Months ago, I made this DIY Jewelry Organizer for my bedroom. I had purchased a tree to hang my necklaces years ago, but it was too short for most of my necklaces, which meant that they all ended up getting tangled up in a heap at the bottom. Isn’t the purpose of a jewelry organizer to keep your jewelry…organized? Also, there were too few branches. I’m currently using the tree as an earring holder, and the 6 branches work perfectly to house my earrings. As for my necklaces and bracelets, since I couldn’t find anything I loved in the stores, I made it myself.

A while back, when my mother-in-law came to visit, she commented on how smart it was. She says she has the same problem with her own jewelry. In her jewelry box, all the necklaces got tangled up to the point that she couldn’t even find anything. Right before Christmas, she told me that if I didn’t have anything for her yet, I could just make her a jewelry organizer! I would have loved to make her one identical to the one in my bedroom, but the store I purchased the supplies didn’t have another beautiful lady wall plaque, so something else was born. Here’s the how-to on both jewelry organizers.

Beautiful Girl Jewelry Organizer

Supplies:

•  Wall plaque ( Found at HomeGoods, but I’ve seen similar ones at lots of stores. Might take some legwork!)
•  Wood trim (Mine is about 3 in. wide. Beveled is nice, so rings sit nicely.)
•  Decorative wood trim (to give the edge of the shelf a finished look.)
• Metal hooks for hanging necklaces and bracelets
• L-brackets (added security for the shelf. You will be screwing it into the back as well.)
•  Miter saw
•  Wood glue
•  Wood filler
• Sandpaper
• Drill
• Paint
• Tape measurer
• Safety goggles

If you’re adding a decorative trim to the Shelf, you’ll want to first measure the width and multiply by two, then subtract that from the overall width of the wall plaque. The difference is the length of the shelf you’ll want to cut with your miter saw. After cutting your 3 in wide trim, you can cut the trim piece to size. There are positions on your saw to make the 90 degree angle cuts. After the cuts, sand until smooth. Affix the decorative trim to the shelf using wood glue. After the glue is dry, you can use wood filler to make the corners smooth and prepped for the next step; painting! I already had this small sample of hot pink paint from another project I did in my daughter’s room. I love the pop of such a bright, fun color against the sweetness of the old-fashioned girl.

While the paint is drying, you can mark the places where you want to put the hooks. Use a tape measurer instead of just eyeballing it, so it looks finished, and then mark with a pencil so you can erase any mistakes. Oh, I also spray painted the hooks black! They might actually come in black, but the ones I purchased were silver, and I thought they might clash. I pre-drilled my holes with a pilot hole drill bit, then added the hooks by hand. Once the shelf is dry, you can drill it into the plaque and add the L-brackets below (also spray painted black to match!) For added security, and because the plaque is quite thin, I used the leftover shelving material so affix to the back right where I was drilling the shelf. I may not have a ton of jewelry, but I like that it’s solid and very sturdy. Who knows? Maybe my sweet, thoughtful husband will buy me more so I can really test out the strength of my pretty shelf!

Owl Shelf Jewelry Organizer

Supplies needed:

• Shelf (Again…I found this one at Homegoods, but any wooden shelf will do!)
• Hooks
• Wooden lettering (These were MDF and pre-primed white)
• Decorative burlap flower
• Strip of Craft Wood for affixing letters and flower
• Paint (two colors used)
• Sandpaper
• Hot glue gun

The owl shelf was such a cute find. My mother-in-law loves owls, so I thought it was so perfect! I wanted this to be special for her, so I made sure to incorporate her favorite animal as well as the name my kids call her. The first thing I did for this project would have been to paint the entire thing, shelf and craft wood; however, I had some leftover paint in an *almost* identical color. The color is called Contemplation, and it’s just a tiny bit lighter than the shelf was. Since I really liked the color of the shelf the way it was, I decided to try to see if I could make it work. After painting the craft wood with the light green paint, I used a tiny bit of brown craft paint to add depth, warmth (to match the color of the shelf), and a more distressed look as well. I then used sandpaper to rub off some of the brown, and to add more distress. I’m really happy with how it turned out! I spray painted the letters with Ballet Pink glossy spray paint. Again, I had this leftover from another project. Yes, I like to do projects and reuse paint when possible!! After the paint dried, I hot-glued the lettering and added a decorative flower. I found this adorable burlap flower at Michael’s, and it came as a 3-pack. I used the other 2 on another project I’d completed a while back, so this one was just sitting around waiting for me to find it an adorable home!

I used a tape measurer and pencil to mark off where the hooks would go, then pre-drilled with a pilot hole drill bit. To secure the “Nana” plaque to the top of the shelf, I cut a paint stirrer down to size and hot-glued it to the back to hold in place. So the back of the shelf happens to look like my 2-year-old helped, but it works! The shelf already had sawtooth hangers on the back, so this project was a lot easier than the one I made for myself! Thanks, Nana! I hope you love it and think about your grandchildren every time you grab an untangled necklace.