Hello, blog world!
Well, I have officially started an RN-to-BSN program and I'll be the first to admit that it stinks. My time is no longer my own, therefore, my posts will be few and far between for the next year. I chose a really inopportune time to begin blogging. I am aware of that.
About a month before starting school, I had a list of goals. Most of it was pure drudgery as I had lots of spring cleaning and organizing to do. However, I did complete something that leans more towards my crafty nature...a necklace holder made out of a pallet! If you're like me, you see everyone posting super-fabulous projects on Pinterest and Facebook of how they transformed an ugly piece of wood into something fancy. Well, I decided it was time to stop being so envious, so I jumped on the bandwagon! I had so much fun putting it together that I thought I would share.
Warning: an excessive amount of pictures to follow. (I will not apologize!!)
This is the plain old pallet, donated by a friend of mine who is a manager at a local business.
My first idea had been to spray paint the pallet white. However, two minutes into watching Nate spray paint it, I decided white was a no-go, much to his amusement. I found an old can of dark wood stain I had used from a previous furniture re-do and decided to use it on my pallet.
For those of you who have never stained, the "right" way (as Nate deemed it) is to put a thick amount of stain on the wood with a brush. I used a sponge brush and it worked great. After about two minutes, take an old rag or cloth and rub it over the wood in the same direction as the grain. This removes the excess stain and reveals the natural wood grain underneath.
Staining can be a little messy, so we decided to do this part in the garage. As you can see, we laid some old newspapers on the floor to protect the gorgeous concrete (yes, that is sarcasm).
I stained all areas of the pallet except the backs of the wood pieces that would not be seen if it were hanging on the wall.
(photo credit: the wonderful Nate)
Nate blotted the excess stain for me.
Stain pallet: check!
We let the pallet dry for a day before completing the next steps.
My original idea had been to find old knobs from cabinets or drawers, etc. and use them as the hooks for the jewelry. However, after looking through four different antique shops, I gave up my search. One woman told me she rarely saw any come into her shop, and if she did, she took them home because they were like gold. Although I was a little disappointed, I decided to go to Lowes and look for some knobs that had a vintage feel. I bought six unique knobs for my jewelry pallet and decided to use nails for the rest of the necklaces.
I surprised myself during this project. Typically, I would measure every knob placement to ensure they're all in exactly the same place. However, I got over my obsessive-compulsiveness with this one and decided to let Nate drill by eye-balling it. It worked out, seeing as the pieces of wood were not all perfectly straight.
Nate drilled the hole and then we attached the knobs.
Nate used his screwdriver to tighten the knobs as some of them were a little more difficult to tighten by hand.
I used twine to hang the jewelry holder onto my bedroom wall.
(Since completing this project, the aforementioned twine snapped and the entire jewelry pallet fell to the floor, which sounded like the house was coming down. I do not recommend twine. I would suggest using wire, which was our original plan but we didn't have any on hand.)
I also decided the twine (or wire) was not pretty enough, so I used a piece of robin's egg blue ribbon that I had laying around and tied it into a bow over the nail.
The finished project!! (without the jewelry)
If you look closely (the lighting is terrible, I know), you can see that I attached two knobs on the top and middle of the outside vertical boards. I then attached two to the middle boards along the top edge. Be sure to give yourself plenty of space with the knobs on the inside so that you can hang your necklaces on them easily.
I also hammered ten nails into the top and bottom horizontal boards and the two vertical boards in the bottom middle section.
A close up of my favorite knob.
Ta daaaa!!!
I had plenty of nails available for my jewelry. I used the middle horizontal board as a shelf for a picture of Nate and I and my favorite willow tree. I also laid my watch on top. I plan on possibly getting some little baskets to hold some of my favorite earrings. I've also thought of potentially adding some chicken wire to the bottom so that I can hang earrings on the pallet as well.
Now that I have such a cute pallet, I want some cuter jewelry!!
So there it is: my fabulous jewelry pallet. I can't help but stare at it every once and again! And I will admit that I am not a big-time necklace wearer. However, now that I have this gorgeous thing hanging right beside my mirror, I can't help myself!
How do you display your jewelry? Have you created anything crafty to show off your gems?
I would love to hear of pallet projects that you have conquered! Feel free to comment below.
XOXO
Kayla
