Gift wrapping closet

The armoire that houses all of my gift wrapping supplies used to have a system, but it's been slowly getting messier and messier...

...eek.

After sifting through the mess to find supplies to wrap Christmas gifts last week, I was tired of the mess and started thinking of ways to clean it up.  Naturally, Ikea was my first thought but since I was just there a few weeks ago and it's soooooooooooo far away, I tried to find other options, both at online retailers and local stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, Lowe's, Target, and such.  No luck.

Everybody sells the hanging sweater organizers, but no one (except Ikea) sells bins that are the right size to fit into the cubbies so you can use them for storing things you want out of sight - except for this pastel version, which made me want to throw up:

I gave up after searching through website after website, knowing that if I just typed in ikea.com and clicked US I'd be that much closer to finding the perfect storage solution.  So that's just what I did.

This is why I love Ikea - they tell you which bins/baskets fit in each of their larger storage pieces:

Why don't more stores do this?

Anyways, when I was there last time, I picked up 2 sets of black CD boxes to organize some of Dave's shenanigans in the office, like printer cartridges, memory cards, tapes for our camcorder, etc. - little stuff that I don't like sitting out.

I thought these would be perfect for the gift wrapping supplies, but at 6x6 they are a bit small to fit everything.  I remembered seeing a 12x12 box in the same Kassett line of products, which is too big, but I couldn't remember other options, so I searched around to see what other sizes they sell.

I found these:

They are 7x11, which sounded perfect, but when I measured the organizer I already had in the armoire, I found that it was 10 1/2 inches wide, so these wouldn't fit :(

Luckily, Ikea sells one that is a perfect match to these boxes!  They saw me coming!

Sweet!  Monday morning I decided to get up early and head up to Ikea!  But I stopped on the way to have lunch with my Bonnie at VA Deli!  It's the best lunch spot in Fredericksburg, in my opinion.  It's in the heart of old town Fred, and they have the best chicken salad!

Once I got there, I tried not to look at everything because I knew I'd end up with a car full of stuff to bring home.  I did get some glass jars for pantry storage - I hate that pasta sits in a cardboard box with glue drippings until I use it.  Blech.  So I'm going to start storing it in glass jars, along with teabags, cereal, and other things - I'm not going crazy buying a ton of glass jars until I know that I'll use them, to avoid yard saleing them if we don't use them.  OH, and this guy jumped into my cart:

 I'm not afraid to say it, I still sleep with a stuffed animal.  How cute is he?

The hanging organizer was only $5.99 and I bought 2 sets of the 2-pack boxes at $5.99 each - so the whole closet organization project only cost me $18...and it made such a difference!

As soon as I got home I got to work.  I pulled everything out of the closet and put it into 4 categories, labeling each box with my Dymo:

• Mailing supplies
• Tags and tools (like scissors, scotch tape, wrapping paper cutter, etc.)
• Tissue Paper
• Small boxes

I also labeled 2 hanging bins (already owned) for medium boxes and gift bags.

Then I put everything back into the closet!  Here is a before/after shot of the hanging organizer side:

...and the wrapping paper side:

Fun!

What can I organize now?