DIY Time!

A few weeks ago, I was trying to decide on a necklace for an outfit, but sadly I ended up with this:

After spending a good 45 minutes untangling this mess, I decided that I really, really needed a new organizational system for necklaces.  Previously I was using plastic Command hooks on the wall and hanging many necklaces over each other, like so:

Obviously that doesn't work very well if you want a necklace on the very bottom (not to mention it wasn't at all attractive or giving these lovely necklaces the breathing room they deserved).  I went through a little phase of pretending that I really didn't want to wear those ones on the bottom anyway, thankyouverymuch, but I knew it was just denial.  So I started trying to get at them and quickly realized that's how you cause a situation like the travesty above.  I knew I had a ton of DIY necklace organizers pinned, so I researched those for something that would work for me.  I found a few promising ideas:

top: left, right

middle: left, right

bottom: left, right

However, I eventually discounted all of them for various reasons: too small, impractical supplies (I don't have a sander or a circular saw in my apartment...), too expensive (buying 15 cutlery trays to store my jewelry in wasn't exactly in my budget - that adds up!), or didn't suit my needs of needing necklace storage only (I have other things for earrings and bracelets already).  I decided to try something on my own using as little expense as possible.  Here's what I came up with!

I ended up loving the final result!  Here's how I made it.

Supplies Needed

- Bulletin board, whatever size you want (I used 24 x 36, the biggest one I could find) - $15 at Target

- Fabric, roughly the size of your bulletin board plus an extra foot or so on each side (so 36 x 48ish for mine) - I had this laying around from an old project I never did, so it was no cost.

- Staples (I used a regular household stapler) - already had it, no cost.

- Tape (you can use heavy duty packing tape if you like, but I didn't) - already had it, no cost.

- Push pins (I used clear) - already had it, no cost.

Step 1
Wrap the fabric around your bulletin board basically like you're wrapping a present - make sure the fabric is over the front side of the bulletin board.  Fold each end over the sides as tightly as possible, and then staple on the back of the bulletin board along the long ends as close to the edges as you can get to the wood frame.  Then tape the ends down for added security and so they're not flopping all over the place.  I just did a few short strips of tape along each edge and extra over the folds in each corner.

Step 2
Lay out your necklaces in an artful or haphazard fashion - it's up to you!  I tried to be a little organized about it, so my method was to put statement necklaces/shorter ones up top and space them out a bit, then fit as many long chains at the bottom in a vertical pattern as I could.  Rearrange until you like it.

Step 3
Place pushpins just under the top of the necklace chains (where you want them to hang from).  The beauty of the eyelet fabric I used was that I could place the pushpins through the eyelet holes, so I didn't even have to "ruin" my fabric.  On the other hand, actually putting the pins through the fabric would probably secure it more to the board, so I think it would be fine either way.

Step 4:  Hang it up!  Or, if you're really lazy like me, put it on your dresser, a short bookshelf, or the floor and just lean it against the wall - no screws, anchors, dry wall knowledge, or husbands/boyfriends/dads/random handymen needed!

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Total cost: $15

I will say that it doesn't actually hold all of my necklaces, but (a) I'm ridiculous and have way too many necklaces, so that might not be a problem for most people, and (b) it would not be difficult to change out more frequently used ones and store the others at any time.  I have an old jewelry chest inherited from my grandma that I store less-used pieces in, so I can easily change things up.  I'm still planning to make one or two more like this cool framed one:

via

I'd like to use a few of these to house my smaller collection of silver pendant necklaces and such, and eventually I would love to hang them all next to each other in a gallery display.  Currently I have neither the cool frames nor the space to display them, so this will be a long-term patience project.  For now, I'm really pleased that the what I have came together so well and that I can pick a necklace for the day without unleashing the fury of a thousand tiny chains.

How about you - what's your jewelry storage system like?  Would you like to see the rest of my jewelry collection storage/organization at some point?  I don't know if I've made this clear on the blog, but I'm an organizational freak, so I would love to share it with you (and see yours too)!