A New Shrine

It is absolutely no secret that I love jewelry.

Let me restate that to make sure it's understood how much I enjoy it:

I L-O-V-E JEWELRY

[MOMENT OF SILENCE]

It doesn't even have to be real; I'm fine with costume jewelry - in fact, that's majority of what I own.  I don't even know what it is about jewelry: the sparkles, the little extra dress up it gives anything.  Who knows?  Who cares.  Well, maybe Mike cares a little, but he's pretty good about my one little weakness.

For awhile now I have stored my growing collection in some fantastic acrylic containers that stack atop one another and fit great in my closet.  Then my collection got bigger and bigger and I couldn't find more of these awesome containers.  It saddened me greatly because I was seriously running out of room.  Plus, I couldn't see anything and was basically using most of the same jewelry over and over again.

I'd find so many cute little storage ideas on the Internet - for three necklaces, two bracelets and maybe four dangly (read: easy to hang) earrings.  I even wondered: Who are these people?  Surely, the average girl has more than nine pieces of jewelry to store!  (I even mentioned this to my sister who might have sheepishly admitted that she probably had about that much - I think she was nicely trying to make me see that I might have issues...).

Fed up, one night I laid out all my jewelry on the bedroom floor.  Mike was traveling so no one was going to step on it, and I thought it might help me visualize a better storage system.  I had this AWESOME idea that was going to go viral on the Internet once I posted it.

This was the picture I texted my sister and Mike that night - with an admission that I might have a problem. I couldn't even make it look better with Instagram because everything wouldn't fit in the square shot! This was everything laid out and it was about three feet by almost five feet.  My awesome idea was not going to work simply because I didn't have the space in our closet for it.

The jewelry then sat on the floor in varying arrangements for a couple weeks.  I searched the Internet for ideas, I searched every store I could think of, and I searched Amazon for storage solutions.  I found one I thought might work - if I purchased two storage holders.  However, at $60 a pop, I wanted a much cheaper option.

Last week I finally decided I'd go the "free" route and install a slightly modified version of my original plan.  Mike's only request was that I use up the scraps he already had in the garage.

I reorganized my jewelry in lengths and ripped and stained some plywood into 3' x 3" boards (I made six boards total).  In our stash, I found a whole box of small nails and eyelet screw things (used for picture hanging).  Knowing these wouldn't be strong enough to hold some of my jewelry Mike gave me a box of galvanized nails (without heads) he had lying around.

I then assembled all the supplies:

(The phone is to control the music which was set to "Broadway Songs".  I like to sing along when I do construction.  Everyone appreciates it greatly.)

This project took me about three hours, I would guess.  I installed a board, then went to the jewelry pile and decided which piece would go where, and then I'd install the appropriate nail/screw/eyelet.  I had to go methodically so I could have some organization, but mostly so everything would fit.  I'd hang the jewelry as I went and I slowly but surely worked my way through the massive astoundingly awesome pile.

I ended up with this:

It is located at the back of our closet.  Just about everything I own is up here.  We get to look at this beautiful collection each day!  You can imagine how happy that makes Mike every morning.

He actually informed me (when I pulled him in to look at this amazingness) that it looked like there wasn't any room for more jewelry.  That's so silly.  Nails can be exchanged for longer and stronger types, some of this can be given away if push comes to shove, and I still have room above and below for extra boards.

And don't forget the back of the door, if necessary!

I generally like to buy a "set" of jewelry when I purchase - meaning I buy the earrings, bracelet, and necklace.  You never know which pieces will be best with different outfits!  I found a way to store all the sets together so I won't need to search in different drawers, or walls, or acrylic storage pieces!

All dangly earrings hang from eyelet screws.  All stud earrings (and brooches) are pierced through a scrap piece of flannel that was stapled onto the board right next to the rest of the set.

There are only a few places where I stored more than one set of jewelry on a nail.  (I had to conserve some space).  In these cases I tried to match like-sizes and like-colors.

I'm seriously LOVING this system.  I love that I can easily get to everything.  Even more, I love that I can see everything.  I don't have to rely on my memory for what pieces I have.  It works great too.  Last week I got dressed and looked on my superstar wall and found a necklace that I hadn't worn in a LONG time and it went perfect with my shirt.  For church I pulled out a jewelry set that I'd never thought to put with a certain dress and I loved the different look it gave.

It's a win/win!  I love the storage and Mike loves that it's finally off the floor!!

Last night going into Maddie's room I saw that she had her jewelry collection laid on the floor.  She said she was inspired by my idea and had started organizing her stuff.

I don't think there is a greater compliment than to hear that from your teen daughter!


I'm so stinkin' happy with this I've hooked it up to:
House of Hepworths, Someday Crafts