Organizing: Jewelry

My master closet is still a work in progress, so I'm not quite ready for a full post on closet organization.  Until then, here's a quick post about how I organize & display my jewelry.

About 8 years ago (when we lived in our first apartment together) I started storing all of my necklaces on a wooden tie rack - like this one:

It worked well, but it could only fit about 20 necklaces total & it looked a little cluttered when it was full.  After we bought our house a few years later, I (finally!) discovered the Container Store - where I saw a more streamlined metal version that could potentially fit 32 different necklaces.  Sold!  
They were having a sale, so I snatched up 2 of them:

Belt & Tie Rack

I already had an idea of where I wanted to hang them.

As you walk into my closet, there is a small wall to the right.
It's a fairly large section of wall space - but not very functional wall space:  

There was no way to fit any sort of shelving on that wall due to the door.  
Instead, I thought it would be the perfect space to hang those tie racks side by side.  
Once the racks were hung, I simply arranged all of my necklaces by color:

Right now, I am only using about half of the hooks - so there are plenty of extra hooks to store any new necklaces that I might add to the collection.

 I also picked up a two-sided hanging jewelry organizer while I was @ the Container Store.  

This is where I keep all of my earrings, rings, & bracelets:

I also keep my wedding ring on my nightstand in a small white porcelain lotus bowl from World Market - because for some reason, I can't sleep with any jewelry on. 

(sorry, I don't have a more current photo of my nightstand): 

 

And that's how I store my jewelry!

Very simple solutions - but they work great.  

It's super easy to see everything & nothing gets tangled!

Now, I just need to finish organizing the rest of my closet...

Mel

:)

How to Hide Your Water Heater: IKEA KVARTAL System

Update 8/26/15:  We've received a couple of comments in regards to this solution being a potential fire hazard or fire code violation.  We did not initially take this into consideration as the curtains never actually touched the water heater.  However, as one reader mentioned, there may be minimum clearance requirements within your insurance policies & fire codes.  We recommend that you research your local fire codes before implementing this system just in case.

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The water heater - it’s necessary, but not very attractive to look at.  Our water heater happens to be located in the corner of our laundry room which is very spatially challenged.  As a result, we had to think of a creative way to disguise it without taking up a lot of space (and we needed to be able to access it easily if needed).

One day while we were browsing @ IKEA we saw a curtain track that can be mounted from the ceiling……sold!

We spent a few minutes (OK, maybe more like 30 minutes) figuring out which pieces we would need to buy.  IKEA can be confusing @ times, no?

We began by installing the ceiling fixture pieces.  First, we removed the bottom pieces from the ceiling fixtures:

TIP:  There are no screws or anchors included - so make sure you buy some anchors/fasteners that will work for your ceiling  

We decided to go with a toggle bolt - just to be sure it stayed put.  After we removed the bottom piece, we inserted the screws through the fixture like this:

We drilled pilot holes into the ceiling & then attached the anchors to the ceiling.

Next, we put together the tracks together using the connector pieces.  (Remember, we had already slid all of the bottom pieces from the ceiling fixtures into the tracks):

Next, we slid all of the white plastic gliders onto the tracks & then attached the end pieces:

The track portion is ready to go!

    

Then we simply attached the track portion to the ceiling fixtures by using the small Allen wrench.  We did not take any pictures @ this point - but here's a photo from IKEA which illustrates this step:

After Mel ironed the window panels, we began to attach the drapery clips.  We did not use the white plastic hooks that came with the gilders.  Instead, we bought a pack of the stainless steel RIKTIG curtain hooks with clips:

We ended up buying the window panels from IKEA as well.  They are 98” tab top panels - we got them extra long so that we could hem them to the perfect length (which, thus far, still hasn't happened).  We obviously didn't utilize the tab tops - they are just folded back behind the panels:

Before & After: 

Thus far, we haven’t had any issues with the gliders getting stuck – it works great!

It's a super easy & affordable way to hide your water heater! 

Nader & Mel

:)