the bearable beauty of gift wrapping
We realize that this gift wrapping station project is not what you want to be taking on the week before Christmas, but if you’re a Classic who’s already done with your holiday cards, your gift buying, decorations, etc, then maybe you’ll be able to take it on. This calm and serene gift wrap station comes from the high priestess of home living, Martha Stewart.
In general, Martha Stewart is Classic personified, and while this is mostly true of her wrapping station, we don’t think it’s perfect for a Classic unless this peg board could be kept in a special room or hidden in a closet. Even with all these complimentary colors, it could pose as visual disturbance out in the open. For all their love of detail, Classics don’t want to see it. They can also have their particular way of doing a task i.e., “the way it’s always been done” so this solution might not hold all their stuff, nor match, nor look as nice as Martha’s. Classics are always in danger of forgoing what makes this wrapping station so appealing — painting the pegboard a beautiful calming blue — because they might deem it a waste of time. Classics, especially Classic Structures are notorious for their brilliant yet utilitarian and unaesthetic solutions to home organization. So unless they are willing to follow this project to a T, the results might not be pretty.
Most Martha solutions have a Fun’s aesthetic flair. The blue is calming and the repetition of 3’s with the wrapping paper rolls, tissue & scissors is just divine. It is both practical and beautiful, so, yes a Fun could adapt to this solution. In the right spot, a Fun could even have it out in the open, especially if wrapping presents wasn’t their thing. If it was, we fear there wouldn’t be enough space on this pegboard to accommodate all the details of wrapping presents that they adore. If they did make it bigger, it might look too cluttered. If size was the issue, we would suggest making three pegboards, one for each color scheme. The only true obstacle for a Fun would be not getting around to making it, but if they love something, nothing will stop them.
An Organic Structure would never have a problem with finishing this project, and all Organics would love that everything can be seen and grabbed because they are inherently visual organizers. And while Organics can see beauty in the simple repetitive detail (3 scissors in 3 different sizes, 3 paper rolls, 3 tissue colors) it’s probably too much detail for them to maintain easily. Even with their “get it done” attitude, they would quickly begin to resent the effort. An Organic would likely take this idea and tweak it to their specifications. The end result might not look as calming or clean as the Martha version but it would be attractive. Perhaps too cluttered for out in the open, but in a closet, behind a curtain or in a less trafficked room with a door? Brilliant. And as with any project, Organic Freedom must need inspiration, time, and a much bigger board.
It’s the same for Smarts as it is for Organics. The Smart Structures would have no problem with finishing the project and would love the visual ease of having everything out in the open and the Smart Freedom would be equally attracted to the idea of this detail oriented, practical solution. But for this to work for the Smart Freedom and Organic Freedom they will need:
1. Inspiration to take on the project in the first place.
2. A lot of time on her hands.
3. To label or draw outlines of the objects labeled right away, and not put it off until later because this has taken way longer than she thought it would.
4. A board that is three times the size of the one pictured because she has lots of paper supplies that have caught her fancy over the years but hasn’t used because she so often sends gifts last minute from online stores and uses their gift wrap, and she has the new coordinating blue paper she bought just for this project.
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that all four elements will be in place and her answer to Martha’s pegboard will be a fantastic innovation warranting at least a post on a design blog, but the Smart Freedom and Organic Freedom should not feel guilty if she never gets around to doing it. This project is NOT EASY and since we strive to help people have easier lives, we think there is a simpler way to store your gift wrap supplies.