Repurposed Old Window ~ Turned ~ Necklace Hanger

Thank you, Pinterest! I've seen several versions of this on Pinterest which inspired me to do my own. All of my jewelry has a nice home... except my necklaces. They have a drawer. Necklaces don't belong in a drawer. When you can actually find one to wear, it's so tangled with others that you end up going necklace-less.

My husband and I got permission to grab some old wood and stuff from a property that has an old house, barn, milk barn, and shed on it. They are all falling down. The house basically has no floor anymore, and it is dangerous to go in. We did, however, find some broken windows sitting on what is left of the floor. I grabbed them and took them home.

This is what the window looked like when I got it home:

Gross, right? It had nests all over it, chipped paint, one in tact window, one broken window, and one completely missing window, springs sticking out the sides, and filth galore. I strapped on the face mask and gloves, cleaned it up, scrubbed it down, sanded the loose paint, and took out the glass.

Then I painted it brown, nailed a bunch of nails an inch apart from each other, put a couple of picture hangers on the back, hung it on my wall, and draped my necklaces from it.

And there you have it! I spent absolutely no money on this necklace hanger! I used paint I had in my arsenal, nails I found in my old toolbox from about 5 or 6 years ago, and picture hangers I had in the same toolbox.

Valentine's Day: Wreath

For the last full week of January, it's time to move on to some Valentine's Day crafts. I've had my Valentine's decorations up since I took down my Christmas ones. If you don't have them yet, though, now is the time to get going.

My first Valentine craft is a wreath. I did this with a wire heart shaped wreath base. I added the layer of red ribbon first, using flower ties at each loop. Once I got that completed all the way around I did the black layer. Next was the zebra ribbon. I used wire ribbon so it would be easier to shape the way I wanted. Again, I used flower ties all the way around. I bought the "LOVE" as pre-cut unfinished wood at Hobby Lobby. I painted the red and black, but it looked too plain for me. So I added the extra designs to it. The picture in the "O" is one of our engagement pictures from a few years ago. I thought it was pretty fitting. I debated on how to attach the LOVE sign to the wreath, but I finally ended up using black jewelry wire. Finally, I added the ribbon to hang it from above.

Organizing / Home Decor: Hanging Box Shelves

The next project for my husband was a set of shelves that I saw in a book and wanted. I love a contemporary look, but our house is rustic. So we thought these shelves would be a good mix. I failed to take pics of this project along the way like I did with the laundry room cabinets. Lesson learned. But at least you can see the final. I'm still working on getting them decorated.

He used 3/4 inch birch plywood for these shelves. One 4' x 8' sheet did the entire thing. He used 1/4 inch plywood for the backs of each box. He ironed edge banding onto all the edges to give them a more completed look. Then he stained them and applied polyurethane. I wish I had pictures of how he hung them, because he had to really engineer it up. Those suckers are heavy! They are hung in three separate sections.