How to Make a Jewelry Organizer (super easy DIY)

Organize your earrings, necklaces, and rings with a DIY jewelry organizer made from a thrift store frame and a piece of leftover fabric. Let’s make a wall-mounted jewelry holder that’s both functional and pretty.

I’ve recently been on a thrift store scavenger hunt; the last one was particularly successful. I found an old, beat-up, empty wooden frame with a nice, simple floral design in the corners that was just waiting for a new purpose in life. I decided that this old picture frame would be perfect to help me fix a disorganized and tangled-up mess and install some order back into my life.

Since the vintage frame was so pretty, I thought it would look nice in my dressing area and add a bit of wall decor to that corner of my room.

So I set out to make a DIY jewelry holder for all my necklaces, rings, and bracelets, and if there were a place for my brooches, too, that would be great. I didn’t have much time so I needed to come up with an easy and quick way to turn my thrift store find into a picture frame jewelry holder DIY.

Enter my burlap coffee sack. I have a little stash of this, due to my recent bold and bodacious action. I am such a wimp most of the time, but this time, I got my courage up. I was in a specialty coffee shop the other day. You know, the ones where the walls are lined with different coffee beans, where they grind your coffee to your specific instructions, and where they talk about coffee as if it is the finest of wines. The kind of coffee shop that intimidates me, because I am not a big coffee drinker. But my friends and family are, and I was in there to buy a whole bunch of gifts for the coffee lovers in my life. As the shop owner tallied up my order (it was a big one), I started a conversation and carefully inserted the topic of coffee beans and coffee bean bags. And then, ever so nonchalantly, asked if he had any…

One look at the till and my big order, and he walked to the back of the store and came back with at least 10 coffee bags!!!!

And that is how I ended up with a nice stash of authentic burlap coffee bags.

Burlap Craft projects you will like.

Burlap Pumpkin Wall Art

Burlap Christmas Ornaments

How to make burlap roses

Mixed-media Christmas banner

Okay then, back to the jewelry holder and my latest DIY project.

Supplies for making a framed jewelry holder

This homemade jewelry organizer is easy to put together and you only need a few supplies, that can easily be found in your local hardware store.

• A frame, this can be an old thrift store frame. Rectangular works best, especially if you want to hang long knecklaces
• Backing for the frame. If the frame has a back you can repurpose that, otherwise cut some stiff piece of cardboard or thin plywood to size
• Fabric, burlap or contact paper to cover the back. Use what you have and that fits your design style
• Optional is chicken wire, this can be a nice addition in front of the fabric and makes hanging dangling earrings super easy
• Basic tools, like a drill, hammer, screwdriver, nails and screws and scissors
• Small hooks like cup hooks

If you are looking for more DIY jewelry organizer ideas, you can find a ton of them in this post: 101 Organizing Ideas

How to make a Jewelry Frame Organizer

Step 1 Prepare your frame

My frame was empty, so I first needed to find a backing for it. I measured the inside of the frame, cut a piece of leftover plywood to size, and gave it a trial fit.

Next up was refinishing the frame. The frame was white, and I decided to stick with that. I gave her a quick refresh with a thin coat of fresh white paint. Because the frame is so old and already quite tattered, I decided to go for the shabby-chic look, sanded the edges a bit, and applied a thin layer of dark glaze.

Step 2 Turn it into a burlap wall organizer

The next step was cutting my burlap to size. A burlap coffee sack has a very loose weave, so it can be hard to cut straight lines.

To cut straight edges in burlap there is one easy trick: pull out a thread and follow the empty weave as the line to cut.

I did that four times and ended up with a nice piece of burlap to cover my piece of wood.

I discovered that if I simply folded the burlap around the plywood it had a very snug fit in the frame that basically didn’t need anything else. If I had been using ordinary fabric I would have used spray adhesive to glue the fabric to the front of the wood.

I opted not to hot glue the burlap to the wood because the loose weave of the burlap made it an instant DIY jewelry display because it is perfect for sticking in pins and earrings (you can get a similar effect by adding some wire mesh in front of a more tight woven fabric).

The next step for making this into a DIY hanging jewelry organizer was to drill some small holes and add tiny cup hooks for my necklaces and bracelets. These little hooks are perfect hangers for long necklaces or bracelets.

Plywood is very thin, so even though I used small hooks, they still came sticking out at the back. I snipped off what was too long with some heavy-duty pliers.

Step 3 Finish the picture frame jewelry holder

To hang the frame I screwed two small screws into the back of the frame and twisted some metal wire across.

Because the burlap-covered wood was so snug in the frame I didn’t have to do much to hold it in place. For a little bit of extra security, I hammered some small nails into the frame in an angle to hold the backing in place.

If your insert needs a bit more help to stay put in the frame, then using some staples and a staple gun would work very well for holding it in place.

Related Reading:

I love combining organization with decoration. My DIY Key Holder is personalized, fun and a beautiful addition to my entryway.

Step 4 Organize your jewelry collection

Now comes the fun part. Get out your necklaces, bracelets, jewelry pins, and dangling earrings, and hang them on your jewelry organizer DIY. You can add some straight pins to the fabric too, to hang some more lightweight things like small bracelets.

Isn’t it wonderful to have a jewelry display like this? Everything is in sight, easy to grab, and it is functional storage at the same time. My DIY necklace organizer is hanging right next to my closet. I love that I can match my accessories to my outfit in one go.

To finish off my little girly corner organizer, I hung a small shelf underneath the wall-mounted jewelry holder. It is the perfect place for a small mirror and some small dishes to hold my stud earrings and rings.

More easy DIY Organizing Ideas

Personalized Key Holder

how to store essential oils

office drawer organizer from free materials

I am so happy! It was a great idea to finally find a designated spot for all my pretties, and I love that I have a beautiful jewelry organizer that double functions as wall decor, and it kind of is a small vanity, too. Using the old frame made this such a quick and easy DIY project.

It’s exciting to now have a place for all of my precious jewelry, even if it is all just costume jewelry and homemade things. I love that I can enjoy looking at them and enjoying their beauty while they are ready to use at any time.

The whole thing, from start to finish, only took a couple of hours. I love small projects like this that help me organize a big mess, are fun, and add beauty to my life.