DIY Acrylic Earring Holder in 10 Easy(ish) Steps

Possibly I’ll take another picture of this earring holder without a bassinet in its reflection. Then again, possibly not.

If you’re anything like me, you have any number of big earrings and nowhere good to hang them. Since I wear earrings so frequently, I like to see what i have in order to decide what i feel like wearing. The trouble, however, is twofold. I haven’t found anything in stores/online which lets me display the number of earrings I have. Also- the earring storage/holders I have found (still not big enough to house all of my earrings, mind you) are frequently insane looking. Super farmhouse-y/inexplicably rustic/too young/curiously steampunk-eqsue/overall terrible.

And, since I have all the free time in the world these days (ha!), I decided to employ my usual plan of action when I can’t find exactly what I want. I made one. I’ve had this same problem for years and made a different earring holder about a decade ago using an 8x10” picture frame and a screen- but I quickly filled it up with too many earrings. Oops.

the OG earring holder

Depending on your skill set, I’d call this an easy (but maybe slightly time-consuming-you’ll see why) and inexpensive project. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

MATERIALS:

-1 sheet of acrylic (I used an 18x24 sheet bc I have too many earrings and they’re huge but as a normal, non-hippie, you can likely get away with a smaller piece. **Also, if your local hardware store carries a piece of acrylic of this size in the $12 range and another that’s about $10 more, opt for the cheaper one. It won’t collapse under the weight of your earrings and if will save you from buying like 1 million more drill bits trying to get through it)

-Wall sign holders (I wasn’t actually sure what to call these when I Googled them but these are the ones I used. These come with wall anchors, they’re cheap but will do the job. If you’re bad at hammering in cheap anchors, you might want a few extra on hand as backup as they’re easily squashed)

TOOLS:

• Drill (for drilling holes into the acrylic)

• Drill bits (1/16” for drilling into the sheet, possibly a step bit -but only if you already have one.. I’ll tell you how to make it work without it as buying one will basically double the cost of this project, another bit for attaching it to the wall-will update the size of this bit shortly)

• WD40 (Confusing, I know. But necessary if you don’t own a step drill bit. I feel like I have a million tools and have never needed one of these so am assuming most people don’t have them either)

• Pencil (for marking holes on the wall when you go to hang this thing)

• Yardstick/measuring tape (to measure distance between holes when marking them)

• Straight edge (for ensuring the holes you drill aren’t all crooked) If you have a yardstick, that works too

• Permanent marker (for drawing lines on the piece so you’ll know where to add how)

• Pieces of scrap wood (so have something to set this on to avoid drilling into a floor or table)

• Philips head screwdriver (to attach to the wall)

• Hammer (for hammering in the wall anchors)

Some things you’ll need

IMPORTANT

Before you buy the piece of acrylic, take stock of your earring situation. How many do you have now? Are they small-ish or large-ish? Any weird ones you’ve been hanging onto for years that can be purged? Both the size/quantity of your earrings will determine what size piece of acrylic you need. When I counted/semi-purged (still a weird pair or three in the mix), I had 35 pairs. A minimalist. Clearly.

Oh- one more thing, and this is important. I know, blah blah blah, no one wants to read the top parts of blogs but definitely give this some thought if you decide to make one of these earring holder. This earring holder only works for earrings with a fishhook back. It’s no good for a dangly earring with a post back because you somehow have to squeeze your hand between the back of it and the wall to put the earrings on and off. Of course I have a handful of large earrings which are either hoops or post-backs… so I tried to get around this problem by making a row of holes at the bottom of the acrylic so I’d be able to access them.

Ok, let’s get started.

Lay out your earrings on your future earring holder to help with spacing.

So you’ve taken stock of your earring inventory and bought an appropriately sized piece of acrylic. As I mentioned above, get the cheaper, slightly flimsier piece. The first time I made this, I used the thinner acrylic with great success… until I got to the final step of drilling larger holes in the corners to fit the pieces that attach it to the wall. THEN I used a drill bit that was too large/didn’t use WD40 (who knew I needed to lubricate the drill bit? Not me) and I cracked the earring holder. On the very last step. Womp womp. When I went back to the store to buy a replacement piece of acrylic, they were sold out of the thinner piece and only had a thicker, pricier piece. And curiously, I was IN A HURRY TO GET IT DONE (?!?!) and bought it anyways. The thicker piece ate up my drill bit and a subsequent three pack of replacement drill bits. #livinthatDIYdreamlife

Step 1

Keep the plastic on both sides of your piece of acrylic to help protect it from scratches as you work. Depending on the size you’ve settled on for your earring holder, measure down 1- 2” from the top and then in from the edge that same measure (..if you go down 1”, go in 1”… if you go down 2”, go in 2”). Use a permanent marker to mark the holes you’ll drill at the end for the wall anchors. I drew a tiny “x” in each corner so i’d know each mark had been made on purpose. Repeat in the other three corners.

Mark the lines where each row will go. Forgot to take a picture of this step so instead this picture is from slightly further along in the process!

Step 2

Measure how many rows of earrings you’ll need. On my 18x24” piece, I ultimately had 6 rows (5 regular rows and 1 at the bottom). If you settle on a similar setup, you’ll use a yardstick and a permanent marker to measure and draw my first row, roughly 2.5” down from the top edge of the acrylic. Then, I measured 3 1/4” down from that row and used my permanent marker and yardstick to draw a straight line from one side of the acrylic to the other. Then I repeated this step 4 more times, with my sixth/last row about 3/4” up from the bottom of the piece. You’ll want this last row close to the bottom of the earring holder so you can access any earring backs or backs where the earring hooks onto itself to close.

Step 3

With all 6 rows traced, it’s time to use your marker to mark the holes you’ll drill for your earring pairs. Based on all of my earrings, I decided that each of the top 5 rows should hold 7 pairs of earrings. To mark them off, measure 1-2” in from the left side of the acrylic to mark a dot for your the left earring for your first pair and then measure 1/2” over and mark a dot for the other earring of that pair. (You’ll mark 2 dots for each pair of earrings-obviously). Measure over 1 1/4” and mark your next dot and then measure 1/2” to mark the second dot for that pair. You now have 2 pairs marked off for your first row. Measure and mark off the remaining 5 pairs for this row. Then repeat this for the next four rows. (I measured 1 1/4” between pairs because I have some larger earrings and didn’t want them all over each other. Yours may be less obnoxiously large, in which case, you can probably make your earrings closer together.

Step 4

Measure 2 1/2” from the left corner and 3/4” up from the bottom. Mark holes for the earrings on your bottom row. On mine, I marked off 22 holes (enough for 11 pairs of earrings). Measure in X” and mark your first hole. Then measure over 1/2” for the second earring in that pair. Measure over 1/2” to mark the left hole for the next pair and then measure 1/2” to the right and mark the right earring of that pair. Repeat 9 times.

Here’s about where this picture belongs. With holes drilled for the pairs of earrings.

Step 5

Now that you have all of your holes marked, it’s time to drill. We’ll save the corner holes for the end since those are slightly trickier. Set up your acrylic piece on top of some scrap wood. You’ll need a piece of wood underneath to project your work surface. Attach a 1/16” bit to your drill and begin drilling the holes you’ve already marked in your earring holder. You’ve already done the prep work so this shouldn’t take long.

Clearly not a professional DIY blogger! I used painter’s tape over the corner holes as I drilled for extra protection of the acrylic. Didn’t want to scrape it up too much!

Step 6

Time to tackle the corner holes. You’ll need bigger holes (1/4”) in the corners and your earring holder will crack if you try to use a 1/4” drill bit on it. So this step is slightly more involved. If you happen to have a step drill bit, use it here. (It’s basically a graduated drill bit that starts by drilling a small hole and as it gets deeper, drills a wider hole until you reach the width of the hole you need (1/4”). I don’t have a step bit so had to find a way to Macgyver this. Enter WD-40. In order to get through the plastic, you’ll need to lubricate the drill bit and go slowly. WD40 makes a greasy mess so be sure you’re doing this step on somewhere you can get messy/is easy to clean up. I began by using my 1/16” to drill each corner hole. Then I removed that drill bit and replaced it with a slightly larger one and then sprayed the drill bit and the surface of the acrylic with WD40 before slowly drilling. Once enlarged, I switched to a slightly larger drill bit and sprayed both drill bit and surface with WD40. Then I switched out my drill bit to a 1/4” bit, sprayed again with WD40 and verrrry slowly drilled the existing hole. You’ll repeat this process for the remaining three corner holes. Before you move on to the next step, poke one of your wall holders through each hole to be sure it’s large enough. If the edges of your hole are a little wonky, that’s OK as the hangers will cover the hole.

In case you aren’t familiar with a drywall anchor.

Step 7

Once you’ve ensured that the wall hangers will fit in each hole, it’s time to remove the protective plastic and wipe down your acrylic. You’re almost there!! Find the spot you’d like to hang your earring holder and hold it up to the wall. Use a level to make sure it isn’t crooked- you may need another set of hands for this step. Use your pencil to trace the inside of the circles at each corner. The earring holder isn’t very heavy so you don’t need to bother finding the studs but you will want to use drywall anchors. Once you’ve drilled a hole for the drywall anchor, insert it into the wall. It won’t always go all the way into the wall so you’ll want to use a hammer to hit it head-on so that it’s flush with the hole. Repeat this step for the remaining three corner holes you’ve drilled into your wall.

Step 8

Screw the back of the wall holder into your wall. To do this, start by holding the screwdriver like so.

Screwdriver with screw. Vertical so you don’t lose track of the screw.

I know this seems like a silly view of a screwdriver bc, duh, that’s how it looks with a screw on it. BUT I’m trying to save you the step of holding everything horizontally and then losing the screw inside the wall holder and having to shake it around for a bit to get it out before trying again. With your screwdriver/screw situation looking like that, fit the wall holder over it so it looks like this.

Screwdriver with wall holder. Ready to be attached to the wall.

And then screw it into the wall. Now it will look like the picture below and you’ll repeat this same process for the other three holes.

Look at you making moves.

Step 9

Now that all four corner pieces are attached, it’s time to attach your earring holder to the wall. Drilling anchors into the wall and then attaching something always makes me hold my breath a little when I go to hang it - but hopefully you haven’t goofed anything up and this part goes swimmingly. Fingers crossed.

The top pieces of the wall holders have a screw attached. Hold up the earring holder to the wall so the corner holes align with the wall holders and then screw your first wall holder together. Repeat for all three corners.

Yess!! Look at this masterful earring holder! What a project!

Step 10

Eek! You did it! Time to put hang your earrings on your new earring holder. So exciting! Now it’s time to put on a particularly dangly pair, grab a cocktail and admire your handiwork. Girl, you’ve earned it.

Clearly I’m not a professional DIY blogger so I’m hoping that the above directions make sense. I couldn’t find any such products on the market (nor could I find tutorials to make an earring holder that looks like this one) so I wanted to share in case anyone out there is looking for something similar. I was so tired of my existing earring storage issues and wanted to make something work. If you’re also desperate enough to attempt this, please let me know how it works out!

One Room Challenge: Week 5

I think I knew this about two weeks ago- but there’s officially no way I can knock the rest of our kitchen out over the next week and actually complete our One Room Challenge. (But the good news is that you can still visit their site to see other rooms that are nearly complete) . Our floor installer stopped by yesterday to assess the situation since we’re still trying to remove adhesive from the floor. ROAR. Apparently, had we used a jackhammer, most of the adhesive would have come up with the tiles. (Oops.) So maybe our floor wouldn’t look like like this right now.

This is after SO. MUCH. SCRAPING and also LOTS of hand chiseling!

Initially, he said we’d need new plywood to lay on top of the existing glue-y plywood- but he poked around a bit and told us he could make do with the current situation and install on top of it anyways. PHEW. For the floors, we’re looking for something that’s relatively close to our existing floors since they lead into the kitchen area on three sides. Our floors now are white oak. I don’t like them at all- BUT, I also don’t want to redo the rest of the flooring in our house as we undertake the kitchen project. Thinking we’ll use a similar white oak but with larger planks. (The existing ones are 2 1/4” and definitely look and feel really dated!)

Marginally better? Certainly will be better than the tile!

We had (or thought we had!) a carpenter on the hook to build an island for us. But we haven’t actually heard from him in two weeks soon now I’m reassessing that and reaching out to another carpenter I’ve worked with and also investigating the prospect of doing an island using IKEA cabinets and fronts from Semihandmade. Not sure where that will lead.

I did settle on a quartz for the counters (and for the island). It’s this one:

MSI Calcutta Verona

However, in order to template for countertops, we have to have the island in place. And the countertop process with our fabricator takes about a week for them to come out and template and then potentially another week or two on top of that for them to be installed. Womp womp.

Our new light fixture for over the not-yet-built island is currently stuck in GA and I’m not sure when that will arrive. When it gets here, we’ll need an electrician to move the wiring in the ceiling because our old fan isn’t centered over where the island will be need to have an electrician wire up from the basement so we’ll have an outlet in the island and said electrician will also need to maybe help install the pendant over the sink since the old fluorescent light we took out was rigged up in a way that won’t support a pendant. But the good news, though, is that at least we aren’t dealing with this anymore.

That insane trim over the sink hiding a fluorescent light on a MOTION SENSOR.

I attempted to install several of the new cup pulls today. They’re an unlacquered brass from House of Antique Hardware and I LOVE the look and feel of them! When we moved in, I replaced our old knobs with cup pulls in some sort of weathered nickel finish BUT those pulls, as it turns out, are just ever so sliiiightly smaller than these new ones. (To make things as complicated as possible, the old holes are too large for the new screws). As a result, I need to drill out one of the two old holes (I’d patched the up for painting), fill it with wood filler, let that dry- and install the new pull with one screw in the modified hole. I actually knew this when I ordered them but had incorrectly assumed that I had enough wiggle room so the holes wouldn’t overlap!

Unlacquered brass pulls from House of Antique Hardware

Once the counters are in, we’ll still have the tile backsplash to install. We tried to remove a few tiles last week and it didn’t go well. So we thought that better/the correct tools for the job might be the key to our success. Picked up this little tool (a 3” bent scraper from Goldblatt) at at Floor and Decor this week while I was looking at flooring samples but it seems like it isn’t doing us any favors. Or rather, it does what it’s supposed to do but it feels like there’s no avoiding all of the plaster coming off and having to redo the drywall behind the counter!

3” bent scraper

Feels almost like I’m still on week one! AHHH! At least the One Room Challenge has me ATTEMPTING to make some headway on this.

One Room Challenge: Week 4

Whew. My One Room Challenge is really creeeeeeeping along. If you’re thinking I’m making any semblance of good headway, please visit OneRoomChallenge to see the AMAZING things people have already accomplished in such a short time! The good news is that this week, we managed to knock out one project I’d been dreading and tackle another two high on my to-do list.

Let’s talk about the big one. The floors. We have a floor installer scheduled for this coming weekend and we knew we had to make some headway today since we don’t have much time at night/after work to make lots of noise before the kids go to bed. We’re trying not to overspend on this reno (plus we’re crazy people) so we decided to demo our existing tile floors ourselves. We’ve never done this kind of work before (details!) but figured we could likely figure it out as we went along. This first part of it actually wasn’t half bad (likely bc my husband did most of the work while I got the kids out of his hair).

Granted, we’ll likely need to make a few returns since we started the work this morning and quickly realized we’d bought several tools we imagined we’d need (INSANELY aggressive 48” pry bar, I’m looking at you) and not, as it turned out, the tools we actually would need (tiny hand chisel).

Need to do a little paring down of the art on this wall but the floors are tile-free!

Also- have any of y’all demo’ed a tile floor before?!? The tool it seems like we’re supposed to use is this tiny floor scraper thing in the photo above. But how on EARTH will it get all of this up!?

So much thinset!

I know that sometimes tile floor also features an aggressive mud bed. Fortunately, we don’t have that to contend with - our tiles were just glued down to the plywood. Will this make removing the thinset easier? Harder? Who knows?! (Not us!)

Right now, a wheelbarrow is parked in the middle of my kitchen.

In other news, I finally settled on hardware (from House of Antique Hardware) and ordered it. I opted for an unlacquered brass because I love LOVE LOVE the look of antiqued brass. And also because I couldn’t find reasonable pre-finished antiqued brass knobs that were an exact match to any of the pre-finished antiqued brass drawer pulls I liked. Even the slight difference in finish would drive me crazy. (Nuts- I know, but sometimes you just need to understand what your pain points are and roll with them!)

I’ve bought unlacquered brass pulls from this site in the past and the quality is great. I’ve also aged them using a brass ager (which is really easy and fast) - and I still have some left. Right now, the knobs are a bright and shiny brass (not quite the look I love but definitely a throwback to the 80’s kitchen I’m currently trying to de-80s!). I’m debating whether to speed the aging process along just a tad using my leftover brass ager or to let them do their thing on their own. Not sure where I’ll land. I bought cup pulls for the drawers as I couldn’t find pulls I absolutely loved (and I’m a sucker for those pulls). Hopefully will get them installed in the next day or two!

Kitchen knobs in unlacquered brass from House of Antique Hardware

I started painting the kitchen ceiling yesterday and am hoping to have it finished up by tomorrow. When we moved in five years ago, we had many of the rooms (and ceilings!) painted by professional painters. But we did the kitchen ourselves and skipped the ceiling. Because UGH. Painting ceilings. But since we’ve removed a light fixture and are moving and replacing another (with a new one from Circa Lighting that I can’t WAIT to share!), the ceilings need a touch up.

While we have a dumpster on hand, I’m also hoping to get our existing backsplash removed. However, we took a stab at it today (with a steak knife, from the looks of things)- and I think we may need to strategize a bit. There has to be a better way!?

Ummm WHAAT!?

Send help. Or, more practically- advice! xo.

One Room Challenge: Week 3

So we’ve had a crazy week at our house. Started last weekend on Cape Cod, spent much of the week with friends in RI- and hosted Easter today. AND I missed this week’s official link up to the One Room Challenge page. Possibly it’s just as well as I actually made zero headway on our kitchen - though I did at least get some yard work done and some spring flowers planted. And we spent lots of QT with family and with friends and had an overall super spring break (aside from the lack of progress at home). Here’s one corner of the kitchen as it stands today. (And yes, I hosted Easter with that cabinet situation. Eek!) Hoping to get things moving and back on track with the One Room Challenge this week-wish me luck!

Still messy. Still not entirely finished with this corner. Hmph.

One Room Challenge: Week 2

Week one is over and I have an update. Not a monumental one, but we’ve made some headway nonetheless. Early last week, we had a carpenter out to discuss building an island in our kitchen.

If you saw the pictures from last week, you’ll notice that previous owners of our house used the kitchen as an eat-in kitchen and had a table and chairs in the middle of the room. There’s room for it for sure. But- the dining room table is just feet away and we don’t need two full dining spaces so close together. What we DO need, however, is prep space. And storage space. AND it would be GREAT if we could move the garbage from the corner of the room where it constantly gets bumped into the wall and takes off the paint. I texted our carpenter this sketch of what I’m thinking:

My sketch for our potential kitchen island

When our carpenter was over, he told me about an island he’d built for our friend and I invited myself over to see it. He also mentioned her countertop, fabricated from reclaimed wood by a sawmill on the Cape. I’d planned on using the same surface for the island as we’ll use for the counters (quartz) but her island (see below) was so beautiful that I’m reconsidering and looking into a wood top. No decisions yet but hopefully soon!

As I’ve given it more thought, I think we’ll replace the microwave opening and drawer with three drawers for more storage. We don’t have a microwave now and honestly, I don’t miss having one. There’s a little corner where we moved our coffeepot that could fit a microwave, but we’ll get more use from a coffee corner and I don’t want to give up storage or prep space elsewhere. At first, I thought we’d leave an opening for a microwave for the next person to love our house thinking that most non-pilgrims would expect one. But we aren’t sure how long we’ll stay in the house and I’d rather design to meet our current needs than someone else’s hypothetical ones.

The island will have three stools on one side and a garbage/recycling pullout, double doors with pull-out shelves, and three drawers on the other. I also pulled together a Pinterest board of island styles I like- Shaker cabinets, relatively modern and pretty no-frills, hopefully something to go with the style of our existing painted cabinets.

Island with seating. (Don't have the image credit as this is a screen shot from Pinterest)

Another island with seating in a similar style. (A Pinterest find as well, so if I track down image credit, I’ll update my site accordingly)

Here’s the third image I sent to give him an idea of what I’m thinking (ditto for image credit on this one)

When designing permanent fixtures or considering kitchen design, it’s important to think about the style of the piece (does it play well with the rest of the space or will it stick out like a sore thumb?) but also the function. At our house, T and I both love to cook and we don’t have nearly enough prep space in the kitchen. We also entertain far more than any sane people with kids under six, so we also need room for larger serving platters and bowls. We have a large mixer and blender that are always out since we have nowhere to store them and I’d love to clear room for valuable prep space. Fingers crossed that an island will be the perfect solution for us! Here’s a pic of the kitchen with the island space taped off.

Progress shot of the kitchen

Notice anything new on the left side of the picture? We also got our new dishwasher installed earlier this week

out with the old..

And in with the new!

It’s from the Frigidaire Professional line and in addition to being fingerprint-free, it is CRAZY quiet. So quiet that we can’t even tell it’s on. The rest of the progress this week was minimal. I think I’ve finally settled on cabinet knobs and pulls after going through approximately one million different options at all of the price points. Initially, I’d settled on knobs in a golden champagne. While the color worked, the mushroom style just felt too starkly modern for these cabinets. Last week, I took a poll on Instagram and the overwhelming winner were these knobs in an ‘antique brass’.

Amerock Allison knobs

I found the knobs at a local hardware store and they’re SUPER reasonable and feel pretty sturdy. I like the simple style and the antiqued brass look but I can’t find pulls I like in the same finish from the same manufacturer. The other option was the same style in polished nickel (though I could only find one knob in polished nickel to use as a sample and it’s in a different style):

Amerock knobs in polished nickel. These cost about $6 more/knob than the brass knob y’all preferred

Right now, I think my plan is unlacquered brass knobs in the same style and unlacquered brass cup pulls to go with them. REALLY wanted bar pulls for the drawers but just can’t find any I love. Unlacquered brass will be shiny in the beginning, but I absolutely love the patina it takes on as it ages and it’s the look I’m really most excited about. Here’s the stove with no knobs, followed by the kitchen we started with earlier this winter to refresh your memory.

Fingers crossed by this time next week, I’ll have all of the doors back on and hopefully knobs. And maybe I’ll have the island and countertops officially on order. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out some of the progress the other One Room Challenge participants have made this week over on the ORC’s blog. Lots of people have had an incredibly productive week!

The decorative piece above the sink is down and I am SO happy about it!

One Room Challenge- The Kitchen

Since moving in nearly five years ago, we’ve slowly updated many of the spaces in our house to bring our little ranch into the 21st century. The one glaring sore spot has been our kitchen. When we bought the house, it looked like this.

Grim, right? So we made a few, relatively easy fixes when we moved in.

That brick soaked up SO much paint but beyond happy we tackled that early on. Walls (which I JUST changed) are SW Sea Salt and bricks are another SW color- something Pearl. I’ll have to look it up. Here’s a view as you walk into the kitchen

This was taken after I updated the cabinet knobs and pulls (they’d previously been wooden with inlaid brass flowers). AND after we were forced to update our range when our old one started heating up even when the oven was turned off. So it’s much improved from what it once was. But still. Very, very sad.

Enter the One Room Challenge. Created by designer Linda Weinstein and sponsored by numerous home decor purveyors and by Better Homes & Gardens, it’s a 6 week challenge for designers (and guest designers like me) to tackle and complete a room or a project. I participated in the fall to motivate myself to finish our master bedroom which I’d been dragging my feet on for actual years. It worked- well, almost. I still need to either find or paint something to hang over our bed- but that’s a post for another day.

Past One Room Challenge designers have created some amazing spaces and I’m excited to follow along on their blog to see what they create this season. As for me, I have big plans for our space.

I’m using the above space I mocked up in the fall as a very loose inspiration for what the kitchen will become. We started painting the cabinets about two months ago since I had a feeling it might take us FOREVER. (It has). I’ve gotten about a million hardware samples and have ALMOST made up my mind about which way to go. So I need to get those ordered and installed. Also, I very aggressively ordered soft close drawer slides to replace our old slides but am having a devil of a time getting them installed. I can get them in, but the closing is anything but soft. That’s on my agenda for this week. As is painting the kitchen ceiling and ordering countertops. Visited the MS International warehouse in Norwood and these two quartzes are the frontrunners:

MSI Calacatta Verona Too veiny? Just right?

MSI Calacutta Clara (excuse the bad lighting) Too blah? Subtly perfect?

So wish me luck! Wish US luck, really- since this is definitely a team effort/scramble! Excited to officially kick things off!