Original Wrapper

Samantha Hall of St. Petersburg has invented a better way to wrap gifts: Her workstation box hangs on the wall and is disguised by framed art.

By JUDY STARK, Times Staff Writer
Published January 7, 2006
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ST. PETERSBURG - If your dining room table or bedroom floor spent the month of December as your gift-wrapping station, you'll want to meet Samantha Hall.

Frustrated at the constant mess and confusion of wrapping wedding and baby presents for friends, she invented a "space-saver wrapping workstation," a box that hangs on the wall and is disguised by framed art.

Real Simple magazine liked it so well, its editors named it one of four winners of their "What a Great Idea!" competition, selected out of 6,000 entries. Hall, 35, won $10,000 and is featured with the other winners in the February issue.

"I'm always trying to find ways to be efficient," Hall said. It used to take her multiple steps to wrap a present: finding the paper, tape, scissors, ribbon; clearing a space; moving the items to the workspace; putting everything back. So she asked a handyman to help her use her vertical space to solve her problem.

The box she designed is 36 inches wide (to accommodate rolls of wrapping paper, ribbon, tape and scissors), 24 inches tall and 3 inches deep. That's large enough for a good-sized work surface "but small enough so the average human being can reach over and grab the ribbon," she explained.

Hall's wrapping station is made of wood, but she envisions mass-marketing it in lightweight formed plastic. She's looking for a manufacturer, preferably a local company, "so I can pop in" and watch the work, she said. It can be hung on the wall or inset into it and could function as a desk as well.

Hall's day job is as assistant to the CEO of Beauty Alliance, the largest privately owned beauty distributor in the nation, with headquarters in Feather Sound. In her spare time she operates two online businesses from home: Occasion Trackers (www.occasiontrackers.com) a free service that sends e-mail reminders of upcoming events (friends' and loved ones' birthdays, anniversaries, etc.), and the Secret Boutique (www.secretboutique.biz) which offers links to online retailers of gift items.

Hall has an undergraduate degree in broadcasting from Eastern Kentucky University and an MBA from Florida Metropolitan University. She worked in medical sales for years (and invented a super-organized file folder to track client materials) and was a producer for five years for the Christian Network.

She offers one correction to the Real Simple story: She's not a stay-at-home mom. She's unmarried, "but I'm looking for a husband!" she said. "The whole reason for me doing my business at home and creating these products is that some day I want to be a stay-at-home mom and contribute by working out of the house."