Necklace Organizer

Since Javi was born a year and a half ago, I don't get quite as many house/creative projects done as I used to. And since getting pregnant with #2 in November, my productivity has taken even more of a nosedive. I do my best to stay realistic about the season of life that I am in now, in which I focus on the necessities (food! cleanliness! sleep!) and spending quality time with "my guys", and to not stress about all of the fun ideas I have in my head. I'm getting better about finding contentment in whatever season I am in, no matter how long or short that season may be.

But I am still a creative person who loves to make beautiful things. Or useful things. Or something that is neither useful nor beautiful but is definitely fun. :-) So I make the time every once in a while to satisfy that part of me. I also try to be realistic about what I can accomplish. I'm not working on a hand-sewn king-size quilt right now. Or a one bajillion piece mosaic art piece for my walls. :-) I keep my projects bite-sized, or I figure out how to break them down into bite-sized pieces. One of those projects that I accomplished recently is my necklace organizer.



I love my jewelry, and having most of it out on display reminds me to wear different items on a regular basis. I obviously still have my regular pieces that I default to more often than not, but I love keeping my "jewels" out and on display. So I made a necklace organizer.



This was not a planned, organized, meticulously measured out project. I literally walked out to our garage, selected a piece of scrap wood that was about the size I was envisioning, and started drilling holes. I did count how many knobs I had beforehand so that I drilled the right number of holes. However, I did not worry about centering the holes perfectly. I just worked from left to right, and when I had enough holes, I left an equal space on the right hand side and then chopped the rest of the piece of wood off.



Then I rooted through my paint stash for some pretty colors to paint the board with. I decided on (surprise!) my neutral metallic paints. I think I have a minor case of colorphobia. Unless the color is turquoise. :-) I painted a quick stripe of the dark metallic and let that dry.



Then I covered that with masking tape so I could paint the rest of board. I seriously don't need to explain this stuff, it was so simple and fly by the seat of my pants. :)



It took about three coats of the lighter metallic to get good coverage.



Carefully peel off the masking tape. Or do it roughly. Live dangerously. :-)



Screw in each of your knobs. I had these little IKEA knobs kicking around in the basement since I decided that I did not want to use them on my kitchen cabinets. I think there were two packs and each pack was a dollar. Screw them in by hand - therapeutic! or with a drill - fast and easy! I used a screwdriver because I was too lazy to walk down to the basement and get the drill.



Hammer in two sawtooth hangers on the back to hang your organizer. These sawtooth guys were perfect because they jut out just enough to clear the screw heads. couldn't have done that better if I had planned it. Which, I can't stress enough, I didn't. :)



Screw two screws into the wall, and hang up your organizer. Stand back and admire your handiwork for a moment, then start loading that baby up with necklaces and other baubles.



Pat yourself on the back for a job well done and take a moment to admire your pretties. Then store your pictures on a hard drive for eight months and finally get around to blogging about your accomplishment. You're done! :-)