will work for decor: jewelry in my closet

I finished a little project in my closet this week! Let me introduce you to the cast of characters…

a thrift store vanity tray, a rusty rake head from Farm Chicks,

a thrift store saucer, and a jelly jar from Farm Chicks (with a smaller one inside – I didn’t know it was there so I guess technically I stole it!).

A couple years ago, somewhere in blog land, I saw the idea to use an old rake head to hang jewelry on, and that was the starting point of a solution to get my jewelry in plain sight so I would remember to put it on. I kept the idea in my computer folder of various inspiring ideas, and kept seeing it, and kept my eyes open for old rake heads at yard sales. Doesn’t an old rusted rake head seem like the “junk” one always finds at yard sales when you don’t need it? Well it became obvious that I wasn’t going to find one when I actually needed one, so I added it to my must have list for Farm Chick, practiced a little patience, and low and behold, I snagged one for $5!

So here is the little area I made for jewelry in my closet…

Did you see Leah did the same thing with her Farm Chicks rake? And we both also put them in our closet which is funny to me. But, hey, brilliant minds think alike, right Leah? ;)

That picture really makes me long for a closet that a house as old as mine should have, with painted beaded board and nice thick trim work and solid wood shelving. But having this little area to corral my accessories makes me like the cheap and easy homeowner special closet a little more.

The rake head is perfect to hang necklaces on, or to perch my sunglasses atop, and my thrift store and hand me down tins are a great place to hang dangly earrings and drape long necklaces…

I love the mirrored tray! With a good cleaning and a coat of red gloss spray paint, it came alive! It takes me from whining about my closet to feeling like it’s a little glam. =)

Speaking of glam, the little jelly jars stacked on top of one another worked out so perfectly, they are my very favorite part!…

The bottom one hides away my scrabble necklace pendants that are out of rotation and the top one holds dangly earrings and even business cards to remind me to stick some in my pocket when going to do a photo shoot or when I sell at a flea market (I am doing one this fall!).

And lastly, the little saucer-turned-mirror…

I know it is a little small, but I think it is cute. Distressing the mirror was troublesome – paint thinner, nail polish remover, Magic Eraser and a sanding sponge all failed. I finally had to use 80-grit sandpaper and then move to finer grits, but by then it was very distressed and more scratched than worn. Anyone had any luck distressing mirrors? The mirror was from the craft store and I adhered it to the plate with some Aleene’s Jewelry & Metal Glue.

Oh, and a tip for hanging plates – I don’t like to use those cheesy plate hangers that have springs on the back and the little prongs that show in front… I tend to opt for a less visible hanger. I glue a hanger like this (mine are like $0.50 though from the framing department) on the back with E-6000 glue…

The E-6000 says it can be scraped off with a razor blade, so it doesn’t even take the plate out of commission in case someone wants to eat off it again later. =)

Okay, wanna see a couple sneak peeks? This is what the kids’ bedroom looked like on Saturday, just before I started painting…

A madhouse! I moved all the furniture to the middle of the room and there was like a foot and a half path around the perimeter – that is how small their room is! I just need to make a dash to Ikea soon for one more pair of curtains, then it is reveal-ready.

And this…