I was cleaning out my jewelry “drawer” and I realized that I have never shared with you how I organize all my bracelets, baubles, necklaces, and more. I like the look of jewelry boxes, but I am not sold on their function. If you have a lot of jewelry, it seems like things can get tangled and lost in a mass of beads and diamonds. Yes, lots of diamonds. 🙂
What I wanted was some way to easily organize all my jewelry and if possible, be able to see all the beautiful colors present in my collection. So, here’s how I decided to do it.
This is an old printer’s drawer and you can find them fairly easily at your local flea markets for about $20 or on etsy.
In fact the one above is available for sale by Ugly Santa for about $35.
I really like the fact that the built in dividers make it super simple to organize everything from your earrings to random knick knacks. And the colorful scene all the jewelry creates just makes me happy!
I like to use the small squares for earring pairs or rings. . .
and the large squares for necklaces and bracelets.
I also have places for: my chapstick, a piece of net from my conference basketball championship, paper clips (I use these to make my bra a racerback when wearing a tanktop), extra beads, and more!
I display some of my nicer jewelry pieces on my Greek Goddess bust, but I think this is the perfect solution to house all my costume jewelry. What about you? How do you store all your accessories?
Love it!
hello! i had one of these great old drawers & used similarly, i now live in a restored vintage airstream (while traveling the country) & had no room for it. i now use a vintage train case with all of my baubles in it, separated with little cloth bags.
you need a minute to find something but it really is a great case for lots of jewels!
Tiffany! I need to talk to you chica! I am so jealous of you living in and traveling the country in restored airstream!!!! Will you send photos? I would love to feature your airstream (and general way of life) on the blog!
Love the paper clip racer bra tip!
Love that idea! And the paperclip thing… where have I been? Here’s what I just did that works well so far: http://leonardsjp.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/mirrors1.jpg
I love this idea! My mom has an old printer’s drawer in her kitchen that’s filled with all sorts of little knick knacks and about a hundred king cake babies.
So cool! Love your blog and always enjoy all of your great ideas!
I’m your 600th follower! That is a big number!
Yeah for 600 followers! Thanks for officially joining the group Shelley!
Kara, I love your site & that you posted this idea. For my birthday last year my husband found a similar drawer and put hooks in each section for my earrings and jewelry to hang. Now the piece is on one of our bedroom walls and is not only functional but a piece of art. Thanks for sharing your creative ideas! ~ Leslie
kara… can’t wait to chat, shot you an email.. tiffany
Hi Kara
A few years ago my father sold the 3rd oldest community paper in Canada. I have a number of these drawers straight from the source! I am planning on using a few of them for wall decorations and filling them with pictures, cards, letters, etc that mean something to my family and I. The jewelry drawer is a great idea! However 99% of my earrings and rings are silver. I find silver needs to be in covered drawers or they tarnish. Any suggestions of how to have it both ways?
P.S. Just saw you on Nate today! I love your house and blog!
Torie
Hey Torie!
That is awesome! I love having and using historical pieces as decor in my home. You are a lucky gal! I think a very easy solution for your issue would be to find a picture frame that fits on top of the drawer. Then use some hinges to attach the frame to the drawer. In this way, you can still see what’s inside, but the pieces are covered. What do you think?!
I use a man’s tie rack to hold my necklaces, a round bird cage (with a couple of extra wires run around and through the existing wires) to hold my earrings (I mostly wear fish-hook, not posts), and an old counter-top hand towel stand (looks like an ‘S’ from the top view) to hold my bracelets. The tie rack is wall mounted, the hand towel stand sits on my dresser and the bird cage is hung by chain so I can easily revolve it to find the earrings I need. Love these. They make my life easier!