DIY Jewelry holder from a cutlery tray

I like to have my jewelry on view so that I can easily pick out what to wear in the mornings. If it’s all tucked away, or tangled in bowls I don’t remember what I have and it’s a hassle to dig and sort through. When I saw this cutlery tray at Lowe’s it was standing upright on the shelf and just looked like the perfect thing for jewelry.

The tray can sit on a dresser like I have done or it can easily be hung on a wall, too if you’re short on space, like in a dorm room or if you want to hang it in your bathroom. If you plan to hang it, just add picture hooks to the back before you start on the the other instructions outlined below.

(Jewelry Sources: Crystal fist necklace from The Shiny Squirrel and leather pouch necklace is from VK Lillie, everything else vintage)

Here’s what you’ll need to make this project:

Materials:
-Wooden Cutlery Tray (the one I found was expandable which is why it has those cool extra spots for long necklaces)
-1 yard of durable fabric
-1 cardboard box

Supplies:
-Screw Driver or drill and tiny little screws
-Stapler + staples
-Hot glue gun and hot glue
-A few screw hooks
-Scissors
-Hammer and Nails

(Jewelry sources: Chunky Pyrite necklace is this one, but I don’t think they have anymore and I snooped around and found a similar one here. The coral dangles are from Stella and Dot , the geode dangles are from Nina Nguyen, the and the rest pictured here are vintage ) 

 

Here’s how I turned this expandable cutlery tray into a jewelry box:

1. Cut out squares from the cardboard to fit inside the compartments of your cutlery tray.

2. Once all the cardboard pieces are cut out, cut fabric squares to cover the cardboard pieces, but make them 1″ larger so that you have enough fabric to wrap the fabric around the back of the cardboard on all sides.

3. Staple or hot glue the fabric onto the cardboard. Wrap the fabric around the edges of the cardboard so that each cardboard piece, from the front, looks wrapped in fabric.

4. Put hot glue around the edges of the back of the cardboard piece and glue them into the designated compartments of the cutlery tray.

5. Add small screws and hooks in key spots to hand necklaces, rings and bracelets.

Hope you enjoy making this project! I’m smitten with it and have noticed that I have been actually wearing more of my pretty jewelry with it all on display like this.

*Project and Photos by Justina Blakeney
*This project was created in collaboration with Lowe’s, and I hope you enjoyed it because this month we will be working on several projects together! Woot woot!