I danced this mess around

I am a highly unorganized person. I even call myself "the loser" because I lose things. Luckily Austin (my BF) is "The Finder" - he finds my things. Thank You Austin. This is something I hope to correct though. I want to become organized. Order is important to me. It's something I strive for. Lately I've been a touch more focused on on reaching this goal.
Back in November of 2008 Jennifer Perkins sent out an email to me and a bunch of other ladies asking to see how we organize and display our personal jewelry stash for her Journey Through a Jewelry Box post. Remember? I sent in a photo of some bombshell's sporting my favorite earrings. When I sent it in though I felt some serious shame that the bulk of my jewelry collection was shoved in a box or living in tangles somewhere. So, I set out to change that. I have a lot of stuff and not a lot of space, which is always the challenge right? The portrait of earring wearing gal's is perfect because it hangs on the wall. No horizontal surface required. Success!

But where can everything else live?

There is a tiny nook in my bathroom wall which I thrifted this amazing doubledecker metal shelf for. It's the perfect width, has a towel rack on the bottom and for $15 I couldn't be happier. I didn't realize that I'd be able to hang more earring and pins on the lace-like front. What do they call that? I call it a Total Bonus! It's very convenient when you come home in the middle of the night, with the urge to just peel everything off and crawl in bed. I go in, wash my face & hey, check me out - I'm putting all my jewelry right back where it belongs! You may think that it looks busy & complicated or just plain messy, but we will have to agree to disagree. I am messy. Things in my world get Out Of Hand, so this is a major improvement for me.











The thing hanging on the right is actually a jewelry store ring display. It's plush-y black velvet, sexy right? I picked it up for $5 at Texas Store Fixtures (which is a giant warehouse filled with used display cases, tables, cash registers, & more for incredibly affordable prices). On my way home from Texas Store Fixtures I stopped by Home Depot and purchased a small sawtooth frame hanger, then stuck it on the back of the ring display. Voila! All the rings are displayed and ready to rock! Yet another thing I can get off the small counter space I have. I've found that I can also fit brooches, bobby-pins & thin bangles in it. It's a quadruple threat for less than the price of a matinee! Maybe I'm not so bad at this organizing thing.












A few of my necklaces have found a home hanging from the light fixture. Which I enjoy because they rest on the mirror - making them appear to be twice as many necklaces! Ooh! Aah! Makes me feel RICH with costume jewelry!

Once I finished arranging the shelf the rest of the bathroom looked a little out of sorts. I had to fix up the entire room to protect my newly organized shelves from the disaster (that was sure to come). That's where this this old-school match box holder comes in handy. I purchased this years ago when I lived in an old house with a stove you actually had to light every time you wanted to use it. I am much happier with it's current use in my life. All necessary Q-tips & cotton balls are placed inside and I can keep my clips right on top. Totally cute and totally convenient.


This is a very small space we are talking about - there is one cabinet, hardly big enough for the towels and NO drawers in the bathroom. So, where do you put makeup and vitamins and magazines and razors and all the unmentionables? Where?! Luckily we do have ONE little book shelf. A home for my makeup bag, the magazines I like to read in the tub & Austin's few toiletries. It's old, boring, white and needs a new paint job but who has the time? Right? So I tried to spice it up with the flowers and this mischievious little fake squirrel. I'm pretty happy with it. What do you think?


I also have a growing collection of sunglasses. Once upon a time I kept them in a big bowl, but the lenses would get scratched and that was the pits. So I came up with a new solution. I took one of Austin's tie's (he never wears a tie) and I cut 5 or 6 one inch vertical holes in down the center, just like a button hole, and then slid one of the arms of the glasses through each hole and tacked it to the wall. Then I gave myself a sturdy pat on the back ;)

Accessory Crisis averted! If you are a fan of the hanging piece that was featured on the Naughty Secretary Club blog then I have good news for you! I made another one, not quite the same. It's bigger, holding 11 pairs of earrings and was collage pauged with Traci Bautista's Sparkles decoupage. Very glam if I do say so myself. Photographing it is proving to be harder that herding cats, I'm doing the best I can.












So here's a sneak peak of the Bombshell earring display #2 which is totally for sale ;)