DIY Jewelry Display

I'm not going to lie, I have quite a bit of jewelry.  The sad part of this story is I really don't wear much jewelry.  I have necklaces and bracelets that still have the tags on them and have had the tags on them for over a year.  I'm always noticing and admiring cute accessories on other girls and I asked myself the other day why I never wear jewelry myself.  The answer I came up with is because my collection is not easily accessible. 

That problem can be attributed to a lot of households, I think, with things other than jewelry.  Maybe some of you don't have the proper place to put things, or maybe you do but the problem is it's a pain in the rear to get these items out to use.  Most people wouldn't bother with it then and just leave it unused.  That's exactly where I found myself with my jewelry. 

Here's what I was working with prior to my overhaul so that maybe you will understand my quandary.  When you immediately walk into my closet on the right hand side of the doorway I have my sunglasses, belts, and some casual necklaces draped on hooks.

Then as you are standing in the same doorway and turn to the left you will see I have a bookcase filled with shoes and then next to that is the original closet of the room.  In that closet I have my workout clothes hanging on rods next to a tall dresser with some of my bracelets and watches displayed on top.

The bulk of my jewelry, however, is actually in my closet bathroom hanging on the back of my door in an over the door jewelry organizer. 



Here's a pic of my jewelry inside the organizer.

  

I cannot stress to you how small this bathroom is.  Basically every time I wanted a piece of jewelry I had to go into my tiny bathroom and straddle the toilet in order to have enough room to open the door of the jewelry organizer.  As I would open it the back of it would "clang" against the door.  It just wasn't pleasant. Not one single part of it.  So I rarely reached inside to get jewelry out.

Another complaint I had was while it held a lot of jewelry it did not hold my entire collection and in fact I actually got rid of a lot of pieces when I bought the over the door organizer just to keep my collection more manageable.  As evidenced above, I had random areas inside my closet holding other pieces that didn't fit in my organizer.  So basically I would go to this to get my earrings, go to the bracelet display to get some bracelets and a watch, and then go to the doorway of my closet if I wanted to wear one of those necklaces.  What I wanted was a command station of sorts for my jewelry where I could see everything I had all together and not have to open anything to access it.  I just wanted to be able to grab and go. 

I desperately wanted to address this problem so the other day I planned a shopping excursion to T.J. Maxx and Target to see if I could figure out how to fix this problem in the cheapest way possible.  I purchased four things from my trip.  At Target I bought a corkboard from The Board Dudes for $10, some push pins for $4, and a candle holder that was regularly $20 on clearance for $10.  From T.J. Maxx I bought an Ellen Tracy bracelet and ring combo display for $13.

Here's a pic of my giant corkboard before I got started on it.

To mount it there were holes on either side (which I don't like as it's so difficult for me to get the nails to be perfectly level on the wall so the frame isn't crooked) so I went down into my basement and grabbed some picture frame wire and poked it through the mounting holes on each side of the back of the frame.

Then I cut out some extra fabric that matched my pillows on my sofa (the print can be seen in the bottom left corner of the pic above) and attached it to the corkboard with a staple gun, but then I decided it wasn't the look I was going for.  The print was too busy and I wanted my pretty jewelry to shine, not the fabric on the corkboard.  So I removed it and painted the whole entire thing black with some matte black paint I already had on hand.  The next day I hung it on the wall in my closet and started emptying my door jewelry display and here's what I came up with!

Some of you may notice I have it on the wall where my purse cabinet used to be and yes, I had to relocate the cabinet to make room for the jewelry display, but it was a sacrifice I'm happy with at the end of the day.  Maybe one day when I have a bigger closet I can reintroduce the purse cabinet but in this house I just don't have enough room for such a large piece.

Here's a close up of my necklaces.  I have my nicer pieces hanging from the top left corner, my Sorrelli ones hanging from the bottom left.  Then I have some of my statement and longer necklaces on the right hand side.

 

Directly below the necklaces I have my costume bracelets on the left hand side.  The rack was purchased years ago off Ebay but I was recently in Ross and they had these exact ones, only a little smaller, for much cheaper than I bought mine off Ebay. 

Next to the costume bracelets is a pretty glitter bowl I bought at T.J. Maxx for $5 a couple of months ago.  In it are some beaded necklaces, my pearl necklaces, and my tiffany jewelry that I keep in their pouches.

Next to the bowl of pearls is my more delicate bracelets and my watches.  This is the Ellen Tracy display I purchased at T.J. Maxx.  I store my watches on the bottom rung with space for two more on the right side.  Yay!  Under that I store my costume cocktail rings on the left and my nicer rings on the right.

All of the jewelry displays are sitting on a ClosetMaid 9 Cube Cubeical Organizer I bought at Wal-Mart several months ago.  In another part of my closet I have one of those tall 10 drawer chests from Hobby Lobby that stores my mid range and high end makeup but I keep my "fun" drugstore makeup on the top outer cubes here on my cubical.  The middle top section holds my Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Perfume Oil Collection.  The middle row holds two jewelry displays I purchased off Amazon here along with two statement necklaces.  The center one holds two boxes I purchased over a year ago at Dollar General.  On the bottom are two bins, one that holds my sunglass cases and one that holds my jewelry and watch cases.  In the middle of the bottom row is a Victoria's Secret box I purchased probably close to eight years ago with a row of perfume oils I need to test and decide whether to keep lined up directly in front of it to remind me to test them.

Next to my Cubeical is a bookshelf from Target that holds more jewelry on top and purses and clutches on the shelves.

Below left is the candle holder I purchased at Target.  When I saw it I immediately thought it would be perfect to hang my earrings off of as it has really unique cut out designs originally meant to let the candle light shine through.  When I got it home and put my earrings on it I realized a lazy susan underneath it would make it even better so I could easily spin it around and select my pieces.  I found the perfect one a couple inches bigger than the candle holder off Amazon here for $5.

Next to the earring display is a Juicy Couture bust I purchased years ago off Ebay, a ring holder that works perfectly to store my hoop earrings, and a yellow dish from my late Grandma that I use to store any jewelry I take off late at night and am too lazy to put up that evening.  
 

Below is a close up of my brooches.  I went with a bigger lazy susan on the bottom of the earring display to store my brooches around the bottom and it worked perfectly! 


Of course I had to grab an LED Candle I already had on hand to place inside.  It automatically comes on at a time you designate and looks so pretty when I go into my closet at night as the light from the candle shines through all my earrings.



On the shelves I store my purses.  This system limits me to five purses, one that I carry and two for each shelf.  I'm totally a purse person so when I see any I like I have to really think about the purchase because in order for me to be able to come home with a new purse, I would have to be willing to give up one I currently own.  I almost bought a new bag the other day but I wasn't willing to give up any of these for it so I put it back down on the shelf.  My new method worked like a charm!  Below the purses are my clutches and wallets and below that are my makeup and toiletry bags for traveling.

I had to move my perfume display to the dresser my bracelet display was originally sitting on.  It actually works out pretty good here as it's right inside the doorway and it's kind of dark in this nook.  As we all know, perfumes need to be stored away from heat and light.

 And there you have it, my new DIY jewelry Display!  I love it so much and can't wait to start using it!