap center organized. Here are a few ideas I found to organize ribbon. (Click any image to view its source.)

This is so clever, who knew there were so many ways to use a paper towel holder? I love this idea from Real Simple. This is especially handy during the busy holiday season. If you don’t have enough space to keep it out all year you may just want to use this idea to keep everything wrangled while you have a lot of gifts to wrap.

Another great gift wrap organizing idea! I LOVE this idea! Store small spools of ribbon on hanging trouser organizers, and gift tags and decorative pieces in a hanging accessory bag. This is the best use of a trouser/pant hangers I have seen. I normally do not recommend these hangers for pants, but they are great for ribbon.

I have seen ribbon boxes at several stores, those are boxes with pre-cut holes that you can stick the ribbon out of while keeping the ribbon in place. But the problem with those boxes is that you often get a variety of sizes of ribbon and the ribbon doesn’t always line up with the holes. So fellow blogger Spunky Junky came up with the fantastic idea. Use these white plastic boxes that are inexpensive and can be found at many big box stores like Target and Walmart. Simply insert the ribbon on a small dowel and place inside the box and the put the end of the ribbon through the nearest hole! I like this because there are so many holes you can fit several spools of ribbon, especially the thin ribbon.