The Jewelry Armoire

I saw it at a consignment store in town.  I looked at it, thought about what I could use it for, and then left, unable to make a decision.  A few days later, I returned to the store.  "If it's still there," I said to myself, "it was meant to be."  The "it" in this case was a beautiful record cabinet that I wanted to revamp into a place to store all of my jewelry.  

You may remember when we lived in our apartment, this is how my jewelry was set up.  It worked great when we were there, but when we moved, I didn't have the space for all of it.  Some ended up in our bedroom and the rest was in the closet room.  I found I was wearing the same pieces over and over, forgetting about a lot of other jewelry that I loved.  I wanted a place where I could store all of my jewelry in one place.  I looked online for different options, but everything was either too expensive or too generic looking.  I wanted something unique.

So, when I stumbled upon this record cabinet, I knew it was what I had been looking for.  And it was $35.  I brought it home that afternoon and it sat in our bedroom for quite a long time...weeks actually.  I didn't know what color to paint it.  I eventually decided that I wanted to paint it white.  I'm not sure why this took me so long to decide, I paint everything white, but I toyed with the idea of gray or light blue for awhile.  It took a coat of primer to cover the dark wood and then two coats of white paint which my hubby did for me.

I decided not to paint the inside.  The shelves were not removable unless we took the back off completely and slid the shelves out that way.  However, the back wasn't in the greatest condition, so I was afraid it wouldn't make it.  Yes, we could have replaced it with another piece of wood, but I also wanted to keep the piece as authentic as possible (and this was less work).  Plus, the two-toned look kind of grew on me, although sometimes I do think about going back and spraying the inside.  

Once the paint was dry, we added a handle just above the key lock.  There wasn't anything before, so we definitely needed something.  I had gone back and forth over whether I wanted a crystal knob or a handle, and in the end, the handle won out.  

Now came the most difficult part: finding organizers for the inside.  I searched everywhere I could think of - Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Amazon, etc. and nothing was right.  One weekend, we hit up the Container Store.  Armed with my 20% coupon, I settled on a multitude of acrylic organizers in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  I loved the idea of everything matching, but also having different sized spaces for everything.  

When I got them home, the fun really started.  I gathered my jewelry from all over the upstairs and sorted it by type.  This was also a great way to go through everything and get rid of a few things.  I have A LOT of jewelry.  I have a few nicer pieces, but I also have a bunch of costume jewelry that I've collected from favorite stores like Charming Charlie, Forever 21, and New York and Company.  It has all added up over time.  

Once I had everything sorted, I assigned each type of jewelry a container.  I used a bigger one for statement necklaces and smaller ones for earrings and bracelets.  I even used one that was solely for gold jewelry and another for silver.  It was a good day.

  
Then I filled up the shelves with the organizers until it was just right.  Everything fit nicely, but one thing I noticed was that when I would pull out a container, it would scrape against the wood shelf.  I didn't want the shelf or the organizer to become scraped up, so I had to put my thinking cap on.  Should I try to spray paint the shelves or cover them with a glossy topcoat?  Or should I get some shelf liner?  

I thought the shelf liner would be a great way to add some color/texture to the all-white cabinet so I went on the hunt for some.  Let me tell you, this was NOT an easy task.  I went to Walmart, the Container Store, Target, etc. etc. etc.  Nothing!  I went online, still nothing.  I finally found something on Amazon.  It said it was gray, so I bought it.  When it came in, it was definitely more tan than gray. 

I was not happy, but I also wasn't going to return it, since I had such a tough time finding something in the first place.  I decided to just use it.  I figured I really wasn't even going to be able to see much of it when all was said and done.  I measured out how much I needed per shelf and put them on each one.

And then I ran out...with two shelves to spare.  I ended up using some leftover gold wallpaper I found at my parent's house that kind of matched the tan color of the shelf liner.  Maybe it was fate after all?  I used that for the remaining two shelves and I was done.
 
I added some framed pictures to the very top and also left my bowl of watches out.  I like having those right at my fingertips so I can just grab one in a rush.  I love having all of my jewelry in one place.  It's so convenient and I find I am wearing a lot more of my jewelry.  I even have some room to grow!

Be well,