One day while shopping at Ross with the Lil/Big Sis, Ulise, we stumbled across a wall organizer. It had no knobs, was an unattractive color, no price listed, and I was drawn to it. I thought maybe with all the issues it had Ross should sell it for $5.  When we got it to the register the cashier requested a manager who quoted a price of $12. He was very clear that normally a piece like this may cost around for $40. So Lil/Big Sis had to talk me into buying it… I have a $5 threshold when it comes down to certain things.

So this lovely monstrosity sat in my living room doing absolutely nothing for a few months. I would randomly stare at it knowing that it had some use. It would be a useful thing of beauty, but I didn’t know what it would become. While recuperating from my surgery it came to me that it needed to be painted a beautiful shade of yellow and the cork board would become a flower wall (thanks YouTube). So this is how it went down:

Step 1: Find The Right Color

There are many shades of yellow. Rust-Oleum Lemongrass Yellow spray paint was my first choice at AC Moore. An older gentleman at AC Moore informed me that Wal-Mart sold Rust-Oleum for almost $3 less. After two quick calls to Wal-Mart and Home Depot, neither had the color. Still determined, I decided to check at Wal-Mart to see if they had anything comparable with Lemongrass Yellow. In Wal-Mart’s paint department I met Richard who offered to mix paint samples and he told me I shouldn’t settle for a color I really didn’t want. After one bad batch of Lemongrass that was more green than yellow, I decided to purchase Glidden High Performance Semi-Gloss in Buttercup.

Step 2: Paint the Darn Thing

Who needs to drop cloth when you have an old torn up laundry bag to cover your surface. We, my Bagel and I, painted the organizer and even my shoe cubby.  I set up a paint station outside and we put on two to three coats of paint. Attempt to allow each layer to dry before applying another.

Learning Lesson(s): Make sure to put painter’s tape on the inside of your drawer over the knob hole. It keeps the paint from dripping inside.

Step 3: Be Patient

My Bagel suggested we give the paint 1 – 2 days to fully dry.

Step 4: To Line or Not To Line

Though I didn’t care for the muted grey color all over the organizer; I did like the color inside the drawers. I chose to keep the interior of the drawers the original color and brighten it up by lining the bottom with Contact Quick|Cover in Talisman Gray from Dollar Tree.

FYI:  We did find three out of four of the original knobs inside of a drawer. I purchased this complementary antique brass finish knob to accent their beauty.

Step 5: So Many Flowers

The Dollar Tree Flower Center is the perfect place to find bouquets and bushes of fabric flowers. Choose an array of flowers (roses, daffodils, petunias, etc) that you think will look good together. I spent around $15 and I have enough flowers leftover to do a second project. The number of flowers necessary depends on the size of the project; it is hard to predict how many flowers you will need to fill the space.

Gently pull flowers from the stems and trim any excess material from the bottom of the flower. Be aware cutting the bottom too short can compromise the structure of the flower making it likely to fall apart.

Step 6: Glue, Glue and More Glue
While spinning my Saturday Night Fever album and Live Streaming Instagram, I started gluing the flowers to the cork board with E6000.  This is industrial strength glue takes a while to fully dry, so two heavy books (Old School Bibles) were placed on top of the flower wall. I allowed the glue to dry overnight in my guest room with the window slightly opened and the door closed. 

Learning Lesson(s):  E6000 glue has cancer causing chemicals and the directions suggest using a ventilated space and to not get it on your fingers.

Step 7: Measure and Make It Fit

I knew I wanted to hang the jewelry organizer at the entrance of my room. With my trusty leveler, measuring tape, calculator and pencil I marked and measured the space. Rather than using nails, Monkey Hook from Wal-Mart were used to hang the organizer. 

Step 8: Happy Dance

I introduced my jewelry to its new home and gave it a place to thrive with vibrant colors. I am ecstatic to have beautiful flowers in my bedroom.

Thank you L Boogie, Lil/Big Sis, Richard, and my Bagel for documenting and physically assisting me with this project.

What do you think of our Jewelry Organizer? Let us know in the comments.