Trash to Treasure: Jewelery Holder

This post may seem familiar to you, especially if you have read the archived posts from the beginning of this little blog. This is a "vintage" post from September, but when I came across this Trash to Treasure Link Up over at I Heart Organizing, I knew I had to share.

I wanted needed a new necklace holder, as I had outgrown my previous holder made from a frame and some eye hooks.  Then I ran across this display shelf thing at an antique store for five bucks. $5!

For what it is, it was in good shape and had those 3 pegs at the bottom to hang mugs(?) from. But I knew those wouldn't be enough for my growing collection of neck lovelies. And I wanted to make sure I had some shelf space for bracelets, earrings and the like. So I popped those bad boys out and decided to turn it up side down.

Using wood putty I filled the holes from the pegs and a few little divots from nails and scratches so that I could get a nice even coat of paint over the whole thing. After letting it dry, I sanded over the entire piece.

I still have plenty of marshmallow white paint left, so using a small foam brush I began the process of painting. It took a couple of coats.

Some of those coats were a bit thick, and dripped so I sanded the back after it was dry.
I then started the process of screwing in a couple dozen hooks into the bottom and inside the top of the two longer sections.
I added some picture hangers on the back, and it was almost ready to go.

I put it up on the wall, but I didn't really like seeing the painted wall through the holder, so I added some scrapbook paper to the back of the frame. I liked the contrast of the dark purple against the lilac paint on the walls.

I hung up my necklaces and put away my bracelets and here's what she looks like now!

What I learned

1. I went a little crazy with the wood putty. It said over fill the spots, and I definitely did that. You can still see some "lumpy" parts where I didn't sand enough.

2. Paint the inside first! I didn't do that on the first coat, and it was hard for me to find a good position for my hand/brush when I went to do the more difficult inside.

3. The paint I used was interior wall paint. Not exactly the best paint for this job. Craft paint would have been much better. Maybe even spray paint. I've never used spray paint, and I think I'd like to give it a go on a future project.

4. I really love my necklaces.