DIY Jewelry Organizer

Hey guys! 
 
This week I'm back with a repurposing DIY project for you guys. If you're going to be throwing out an old dresser, keep the drawers because we're going to be making jewelry organizers out of them. Let's be honest with ourselves.... most of us probably have a pile of tangled necklaces sitting somewhere in our rooms, or maybe it's just me... Anyways, I've been seeing these types of jewelry organizers all over the place. An example being the one on the left. I found this blog post from The North End Loft, and seeing this post inspired me to take a stab at making this kind of jewelry organizer.

Making this cute jewelry organizer may take you roughly 15 hours or more, but don't let that scare you away because this can really save you a considerable amount of money! Shopping for a jewelry organizer such as this one could easily cost you around $20-$30. Just look at the price of this jewelry organizer from Pottery Barn, it's $79!!! It's really pretty, but $79 is INSANE!! The only thing I had to pay for, for this project was the sandpaper because I had everything else at home. I guess you could technically say that I only spent about $3 on this project. I've seen many other jewelry organizers that don't look half as good at this one and were still really pricey. 

Here's what you're going to need:

• An old drawer or wooden container/box
• Sanding paper (I have #s 80, 120, 220)
  
• Large beads and thumb tacks (going to act as the hooks to hang necklaces on)
• Paint primer
• Paints of your choice:
• A strong glue (e.g. e6000 or hot glue gun) and Elmer's Glue
• Paint brushes or foam brushes
• An old T-Shirt or scrap fabirc

Safety:

• Breathing mask/Respirator
• Safety glasses

STEP 1: Sanding

What you're going to want to do first is sand down your container until all the old paint is gone. I have three pieces of sandpaper with different levels of grittiness. I didn't know this before, but an employee at the hardware store told me about using different sandpaper numbers depending on what I was sanding down. If you look here, you can see that the higher the sandpaper number, the more fine the grit is, and the lower the number, the coarser the sandpaper is.

I was advised by the hardware store employee to start off using a piece of sandpaper with the grit #80 because there was this clear (sort of) varnish coating on the surface of my drawer. Then I used 120 to remove the scratches that were left from using #80, and finished off with #220 to smooth everything out. I'm a total hypochondriac, so this is necessary for me, but you might want to put on safety glasses and/or a mask because there is going to be a lot of dust and you should probably avoid breathing that in or getting it in your eyes (may cause irritation). 

STEP 2: Priming & Painting

 Apply the paint primer onto the container and wait at least one hour for it to dry. Also, do your brain a favor and make sure you coat the object in a well-ventilated area or outside to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes from the spray (or wear a mask).
Tip: If you're using spray on primer like I am (or anything that sprays on for that matter), don't hold the can so close to the object you're spraying because the paint primer will come out looking really streaky and it will start to drip (won't have an even coat).

After apply your first coat of paint, apply the second coat and let it dry again for another hour. Repeat a third time if you feel it is necessary.
*NOTE: Keep in mind that sometimes when paint dries, it may dry lighter or darker than it looked when it was wet. I made this mistake, and the color turned out darker than I thought it would be, so ended up repainting it.

STEP 3: Making the "Hooks"

These thumbtacks and beads are going to make up the hooks that you will be using to hang your jewelry on (do this while you wait for your paint to dry). I didn't have any hooks, nor did I want to go out and buy any, so I thought of using thumbtacks. Also, mini decorative door knobs would also be a nice idea.

STEP 4: Decorating & Final Touches

At this point, you can start decorating the inside of your box in any way you like. I originally wanted to glue in decorative paper to the inside of the box, but that was a complete disaster so I just repeated steps 1 & 2 again and painted the inside grey. 

CAUTION: I just want to warn you guys that if you do decide to glue in decorative paper into your box as a lining, you may want to invest in some spray adhesive to avoid wrinkles in the paper. I feel that spray adhesive is less wet, and therefore won't absorb into the paper as much as it would compared to if you used something like Elmer's glue. Another solution according to Amy, from her blog Modpodge Rocks, is that you could also apply a coat of acrylic sealer onto both sides of the paper. She explains that the sealer acts as a barrier so that the glue doesn't get fully absorbed by the paper (leaving you with a soggy mess). I would say that encountering this paper wrinkling problem  is more common when you use thin paper rather than thick paper (e.g. card stock).

After you feel satisfied with your decorations, start attaching your hooks. I used a hammer and another thumbtack to prepare 5 holes for the "hooks" instead of directly hammering in each individual "hook" because I was afraid that the beads would falling off if I hit them in the wrong way. I also attached a piece of lacey material underneath the “hooks” because I thought that might be a good way of adding in a bit interesting texture to the box and not just have it be solid colors of blue and grey. 

*NOTE: If you're using thumbtacks as your hooks, I would suggest that you dab a bit of glue to the base of the tack so that it sticks to the box and you keep them from falling out. I skipped that step because I like the idea of being able to remove the hooks and changing the decorations every once in a while.

I also thought that slipping in a few pictures under the lace was another cute way of decorating the box. You could also hang your earrings on the loops in the lace, or possibly add several rows of lace to the sides of the box to hang your earrings. Putting little dishes or candle holders at the bottom of the box is great for sorting out your smaller jewelry pieces~

Although, the final product is not what I originally had in mind, I think it still turned out pretty nice and on top of that, I saved myself some money. I encountered a few problems while doing this project as you can see, so if any of you try this project out and also happen upon any problems at all, leave a comment and I'll try my best to help you out ♥. 

I have so many other affordable organization ideas that I would like to try out and share in the future, so stay tuned for that. Also, if I decide to update this DIY project in the future, would that be something that you guys would want to see? Leave your comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time~