Finding the drawer wasn't too bad - found 3 at one flea market and chose this one...It was dusty and had some gunky nasty old sticky-glue globs in it, but otherwise it was bigger and in better shape than either of the other 2 trays I found that day.
I cleaned, scraped, sanded and then spray painted. Cleaning each of those tiny cubbies took forever! And that old wood really soaked up the paint - probably used close to a full can of spray paint. A little sandpaper and a putty knife made the distressing part easy - I'm still debating on whether I should do a little more. I used a sabre saw to cut out some of the dividers to make longer spaces for a few necklaces. Next, to add hardware. What a pain! First, I had trouble finding just the right size eye-bolts and cup hooks, etc. After visits to 3 different stores, I finally had what I thought would be enough. I gave them a shot of the same ivory spray paint as the drawer. Next I created a template for marking where to put the eye-bolts in each cubbie so they would look pretty consistent. I drilled teeny-tiny pilot holes, then screwed the hardware in by hand. Do you see how many bolts/hooks there are? No wonder my hands kept going numb! And I found I still needed another package of eye bolts - should have counted before shopping :)
I thought it was looking a little bland, so I added a colonial style hammered drawer pull to the top, after giving it a shot of the ivory spray paint and a bit of sanding. And then I realized I wanted something extra for my post earrings. The hooks and bolts were great for hanging kidney or french wire earrings, but I wanted something secure to push posts into. That's when the idea hit to add some wine corks. I put some velcro on the backs of the corks and in some of the cubbies so I can easily move them around, or replace corks if they start looking tacky. And do you see that teeny-tiny box on the bottom row? I made that from pieces of the dividers I had removed. It serves as a little storage area for earring backs - and to dangle a pair of earrings from too.
For now, my organizer is hung with a long strip of old muslin, but I can change that out with other fabric or ribbon, or it hang it right on the wall.
It's done at last! Who would have 'thunk' this would have been such a big darned deal? I love the end result though, so I'll probably forget all the aggravations pretty soon. And at least the cost wasn't bad. $20 for the tray + approx. $8 for hooks, eye-bolts, paint, etc. And it shows off the gorgeous jewelry my daughter designs along with my other pieces perfectly!
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