Displaying jewellery

I’ve got quite a large collection of jewellery, and I have a number of jewellery boxes to keep it in, but I was finding that I couldn’t remember what I’d got and, consequently, I tended to wear the same few pieces over and over again.


In a few of the magazines that I read, I have seen various examples of the way different people display their jewellery, including using hooks, mirrors and picture frames etc. And I thought by doing something similar I’d be killing two birds with one stone, I would not only be able to see what jewellery I actually owned, but also create a great display.

Necklaces
For displaying these, I bought a lovely glass-topped triple hook in amethyst and matching door knobs that I’d seen in the Graham and Green catalogue. The hook went on the wall and the door knobs onto the front of a glass cabinet, both in our bedroom. I use them both to display my longer and chunkier necklaces.

Last Christmas I was given a Laura Ashley table mirror as a present, and I now use this to drape my finer, shorter necklaces, including an aurora borealis one I inherited from my grandmother.

Bracelets
I borrowed another idea I’d seen, using pressed-glass cake stands, for my bracelets. I’ve got two, both generously donated by my mother, one that is flat and the other more bowl shaped with a crinkly edge (this one was also my grandmother’s). The flat-topped one I use for my chunkier bracelets that can stand up on their own, including a lovely red kitsch one I’ve recently bought from Primark.

I use the other on from my more delicate and drapey bracelets as I can hang this over the edge, using the crinkles to stop them falling off.

Rings
I use an old-fashioned idea for these, a pressed-glass ring tray with the sticky-up bit in the middle to slot your rings on. These are easy to get from Ebay or charity shops, mine only cost 75p.

Ear-rings
Again, I use a conventional way of storing ear-rings, my jewellery boxes! As everything else is now visible, I’m wearing different jewellery every day, and if you put on a necklace or a bracelet you have to have ear-rings that go with it. The only problem I have now is that I can’t always remember which ear-rings are in which jewellery box!

Brooches
I'm steadily building up a collection of brooches. I find them on Ebay or in charity shops and as well as using them pinned to jackets etc I also add them to handbags when I go out etc. Again as I like to see what I've got, I display these on a brooch cushion.  I made mine using cream silk and embroidered it with flowers.

None of my jewels are hugely expensive, but displaying them as well as wearing gives me twice the pleasure.

Louise XX