Every year for Christmas my siblings and I do a grab bag and this year I just so happened to pick my brother Ryan. I was at a total loss as to what to get for him. He has everything he needs, and if he wants something he will just buy it for himself. What is a girl to do?

Then after visiting his apartment around Thanksgiving, I came up with a brilliant plan.  See, my brother has quite the collection of old record albums. He has dozens that he has acquired over the years, and even has some old ones from my mom’s high school days. They’re pretty amazing, but they’re just sitting in piles around his apartment.

I decided to enlist the help of my fellow rookie, Bridget, and together we came up with a plan to display some of those old records. I purchased 3 of these picture ledges from Ikea and I used my spare key to get in his place. Then while he was at work, Bridget and I got to work to create a record filled wall.

This was the setup when we arrived (gingerbread house and all!) We decided to create the display on the wall with that random art piece. It was cool, but wasn’t quite proportionate for the space. We moved that to another wall, and quickly got to work.

I drilled in holes for anchors, while Bridget sorted through all of Ry’s records to find the best ones to display. It was simply a matter of measuring, putting in an anchor, and screwing in the picture ledge.

We were done in no time at all!

Now all of those old record albums are on display for all to see. It shows off his love of music and adds a bit of old school sass to his space. Plus, the records are still handy so he can choose one and listen to it whenever he wants.

We left his place eager for him to get home from work to see his new wall. I have to admit, I was a little nervous that he wouldn’t like it. I mean, I wouldn’t exactly be happy if someone came into my home and changed things around.

But lucky for me he absolutely loved it and thought it was a very creative gift!

So what do you think? Think the rookies ROCKED this Christmas present or what?