the bearable brightness of gift wrapping

We realize this project might be too much to implement the week before Christmas. But for those of you who don’t have to deal with insane Christmas prep, we though this might be just the downtime for our thoughts on this matter. Now for those of you who are dealing up the wazoo right now, then you’re having some hands-on reality of what your needs are. The downtime after Christmas might be just the time to set this up. Especially you get-things-done Classics.

This photo and link is from the lovely magazine, Country Living. We adore this solution as it’s bigger than the Martha Stewart solution, but could still fit inside a closet or a small room. These are the kind of ideas that Classics thrive on. And just like the Martha Stewart selection from our previous post, this would work (and has more space than the other one) if the Classic had either a dedicated craft/sewing room, a closet, or the back of a closet door. The Classic is detail oriented and loves order, and as this solution has a space for everything and everything has a place, Classics would do fine. The only caveats are:

The color scheme is a bit funky, so Classic types with traditional design tastes might have trouble with it, in which case stick to the safer color choice in the Martha Stewart pegboard solution.
There is a lot of stuff on the work surface which could bother a Classic. We would suggest tweaking this idea by storing everything that’s on the desk in the drawers below, using drawer dividers when necessary.
If anyone else in the household uses this space, you might consider adding labels so everyone will know how you expect it to be kept.

Funs are adaptable so they might do well with this solution. The bright colors might remind them of their travels and help them enjoy their craft space even more. But what’s great about this solution versus the Martha Stewart one is the big basket of extra paper rolls. How much easier is it to dump a roll in the basket when you’re done? The Fun wouldn’t mind the “cluttered” look of all the open storage on top because it’s much easier to put things away when they’re right in front of you. But, as adventurous as the Funs are, they’re still overwhelmed by lots of visual details and would need a door or a curtain to close the space off from daily living. The only other problem for a Fun is that they might have trouble making time for this project. Their biggest organizational weakness is that they would much rather be off buying the presents in Timbuktu than back home wrapping them.

This looks like it was created by an Organic Structure. It has vision and smart solutions that you couldn’t find in a manufactured product (waste basket for paper rolls and the wooden dowels and cup holder hooks…ingenious!) Organic Structures are gifted with innovative ideas and the powerful follow through to make their vision real. It’s their strongest organizational asset. This pegboard station could easily tuck into a corner of the kitchen as long as they didn’t live with an Fun or Classic, who would find it too cluttered. But an Organic could easily live with all this detail out in the open as long as it wasn’t say the focal point of the living room or kitchen. Organics are always gathering new information, so they need a broadly organized solution, where putting something back doesn’t have to be an exact science. This idea is perfect for them. The only trouble would be for the Organic Freedom as they might have trouble getting to and finishing this project, but the solution will work once completed.

Same rules apply for the Smart as the Organic. It’s got the breadth of vision they need, everything out in the open and easy to get to; their organizing strength as visual organizers mean that having everything on the wall in easy reach, looking good, is a dream come true. Smart Structures will do well with this project; but for Smart Freedom it will be harder. There are lots of details to this project which might frustrate a Smart Freedom, like buying wooden dowels and cup hooks, and a peg coat rack, painting them all and then hanging them, oh whoops forgot about the pegboard, argh. They could have this station tucked away in the corner of a kitchen or study, but like the Organic Freedom, they might get lost on the way to finishing it. There’s got to be an easier way.

Best for Organic Structure and Smart Structure