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DIY-all the time! |
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Picture Frame Jewelry Holder
I recently moved out of a spacious East Village two-bedroom to a comically small studio in Brooklyn. While I enjoy living less than a block from the East River, adjusting to a place so tiny it has neither kitchen nor closet has not been easy.
My summer living situation has stretched my resourcefulness to its limits, as I spend my days and weeks dreaming up “creative” storage solutions to compensate my lack of square footage. Also put to the test, my ability to fold clothes up until they are very, very small (pro-tip: try rolling them!).
Jewelry storage posed a particular challenge, as the usual assortment of tiny boxes and trays I use to house my collection were taking up precious surface area. My solution to this problem was inspired by my fledgling love affair with the adhesive wall-hook, as well as a tooled leather picture frame I scored on sale at Urban Outfitters for just $4.
Below, a low-cost, unbelievably simple DIY tutorial with very pretty results (if I say so myself)—
What you need:
- A picture frame (Make sure to choose a frame where the glass pane is completely removable. I also saved myself a step by choosing a frame with a handle)
- An adhesive wall hook (Everyone who owns property should have an extra set of these on hand. At all times. Always.)
- Twine (Inexpensive varieties may be purchased at Walgreens or Michaels, a fabric store may yield a sturdier option.)
- Ribbon (Optional.)
- A box cutter, exacto, or sharp pairing knife
- Scissors
- Duct Tape
- Glue
What to do:
- First, you want to remove the glass pane from the frame (as mentioned above, make sure you choose a frame from which the glass can easily be removed). My frame also had a solid panel in back, as many do. To remove this pane, take your box cutter, exacto, or pairing knife, and gently saw along the seam where the panel meets the frame until it comes clean off.
- I chose to decorate my frame primarily to hide a small flaw in the leather tooling along the bottom of the frame (the reason I scored such a good price on the frame to begin with). In the supplies I listed ribbon, what I actually used was the strap of a broken bra, purchased at the same Urban Outfitters sale ($5). The strap had already broken off in the back, using my scissors, I simply cut it loose in front, trimmed it to fit across the front of my frame, and glued it in place (I used Elmers, but craft glue will probably serve you better). Since I still had some of the strap leftover, I used it to adorn the frame’s existing ribbon handle. If your frame has no handle, you’ll want to create one using ribbon or another desired material. Definitely use something stronger than Elmers to secure the handle, I would recommend forgoing glue altogether and using staples or duct tape.
- After allowing the glue to dry, flip the frame over to create your grid. Cut the desired number of strands from your spool of twine. When measuring out your strands be sure they stretch far enough beyond the center of the frame so that you can secure them without any tape showing. I chose to create a horizontal pattern because I had some bigger pieces of jewelry I wanted to display. If you plan showcasing only delicate pieces a grid pattern, although slightly more challenging, could look very cool. Make sure you pull your strands very taught across the frame before securing them with tape, as they will tend to slack over time. I used a small piece of tape at the ends of each strand to hold them in place. I then placed longer strips down the entire back of the frame, to ensure everything stuck. Using duct tape for this step is not optional—a less strong adhesive, such as masking tape, will not get the job done.
- Nearly Finished!
- After arranging your jewelry in the frame and choosing a spot on the wall to secure your adhesive hook, your creation is ready for display!
You may now enjoy bragging rights on a project that looks much more expensive and time consuming than it actually was.
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