Despite a busy few weeks with my husband working 3 or 4 weekends straight, and a long week without his trusty assistant at work, I decided to push the envelope and take on another home project. But this one was completely selfish, all for me and nobody else but me.
I can't tell you how guilty I feel writing that. And it comes back to bite me in the butt later, so I guess I learned my lesson.
Anyway...
In our master bedroom, the previous owners had a small, wall-mounted, cupboard ironing board thing installed. I knew I'd never iron in that small corner of the bedroom, but knew I could fashion the cupboard into something else rather than destroying it altogether. So I made it into a jewelry "box" for me.
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| This is just a stock photo, obviously. I didn't think to take a picture months ago when I dismantled the inside and began dreaming of my new jewelry box. |
I dismantled the inside, removing the ironing board pieces. I had to use a mallet to break down some of the woodwork that held the board into place.
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| Our actual cabinet hanging on the wall by our master bathroom door. |
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| The inside ripped out except the light and 1 shelf. |
I took the door off the hinges. Some 1x2 boards cut to fit inside the door molding were glued with industrial adhesive so I didn't have to risk screwing into the door itself.
I installed some hardware for dowel rods to the inside of the cabinet and cut dowel rods to fit.
And then I used the week before spring break to sand, prime and paint the exterior and interior of the cabinet. Since all the honey oak in the house will be white, I went with the same white we used for the fireplace.
After a quick run to Joann's for felt by the yard, I used Aleen's Tacky Glue and glued black felt to the inside of the cabinet, dowel rods and to the inside of the door.
Finally, I screwed in 8 hooks per row on the inside of the door.
Now I have a place to hang my necklaces.
And a place to store my bracelets. The hardware for the dowel rods have 1 open end, so for those bracelets with just elastic and no clasps, I can easily raise the dowel rod and pull it out of the cabinet, and slip the bracelets right off.
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| All put back together! |
My regular jewelry boxes are now solely for earrings and rings, although if I could find a ring tray that is narrow enough, I could use it on the inside shelf underneath the cabinet light.
Speaking of which, I left the light that came with the ironing board attached. A little light by the jewelry isn't a bad thing when making decisions on accessories.
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| We'll see how this goes. With a certain little girly-girl in the house, I can possibly foresee the need to put a lock on this so little fingers don't steal mommy's pretty things. Hmmmm. And if this picture doesn't make me want to paint that honey oak trim, I don't know what will! Someday..... |
All in all, it was less than $30 to do this project. I had the sandpaper, primer, paint and brushes left over from the fireplace project, so no cost there. The 1x2, wooden dowel, hooks and dowel hardware came to about $22 at Menards. The felt I got at 50% off with a coupon (but I did buy 2 whole yards in case I messed something up), so that was only about $5.
I love my new jewelry box. And before anyone thinks of breaking into my house and stealing my pretty stuff, it's all costume stuff, friends! Nothing of value here, so don't waste your time.
This was fun and it makes me smile. But of course, it was a totally selfish project and life sure had to throw everything at me: regularly scheduled homeschool, kid sick in the middle of the night, kids to church clubs, gutter quote (which I totally forgot to cancel), dogs to vets, cleaning house, laundry, ironing, and preparing for a busy weekend. I really didn't need all that, so yes, doing something for just me came back to bite me.
Now onto painting my bedroom. Anyone want to come help me? I'm taking next week off of school for Spring Break and the bedroom will be my priority.
