Throwing back to how I built a Jewelry Cabinet

I built this little jewelry cabinet for my mom for Xmas 2015. My gosh that was literally my first Xmas living in this house! Wow, how things change over the years. My mom lived in a very small home at the time where storage was always a problem. She was also living with just one bathroom so, getting a mirror and storage somewhere else was great for her when she was getting ready in the mornings before work. It was always her dream someday to sell that little place and build her dream home which she accomplished just last year!

I was helping her get packed and moved when we had this conversation.

Me: “Do you want me to grab that cabinet?”
Mom: “Didn’t we paint around it?”
Me: “Leave it!”

So this little cabinet has a new owner and stayed with her old house lol.

Here is the original post from January, 2016:

I always have such a hard time coming up with something special to get my incredible Mom for Christmas. I think we all want to get something useful and memorable and just amazing, especially for the people that are the most important to us.

But that is a very tall order! I had come across a mirrored jewelry cabinet on Pinterest many times when it finally dawned on me that I could make one for Mom! She and I went to Walmart and picked up a nice black mirror.

She didn’t have the space for a full length mirror so we decided on this one that she could hang above one of her bed side tables and it was only $9! From there, I got to work!

Initially it was as simple as making a box out of 1x4s. I made the box a touch smaller then the mirror and reinforced it with steel brackets for strength.

I also added the board inset across the top for hanging necklaces from. It didn’t look like much of a jewelry cabinet at this point but I knew it would!

From there I painted the box and then set to work on the mirror. It came with multiple sets of hardware on the back that I removed. I saved the screws and reused them (VERY CAREFULLY!!) for screwing the hinges on the back. I chose just small and simple hinges for this project because the mirror was not terribly heavy.

With the box painted and the mirror ready to attach I picked up some black felt for the back. Where I couldn’t staple the felt (because of the steel brackets) I just used glue.

I stretched it tight, attached, then cut off the excess fabric. From there I got to work adding the little hooks for all of her jewelry. Across the top I used a ruler, spacing every hook one and a half inches a part and then just a hammer and a nail to help the hooks start, my thumbs are still sore from screwing all those in I think lol.

The lower hooks I put in the sides and ran jewelry wire across for all of her dangly earrings. I also added the lowest wire to give the bottom tray a little stability for all of her jewelry that she can’t hang. The little tray I just picked up for less then $2 also at walmart and it was nice for her jewelry cabinet because it had rubber feet on the bottom.

Hanging the cabinet I just used sheetrock anchors and two screws through the back plate. Later I plan on coming back and painting over the screws heads so they’re white like the cabinet. I also added a little magnetic latch so the mirror snaps (and stays) shut.

(Yes, I realized quite awhile ago during this process that I essentially built my mom a medicine cabinet lol.)

So far she’s really happy with it and it was such a simple project!

Thank you guys so much for stopping by and please share if you get a chance! Every share helps keep my little site here going 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful New Year!!