The Jewelry Drawer

Do you struggle finding the best way to organize your jewelry? Jewelry and accessories are rarely easy to organize, despite all of the organizers out there. Most of them don't accommodate for large amounts of jewelry or diverse jewelry {i.e. large chunky necklaces and small delicate ones}.This woman's situation was no different. She knew she wanted all of her jewelry easily accessible and tangle free, but she didn't want it to take up counter space on her vanity. Check out how we were able to organize her jewelry, and other daily items, right there in the top drawer of her vanity! 

Finding the potential: 
I nearly did a back flip when I saw this drawer {yes, out of excitement}. Beyond the miscellaneous objects stacking up, and the misplaced items, I could see some serious potential for organizing.

                  

What was most exciting about this space was the built in dividers. A person typically has to purchase inserts in order to achieve this kind of organization, {if you're interested in some, BB&B is a great, cheap place to go or websites like organizeit.com, click here}. 

Main Focus: 
After removing everything from the drawer, we went through ALL of her jewelry {when was the last time you did this? Something to consider for your next organizing binge}. She had tons of amazing pieces and each had a special meaning. Whether it was what she wore on her daughter’s wedding day, a gift from her best friend, or was passed down from her mother, each piece was special. Some pieces were broken or damaged but were still too meaningful to toss. Don't worry, I found a special place for all of those as well. 

Some additional special things that were stored in the drawer were several small handmade items by her sons when they were young. While you may not see things like this in a catalog image, everyone has them. If something is valuable to you, find ways to include it in your organization. It’s important to maintain a sense of you when organizing, this is why I wanted to make certain to keep these significant items in the space. 

Do you ever hang on jewelry gift boxes, just waiting for a time to use them? Well consider your wait over! Using her old jewelry gift boxes, I was able to separate her jewelry based on type and occasion and store them nicely in the boxes. By separating them in this way, she is able to easily see and grab each item. This also allowed her delicate necklaces to be separated from the larger beaded necklaces, and prevents any kind of tangling.  

I was able to continue using the old boxes for her earrings and bracelets. The earrings were organized by occasion and how frequently she wears them. 

Making it hers: 
In the corner, I stored a couple jewelry boxes given to her by close friends. And inside the boxes are some of the damaged jewelry that is just too significant to toss out.  

Also in this corner is a small emergency sewing kit. Hidden in the drawer previously were several buttons, some thread and a couple needles, just in case a button became loose. By using an iPod shuffle case {yup, sometimes hanging onto junk can come in handy}, I was able to store all of these sewing items together. 

Once finished with her jewelry, which was her top concern, I moved on to make special use of her meaningful items. Her son's pieces of art were used to hold some hair supplies and her rings. 

After the jewelry was in place, I started moving on to the other items she wanted in her vanity. Since this is the main location where she gets ready for her day, she wanted some essentials on hand here as well. 

{Her daily makeup fit perfectly in the first divided section}

{Nail polish for touchups}

{Additional vanity items: face moisturizer, hand cream, small makeup mirror}

A little review: 

Cost: free! but if you are in need of some empty jewelry gift boxes, you can get them for under a dollar at the container store or if you're looking to buy in bulk, here. 

Time: 1 hour

So for zero dollars and the time it takes to watch one episode of Real Housewives of wherever, this drawer was totally revived made functional again. Let's take a look at some Before and After photos: 

Do you have a unique way to organize your jewelry? Have you used "junk" to create your own organized system? 

Thanks for visiting!