DIY Jewelry Organizer

Somehow we accumulate a lot of corks. I’m not sure how…

I hang on to them, knowing that someday I will use them in some sort of project. I used a bunch when I made our bulletin board for the command center. And I found another use for them this week!

I’ve had the same jewelry box for about nine years. It’s cluttered and no longer working well. Updating the master bedroom has motivated me to update this storage solution to something less cluttered and fresh.

I started with two 8x10 photo frames with a silver finish. I found these at the Dollar store for just $1 each. I also picked up a couple yards of unbleached muslin at JoAnn’s for $1.19 a yard.

I cut out two squares of the muslin and wrapped it around the backing of the frames, securing it with a hot glue gun.

I folded the corners kind of like a Christmas present to keep them flat.

Once the fabric was in place, I wanted to add some corks to actually hang my jewelry from. I decided to cut most of them in half so they wouldn’t stick out too far from the frame.

Cutting corks with a knife proved more difficult than I anticipated. It was difficult to get a straight edge on the cut side. And, if you know anything about my history with knives, this project quickly became more dangerous than I’d like. Scissors worked much better.

I cut 9 corks in half and then secured them to the top of each frame with the hot glue gun. A few wine-stained corks provided a nice purple hue and added some color to the project.

Finally I added two larger champagne corks in the bottom corners to hold bracelets and round necklaces.

I found 5/8 inch cup hooks at Lowes and they screwed into the corks very easily. I added the hooks as I added the necklaces because I wasn’t sure I wanted or needed a hook in every cork. I ended up with 7 hooks in each frame. The tiny hooks are strong enough to hold two light necklaces or one heavier one. 

I hung the frames over the dresser and the jewelry became wall décor itself, but that wasn’t quite enough. The wall felt too empty. I wanted to add a mirror to the room to bounce some light around but I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of buying a new mirror especially since the cheapest one I could find was $40 and it was rather plain. 

I had a large 22x28 frame sitting in the basement unused, so I went to Lowes and purchased a new sheet of mirror glass. They cut it down to the size I needed for free. Then I just removed the glass on the frame and replaced it with the mirror. The dark wood finish of the frame didn’t really blend well with the rest of the bedroom, so I wrapped the frame in the muslin fabric as well, securing it in the back with the glue gun.

I simplified the dresser décor quite a bit, leaving only a stack of books, our sand ceremony box from our wedding, and some dried flowers I’ve received from the mister over the years. A couple dishes from HomeGoods hold earrings, rings, and pins.

Here is the dresser before:

And here is the after:

These new organizers make choosing accessories in the morning much easier because I can see all of my options at once. And with a limited number of hooks, I’m forced to keep my jewelry collection to a moderate size!

How do you organize your shiny accessories?

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