Decorative Jewelry

When Baba Sanfour and I moved in together after getting married, our apartment looked pretty ridiculous. We're talking a blank-walled bachelor pad with a futon in front of a wire wrack holding the TV. No coffee table, no dining table, nothing. It took us a while to collect enough furniture to transform our apartment into a home, but after exhausting yard sales and craigslist we were finally able to fill our place with furniture and move on to the best part of domesticity — decorating! Over the past two years I've been searching through thrift stores for items to decorate with. Finding inexpensive and creative solutions to decorating has been really fun. I've turned wedding cards into artwork, scrapbook paper into dining area wall art and an old bowl into a potpourri pot. I'm thrilled with my latest project, which simplified my jewelry collection as well as brought life and color to the walls of our bedroom. I got the idea here and am thrilled with the results.

I purchased a collection of frames from a local thrift store for about a dollar each and got a pad of scrapbook paper on sale at a craft store. After sanding and priming the frames I painted them gold and cut the paper to fit and fastened cabinet knobs that I had purchased at the hardware store. For the earring and hair accessory frames I simply attached ribbon across the paper before mounting the frames. If I were to do it over again, I'd buy larger frames to make sure all of the pieces fit nicely in the border, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Baba Sanfour even wanted to put the display in the living room.

Now, before you decide to break into my humble abode and steal all my well-displayed jewelry, just remember that it almost exclusively comes from the clearance section at Target. But seriously, this storage-solution wall art has been really helpful. I rarely wear jewelry simply because in my haste to get out the door I forget. But having everything in front of me has made it so much easier to just grab and go. I even rediscovered some long lost and forgotten necklaces! So, what diy projects have you done to improve your home?