How To Organize Your Jewelry Corner (and a Look Inside Mine)

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Whether you’re the kind of person who carefully curates your jewelry pieces or the kind who buys anything and everything that catches your eye, you know that keeping your jewelry organized can be tricky. If your lovely baubles are in disarray, if you have to fish around for your favorite pair of sparkly earrings every time, or if your necklaces are an entangled mess, it’s time to whip your jewelry storage into shape. Here are a few basic ideas and tips:

1. Make your jewelry display artful: The ornaments we own are usually beautiful, sparkling, and bright pieces in and of themselves. So why not display them as a piece of art? Find a corner in your room and think of how you can make it look visually appealing with your jewelry display. The more you think of displaying your jewelry as part of your room decor, the more likely you are to keep that area looking neat and pretty.

2. Get creative: While you’ll certainly find practical jewelry storage boxes and organizers in places like Target, Walmart, or The Container Store, it’s always more fun to deviate away from that. How about using dainty teacups and plates from your local thrift store for your cocktail rings? Or a glass candy jar to throw all your hair pins and clips and other knick knacks? Or a shadow box or photo frame from an arts and crafts store to display your necklaces? The possibilities are endless, and Pinterest is a literal goldmine for ideas!

3. Purge: Sometimes your little candy store needs a purging. Just like with your clothes, it’s good to go through and get rid of things that are taking up prime real estate in your jewelry closet. Discard things like earrings that have lost their other pair, cuffs with broken hinges, necklaces with clasps beyond repair. It sounds obvious but so often, we just hoard this stuff. I’ve been guilty of holding on to things that I have barely worn for years! A fun idea is to have jewelry exchange parties with your friends where you can get rid of things you never wear and, at the same time, pick up pieces you love from others. A win-win situation!

Here’s a glimpse inside how I store my pieces of fashion jewelry. In a tiny New York apartment where space is limited, this is my own little, happy corner where all my bracelets, cuffs, earrings, necklaces, and rings are brightly on display and easy to see so I don’t forget what I have. A couple years ago when I was home in Thailand, I found someone who could specially design and craft unique one-of-a-kind pieces out of wood. I had an idea of how I wanted to store my bracelets and necklaces and asked them to create the jewelry organizers you see below.

I’m also obsessed with using small boxes to compartmentalize small, delicate, or real pieces of jewelry. Each of these little boxes has a story or memory associated with it. The blue box contained a gift I received during a friend's wedding in India, the green one was from a friend's visit to China, the ceramic container with the doves is something I stole from my mother, and the Japanese jewelry box has sentimental value as it is a really old gift from my dad (I don't think he even remembers it though!)

 Good luck with your jewelry organizing, girls!