Hanging File Creation

I needed a way to organize my papers: they were beginning to take over my desk. The basket under my desk wasn't working: it was essentially the same as the hotspot on top of my desk -- an unorganized pile of papers, notebooks, keepsakes, and unopened mail. I was fairly certain that the things I had opened or received in the last few weeks were there, but not quite confident enough to be able to declare that I really hadn't lost the generous-amounted gift card my husband had given me for Christmas (gulp!).

Yesterday, I was determined to tackle this problem. I had seen magazine-rack-type things that you hang on your wall. The first ones I imagined would have been made of some sort of metal, but I could conceive of one made of fabric, so I racked my brain. I didn't have the car, and I wanted a solution today! We're also trying to watch our spending, and besides, a home is more interesting when you are creative with storage and what you put on your walls.

I went looking for a pretty sheet. No luck: they were all white, and I'd gotten rid of most of the extras long ago. But I spotted some cream-colored (unbleached) cotton pillow cases from IKEA. They were 99 cents and when they touched your skin, you could tell. No Egyptian cotton here. I played around with folding them in a few different ways. Then I went searching for some ribbon. I found a few, but what I settled on were some pretty neck ties that Andy had given my a while ago for belts or to use in my hair. I don't know if they're exactly "feminine" but I like them and he (apparently) wasn't wearing them. Enter about a dozen safety pins (no sewing here... maybe some day) and here is what I came up with.

And here's a shot to put in perspective.

At first I was really excited about it, but as I looked at it, I couldn't decide if it was cool and "shabby/chic" or just looked like a couple of pillowcases full of papers attached to some ties. It made me giggle when I thought about it that way, and I was sure Andy would come home and burst out laughing. But when he saw it and asked if it just looked like junk, he said, "Oh, it looks like something you got from Kohl's or J.C. Penney's in the 'fake junk' section."

Yes! At least it looks like junk that someone might pay money to put on the wall!