Week 34: A Home for my Jewelry

 My jewelery has traveled around the world with me a few times now. And my necklaces are pissed.  They let me know how much they hate their cramped living quarters by tangling up in a nasty knot. 

Now that we're back in the U.S. for a while I figured I would craft them a nice new home.  

I knew I wanted it to be made out of some old rustic looking wood, and adorable drawer pulls.  Then I remembered that we had saved all of the signage from our wedding in Alan's parents' shed.  Score.  Free, sentimental, and up-cycled.  Can't beat that. 

I settled on the sign we made to designate our desert area...

Tatlılar means "sweets" in Turkish.

Then I scooped up a bunch of sweet drawer pulls at the Habitat for Humanity shop.  They aren't the Anthropology pulls I was dreaming of, but they were only like 50 cents each.  Much more appropriate for my current budget. 

The screws pictured are also from HfH, and were a pain in the butt to find, as nothing in the store is very organized.

Other supplies included eye screws and wire for hanging.  Nothing matches, but that's OK because it's what I had on hand, but also the mis-match goes well with the shabby-chic feel. 

Also used: handy power drill and screw driver

Also, you'll need some sort of work bench to drill upon.  I don't have one though, so I made my own.  Out of a phone book.  BEST. IDEA. EVER.  Cause who even uses those things anymore anyway?  And once your finished, and you have a somewhat holey phone book, you could use it for some sort of fortune telling, or prank calling game.  If you're 14 and at a sleep-over. 

So.  I measured out and penciled in 8 spaces to drill, and got to work. 

Unfortunately, after I drilled all my holes, I realized that the screws I hunted for were too short to go all the way through and catch the knobs on the other side.  Drat. 

So I gave up for the day, and started to put the wood back in the plastic bag it had been living in for a year. 

Then something scary happened.   A cockroach the size of my thumb fell off of one of the two things in my hands, and landed RIGHT ON MY FOOT. So I threw both things, and locked myself inside.  For a month, until I was ready to face it again.  

This meant getting a few more supplies: Raid to kill all the cockroach babies I was sure were hiding in the wood, and sealant to keep them out in the future. This might not be the right kind of sealant, but it's what I had on hand, and I'm nothing if not cheap.

I also needed to tackle another fear before I could get started again: Aisle 14.  The screw and nail aisle of Home Depot. UGH.  That aisle ruins the whole store for me.  I can't enjoy the paint chips, or the tiles, or the garden section because I know that Aisle 14, with it's insane array of nails and screws is looming in the distance.  I just don't get it. Can't we all just agree upon the most perfect screw, and sell it in a handful of lengths.  Do we really need 900 variations?

 There is no way the average person can manage that aisle without the help of someone who works there.    My guy found me these:

 Apparently they are screws made just for knobs.  Of course the package calls them "Machine Screws." I NEVER WOULD HAVE FIGURED THAT OUT.   

The short one is one that happened to come attached to one of my knobs.  Too short.  The long one is the one we settled on.  FYI the proper length to make it through a 2x4 and into a drawer pull is 2".

 

 Except not for that knob on the left.  That one had hardly any screwing space, and stood WAY off the board with the long screw.  Good thing I still had the short one. 

I added two eye screws to the top edge of the wood, and attached the wire for hanging. 

Then I added 6 little guys to the front, above the knobs, as a place to hang my earrings.

Ta-da!  I still have to spend a few hours coaxing my fine-chained necklaces out of the mess they are in, but I am fairly sure they will LOVE their new home. 

Added bonus:  after all the time I spent in Home Depot, and using a power tool, I have decided to check off one of my 30 before 30 goals: Learn to woodwork.  This may not technically count, but there WAS wood involved, and 30 is sneaking up on me rather quickly, people.