Craft Projects

Vintage inspired jewelry displays

My stack of vintage inspired picture frames has been growing for a while now. I picked up three or four old frames from the thrift store a few months back, and then a handful more at the local art shop that closed down.

I’ve seen a lot of people turning old frames into jewelry displays, and since my jewelry box is super teeny I figured this would be a good way for me to get all of my  jewelry off my dresser in an organized fashion.

I turned most of these frames into earring holders, then saved two to crate a necklace display and a bracelet display.

To make an earring jewelry display out of an old frame you will need a staple gun, a roll of screen replacement fabric (I bought gray fiberglass mesh from Home Depot for $6. I haven’t even made a dent in it yet), and a frame of your choice.

First, remove everything from the inside of your frame, including the glass, photos, the cardboard backing, the staples in the sides, etc.

Once all the guts of the frame are removed, flip over the frame and cut a piece of screen to fit on the back.

You can do the next step in two ways. I tried both and would recommend the second. First, you can staple the screen right onto the back of the frame. The screen doesn’t stretch too much, so it’s pretty easy to get the screen taut. This is the easier way to make the earring display. The only problem is the screen lays flat against the wall, so it’s not as easy to slip earrings on and off. Having said that, the frame I hung in my room (picture later in post) has the screen flat against the wall and it works just fine. Like I said, it’s just not quite as simple to get the earrings on an off. Overall, not a huge deal.

The other way to make this display is to staple the frame along the inner edges of the frame (where the glass rests). Make sure you staple into the think sides and not the small piece of frame at the front. This way worked nicely and allows a smidgen of room between the screen and the wall. Either way works and will have your frame looking like this:

Now if you are like me and need an entire trio of frames to subdue your jewelry collection, grab your next frame and some cup hooks (also purchased from Home Depot).

Frame… check!

Cup hooks… check!

Figure out how many necklaces or bracelets you would like to display and mark the inside edge of your frame where you would like your hooks to go. I flipped both of my frames horizontally so I could fit more and spaced my cup hooks evenly. Note: My frames for this project were wooden. I used a plastic frame to make my sister an earring display and that worked fine with the staples, but I don’t know if it would work with the cup hooks because I screwed them in by hand. If you can find a wooden frame I definitely recommend it!

Screw in your cup hooks along the inner edge of the frame.

Keep going until you make it across the frame with your hooks.

For this frame I had to add a wire hanger. So I screwed in two eye hooks (one on each side of the frame), then wrapped wire to span across the frame.

Tah dah!

I quickly took my frames up into our bedroom to hang them up on our wall and start hanging up my jewelry.

These are awesome! My walls finally have pretty things on them and my dresser has less crap! Win-win all around.

5 thoughts on “Vintage inspired jewelry displays”

  1. Awesome idea and fantastic recycling use!
    I’m always looking for new easy, inexpensive DIYs and this one really fits the bill. Kudos!!

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