DIY Necklace Hanger {or, how I got my craft on again}

7.18.2012

Apparently being retired brings out the craft in me, because yesterday I busted out another do-it-yourself project. Enter, the necklace hanger. 


I originally saw this idea HERE--note: on a blog, NOT pinterest, although I'm sure this has already been floating around pinterest for some time. Anyhoo, let's talk about necklaces. I've been hanging my necklaces in the bathroom for as long as I've been living on my own. It just made the most sense to me, because the mirror was in the bathroom. I lived in necklace-bathroom bliss for three years, until my mom called me probably six months ago to tell me that it wasn't a good idea to keep my jewelry in the bathroom. 


My mom has a friend who sells jewelry, who told her that the steam in the bathroom can tarnish the necklace chains, causing them to turn weird colors and look ugly after prolonged steam exposure. I, being the hypochondriac I am, immediately freaked out and promised myself I would removed my necklaces from harm as soon as possible. 


Like I said, that was six months ago. 


Since that time, I have worried about my necklaces constantly and (after careful examination) even taken a few out of the bathroom so they wouldn't continue down this frightening path of owner-imposed destruction. No, I'm not materialistic, just worried, thankyouverymuch. 


One of my goals for retirement was to make a necklace hanger for myself, but with everything else I got done, I ran out of time. Then I was granted a gift in the form of an extra day of vacation, and here's what happened: 


Now here's the deal with the cork board. I went to Hobby Lobby, Staples, and Lowe's but could not find a large-sized piece of cork board and didn't feel like going to another store to find what I was looking for. I needed a piece that was 16x20 (because that's what size my frame was), but all I could find was this set of four 12x12 cork tiles. That's why I needed the thick poster board, because I had a brilliant idea to get around the fact that I didn't have a large piece of cork:
As you can see, Jordan was a great help with the cutting and measuring. He's an electrician and deals with measuring and cutting all day long, so I figured he'd be more precise and faster than me. I just hovered over him with my camera, taking pictures and promising to not make it obvious that he was wearing just a pair of blue boxers. 


What? I didn't just say that. 
It's not his fault, though. I keep the apartment at 78 degrees. Poor guy. 
But I digress.


I'm going to skip the part where I ironed the fabric from Hobby Lobby and used adhesive tabs to put the cork on the poster. We'll move right along to the part where I put everything together. 


And...that's it! All I did was shove the whole thing into the frame. I haven't actually even used hot glue like I thought I would because I really had to pound the fabric-covered cork board into the frame. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't randomly fall out in the middle of the night. If you don't want to live on the edge like me, you can apply a bit of hot glue or super glue or whatever kind of sticky substance you happen to have on you at the time. 


The final step is to use push pins to to hang your necklaces
This is the fun part. (And the part where I'm happy because I can stop worrying.) I'm using these lame plastic push pins for the time being, but I ordered cute fabric-covered pins from See Jane Work that ended up being the most expensive part of the whole project. I hope they're worth it. 


So there you have it! My new necklace hanger is now safe and sound in our bedroom.


Total cost: $36.00 
That is for the frame, fabric, cork board, poster board, and silver thumbtacks. 
(I already had the plastic push pins, and I'm not going to include the cost of the fabric pins because they're an extra, unnecessary expense.)


Total estimated time: 2 hours (not including the time I spent buying materials)


Here's to DIY! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty proud of myself right now.
Unknown said...

Looks good, lady!

Anonymous said...

78 degrees?! I'd call that a LUCKY guy. My thermostat is set to 85 most of the time, and never below 80.

Anonymous said...

PS Sorry. The craft is cute but too involved for me. :)

Lakes Neighborhood said...

I've decided to read all your blogs it seems haha :) I went to the see Jane work website, I'd never seen it before - I LOVE IT! thanks haha - Heather Lake

Anonymous said...

not only is that a project I think I could actually manage, but WOW you have awesome jewelry.

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