pinning winning

I have, shall we say, a bordering-on-obsessive interest in Pinterest.  That time suck app, you know, for all of us who wish we were as crafty as we lead people to perceive we are, judging by the 500 pins on DIY home decor and holiday projects?

I'd gotten in my head that I'd wanted to make a new jewelry display...thing.  And I had no words to describe exactly what I wanted (good luck trying to explain THAT one to your boyfriend when you're trying to convince him you won't cut off your fingers with the hand saw so could he please not hide the tools from you anymore?) so I'd gone onto Pinterest to try to find something.  I didn't find exactly what was floating around in my head so I drew it up on a scrap of paper and presented it to my still-confused loved one.  Here's what I wanted- I'd find a big picture frame, paint it, put a pretty fabric in the open area and attach some way to hang earrings onto it.  I wanted a small shelf underneath with a dish on it to hold stud earrings and rings, and room to set bracelets and watches, and also hooks underneath to hang necklaces from.  Easy, right?

Spoiler Alert- it came together beautifully!  Take a look-

After wandering around Home Depot for like an hour, we located some "hobby boards," which were about 18 inch long pre-sanded pieces of wood that were exactly what I was looking for to use for the shelf.  I got some quarter-round to use as a trim design along the front and sides

 See, those aren't MY hands using the hand saw!  I actually did try it for a while but found hacking away on the quarter-round quite tedious.  

 Had to use wood glue to attach quarter-round to the hobby board.  The board was so thin and the quarter-round so awkwardly curved that even tiny finishing nails would have split it.  This sat in the clamp after being glued for about a week because I have poor time-management skills.

 I haggled this picture frame down from $10 to $5 at the second-hand shop- it's big, 16x24, but had no glass and no hanger and was pretty ugly.  But- solid wood!  I painted it with some leftover white paint I'd used to do the corner hutch.  Again, this took a few days and several coats.

 I bought a half yard of fabric from the crafter's crack dealer- AKA Hobby Lobby.  It was expensive fabric but come on, when can you not find a sale or coupon for the Lobby?  I also ended up buying some gold cord from the discount Christmas bin to stretch across a piece of white foam board I cut to fit the frame opening.  I had to cut little nicks into the sides for the cord to slip in because the whole thing was a veeeeery tight fit!  The big crafty secret there is scotch tape holding the cord in place.  Tape and fabric glue hold the fabric down to the foam board.  

 Underneath the hobby board shelf, I attached 12 Command hooks!  I'd looked into the little hooks that screwed in but again, the board wasn't thick enough.  Command hooks are pretty tough and worked out just fine.  Cheapie metal brackets with teeny tiny screws underneath attach to the board.  When Scot hung it on the wall for me he used larger, reinforced screws with that plastic sleeve that pops into the wall first.  

 I LOVE IT!!!!  The fabric has some sort of swirly French script on it that's the perfect background for dangly earrings.  Have a closer look at the shelf-

I found an empty picture frame, took the back off, and used it flat down as a holder for the stud earrings- see it on the left.  The glass sits low enough in the frame without the back that stuff won't roll out.  

I'm thrilled with the outcome and feel justified in saying that I look like one of those really creative Pinterest people.  Here's a price breakdown for my showpiece:

Hobby Lobby

Gold cord- $2 on clearance

Foam board- $1.85 on clearance

Fabric- $3.59 with coupon

Home Depot

Command hooks- $12 for 12

Hobby board- $4

Brackets- $1.76 for 2

Quarter-round- $1.50, cut by the foot

Second hand antique store

Frame- $5

Already owned- paint, clamp, brushes, screws, glue, and handy boyfriend

TOTAL- around $32!