DIY Jewelry Organization!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Or Happy Thursday to anyone who would rather not partake of the holiday and all of the chocolate that comes with it.  :)

Anyways, as you may remember, I shared my closet organization post and the DIY tool I use to make it even more organized, a couple of weeks back.  To follow up, I decided to share the DIY item that helps to keep my jewelry organized!  Hopefully this post comes in time to organize any new baubles or trinkets that you may have received (or gifted yourself) today!

First of all, I have a large dresser with a drawer that I set aside specifically for jewelry and fragrances.

I love having such a large dresser for my clothing, but it takes up most of the wall.  Therefore, I can't store my jewelry in a super cute hanging display.  Just check out my organization Pinterest board to see my love of hanging jewelry organization!

Also, the dresser can start to look cluttered, so I opted to skip a tabletop jewelry organizer.

So my last option was to use the inside of the drawer, which had absolutely no dividers and was super deep.

I thought about using stacking trays with dividers, but it was so expensive!  It was $12-25 per tray depending on the type (earrings, necklaces, etc.), so I could end up spending close to $200 just to store away my items!

I put my thinking cap on and thought of all of the divided containers, which I could use from bead organizers to tackle boxes and everything between.  My only problem is that these were very small storage solutions to fill my giant drawer.  Then, I just decided to go to IKEA (after measuring my space) to see what I could find!

The best item I could find was the cutlery trays for $1.99, which had minimal dividers but were cheap and fit my space.

I bought three to stack and it fit my space perfectly!

(Please ignore my terrible jewelry crammed in the corner.  Some were presents and some from before high school, but I've kept them for sentimental reasons, which I know is a terrible reason when you're trying to organize!)

After time, I realized that my small earrings, rings, and necklaces kept shifting around because there were simply not enough dividers!  Luckily, the chunky necklaces and bracelets did well on the bottom layer.

After deciding that I needed a better solution, I realized that it was sitting right in front of me!

I bought a ceramic egg crate from World Market for $7.99 as a catch-all on top of my dresser for items that I had worn that day.  I could be lazy to put away my jewelry, and it would end up looking cute anyways.  :)

So, why didn't I buy a ton of the ceramic egg crates?  There would have been way too many stacked up in my drawer making it heavy, and it would have been expensive!  So what did I do?  Use the real thing!

I buy 60 eggs at a time from Costco, which come with one of the cartons above and two of the cartons below.  All I had to do was go through 120 eggs, and I was set!

I grabbed a leftover can of spray paint that we had in the garage, and sprayed to my heart's content!

Pun alert: This was my first time using massive amounts of spray paint, and the pavement outside my house is sad and blue that I didn't use enough newspaper.

I could have made the sections more even by cutting the cardboard down to match the divots all around the sides, but I like how it looked and I wanted to keep it sturdy.  Also, the blue color was actually pretty, when all I had wanted to accomplish was to cover the ugly brown.  :)

The small section was perfect for holding rings, small pendant necklaces, and small earrings (in the other crate).

The large section was good for larger earrings, necklaces, and brooches.

For storing the layers of egg crates, I decided to keep the chunky necklaces and bracelets (which i don't wear often) in the cutlery tray at the bottom.  Then, I stacked the large items on top, side by side.

I need to refine my jewelry stash for sure!  Some of it could be old enough to vote!

Lastly, my smaller items, which I use more often, are stacked on top!

As for my fragrances and sunglasses?  They fit perfectly on the side of the entire rigamarole.

Can you spot my clothespin from The French Laundry?

It is really, really easy to maintain.  When I use an item of jewelry, I drop it back in its spot right after using it!  Because items are arranged by size and type and everything is visible, it is easy to find what I am looking for right away.

Until I have the wall space to hang a cute jewelry display, this will do just fine.

Has anyone out there had to deal with a less-than-ideal situation and still make it work for you?