earring storage ideas

Your earrings probably don't look like this, but since I developed this mild obsession, my little earring tin had gotten so full, I was having a hard time finding what I wanted to wear and spotting earrings I hadn't worn in a while (and probably would wear if I could just see them).

It was getting really irritating, so I started brainstorming ideas for how to display or store them better.

I suppose I could have bought an earring stand from anywhere. (And in fact, here are some of my favourites from Urban Outfitters: spinning ribbon stand, kaleidoscope stand, spinning bird stand, birdcage display), but none of those fit into my bathroom so I kept pondering it.

Eventually, I came up with this idea.

Do you remember these? I used the two matching goldish frames (top left and bottom right), and fiddled around with them and a couple doilies.

I thought I might be able to hang my earrings right on the doily and the frame would kind of tie everything together and finish it off. Like my earrings were little pieces of art.

I decided I wanted to see the wall colour from behind the lace. Mostly because the backings for these frames were kind of junky. So I got rid of the backing and used only the glass to hold the doily in. If the backing had looked a little better, I probably would have kept it for extra help in keeping the glass in.

Luckily, I had two doilies that were exactly the same, so I used those.

Then I kept placing and adjusting the doily in the frame using the glass to help me hold it down while I moved it until I had it looking the way I wanted. When I got them in place, I realized that I didn't want to cut them to size. So, faced with that dilemma, I improvised by using double-sided tape to hold back the folded edges of each doily so they would stay hidden once on the wall.

These two frames had a combination of staples and heavy duty packing tape (classy) holding the glass in, and since I couldn't hammer the staples back into the plastic frame (of course), I had to use tape again. I just wanted to make sure nothing would fall out. Better safe than sorry. Besides, this isn't a permanent solution for me. It was more like an experiment gone pretty well. I'm not 100% in love with it, but it'll definitely do until I can think of something better.

I've had them up for over 3 weeks now, and I haven't had anything fall off or out. The lacing does tend to pull down a bit depending on the weight of the earring(s), but it hasn't pulled the doily out of the frame or loosened it up.

I also experimented with this idea since the frame earring holder is really best for earwires or french wire earrings. I can't get post or lever backed earrings into it, and I think I have more lever-backed earrings overall.

I had exactly one fabric hoop in my house and exactly one doily that fit it perfectly without having to cut it. Then, as with all fabric hoops, all I did was lay the doily into the middle hoop and screw the outer hoop over top.

As the practical gal that I am, I kind of like the simplicity of the fabric hoop a touch more than the frames. I put all of my lever backed earrings on mine since the doily lace is too large to accomodate my post earrings; otherwise, I probably would have used this for posts instead since most of my post earrings can't be joined together.

The weight of the earrings are pulling on the doily, but it doesn't bother me at all since it doesn't look messy or stretched out. When I take a pair off, I just try to put it back on a different loop.

All of my post backed earrings have stayed in my jewelry tin and they're easier to find and pair up now that I've got a place to store the other half of my collection. I'll be living with this set up for now. I don't know if I'll find a better solution, but you never know what I might stumble across next time I'm at the thrift store!