Tangled up in beads

September 21, 2010 4:16 AM

My necklaces are currently in a drawer, getting tangled up and forgotten. Any ideas on how to sort them out? NB I can't hang anything up on the wall.

A while ago, I saw something by an etsy seller that was like a coathanger with several hooks attached - if anyone knows of anything like this, this would be perfect! Otherwise, open to great ideas that are available/shippable to the UK!

posted by mippy to Home & Garden (32 answers total)

Ziploc bags work for cables which get tangled up and forgotten. Don't know if that's too ugly a solution for necklaces...
posted by pompomtom at 4:17 AM on September 21, 2010

Why can't you hang things on the wall? If it's an issue with not leaving marks then command hooks are great. Doesn't work so well with cats though.

I just did a quick search for necklace tree on Google and got this. Maybe something there would work.
posted by theichibun at 4:23 AM on September 21, 2010

I have a corkboard leaned against a wall, with the necklaces hanging off pins in the board,
posted by Trivia Newton John at 4:25 AM on September 21, 2010

There are lots of jewelry stands out there. That said, I am currently using a pants hanger in my closet.
posted by lizbunny at 4:29 AM on September 21, 2010

I've used an over the door hook like this for years with great success. I'm even able to put it on the inside of the door, so that my necklaces are out of view when the door is shut.
posted by kimdog at 4:31 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

I take a large, flat chocolate box and some DL envelopes. On the front of each envelope, I write a description of the necklace inside, and on the bottom right hand corner I list the main colours. Then I sort them by colour. To keep the chocolate box closed, I put a large elastic headband around it.

Ziploc bags would probably work better for most people.
posted by tel3path at 4:37 AM on September 21, 2010

Mine are also hanging off pins on a corkboard, which before I got round to putting up hooks was propped on a table so the longer necklaces could hang over the edge. String a line or two of cotton between two pins, and you can hang earrings on it too.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 5:02 AM on September 21, 2010 [2 favorites]

I use zip lock bags. The snack size is good for most chains. I use the zip lock bags because it allows me to see the necklace and the necklaces don't tarnish. Since most of my jewelry is silver, this saves me lots of cleaning time and effort.
posted by onhazier at 5:35 AM on September 21, 2010

I use a belt hanger most of the time. When I'm feeling industrious, I hang the necklace around the neck of the hanger that's holding the outfit that matches the necklace.

What a horrible-sounding sentence. Come & get me, Grammar Police!
posted by dogmom at 5:56 AM on September 21, 2010

Response by poster: I did have a google and:

- many of the necklace trees I saw have tacky frou-frou on, but I'll investigate further
- ziploc bags aren't what I'm after - I want something I can hang them up on so I can see them easily
- I rent, so nothing can be banged into the wall.
posted by mippy at 6:04 AM on September 21, 2010

Response by poster: Belt hanger! Those look JUST like the one I saw on Etsy. I've never seen those in shops over here, though.
posted by mippy at 6:05 AM on September 21, 2010

Response by poster: As I thought - these are what are sold as belt hangers over here.
posted by mippy at 6:07 AM on September 21, 2010

I prefer to hang my necklaces as well (I have a jewelry armoire) but if you ever just want to keep them from getting tangled in a drawer, thread each chain through 1/2 a plastic drinking straw. (I do this when traveling.)
posted by JoanArkham at 6:20 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

When I was living in an apartment, I hung my necklaces on the towel bar in the bathroom. That way they were always visible, easily accessed, and never got tangled. It's a free solution (if you have a towel bar) that will work until you find something more to your liking at the least.
posted by radioaction at 6:24 AM on September 21, 2010

Could you make a belt hanger (US style)? Get a sturdy wooden A-frame clothes hanger and screw some hooks from Wilko's onto it. Or glue them, I guess, depending on how heavy your necklaces are?

Or if you want a really low-fi solution, you could just hammer a bunch of nails into the bottom of the hanger and hang necklaces off those. Won't look amazing but will do the same job!
posted by citands at 6:25 AM on September 21, 2010

One of these days, I'm going to do this: prop a cork board up on my dresser next to the mirror, stick pretty pins in it, and hang my necklaces up.
posted by motsque at 6:41 AM on September 21, 2010

A cork board, put some pins on it, voila! Cheap, easy, and you can store it behind stuff. Also, you can put earrings and other small items in little bitty ziploks and pin them up as well.
posted by Neekee at 7:23 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

what i did for this was: i got some foam core, then glued some pretty paper to it, then put that in an old picture frame, and screwed hooks into the foam core. then hung on the wall. very pretty! however, nothing can hang on the wall, eh? my other idea when i was tackling this conundrum was to get a cool branch with lots of little twiggy outcroppings, glue that to a base, and hang my necklaces all over it. i never did find the right branch, though. antlers would be cool for that too.
posted by apostrophe at 7:28 AM on September 21, 2010

Sticky-tack really works wonders in a rental situation. I'm talking about the usually blue or yellow stuff that almost looks like chewing gum that you knead to make sticky and then apply it to your surface for 15-30 seconds of pressure for maximum stickage. It comes off painted surfaces like a charm if they have the tiniest bit of gloss to them, but stays put far better than one would expect. It will also hold hooks with plenty of necklaces, as long as none of them are 5 pound statement pieces. You can also use sticky-tack instead of nails for hanging pictures on the walls and such. It's been a lifesaver for me in my apartment years.

I like the cork board suggestion, too. You could get a piece of cork that fits nicely in your drawer and just drape your necklaces around pins in the board, but keep it hidden away instead of on the wall. Or, use sticky-tack! Anyway if you can't find a cork board that's the right size, you can buy cork tile in a big-box home improvement store, and cut it down to size with a utility knife. Cork can be painted, or it can be wrapped in fabric if you want to be fancy.

Other than belt hangers, by the way, you've also got tie hangers, which are usually a slightly different, and maybe more necklace-friendly, configuration.
posted by Mizu at 7:32 AM on September 21, 2010

If you don't like the necklace trees you've seen, maybe you could make yourself one. Here's an instructable on one kind of tree, and here's another. Both of those are intended to be decorative, not useful, but I imagine that you could alter their designs to make one that's useful and that looks the way you want it to.
posted by galadriel at 7:43 AM on September 21, 2010

What about something like this? Sort of like a coat stand, but smaller.
posted by zoetrope at 7:46 AM on September 21, 2010

Can you put pushpins in the wall? If so, do that. Necklaces look gorgeous that way. Hang an empty gilt frame around them. A empty lightweight frame can hang from a couple pushpins.
posted by Elsie at 7:47 AM on September 21, 2010

I don't like the fluffy sparkly necklace trees either, so I use a plain old mug tree :)
posted by greenish at 8:25 AM on September 21, 2010

Just get a plain wooden hanger and add as many cup hooks as you like to achieve maximum hanging capabilities. You could use nails or screws instead of hooks, even. Hang the hanger in your closet and pull it out when you need a necklace, or hang it on the knob of your closet door.
posted by iconomy at 8:41 AM on September 21, 2010

I like my jewellery in my dresser drawers, and ice cube trays hold necklaces/earrings/cuff links/bracelets/anything-else-fiddly-but-pretty nicely, are cheeeeeap, and can be spray painted any color you want! It's a solution that's stackable AND lets you view all your jewellery at once.

Chunkier jewellery that doesn't fit in ice cube slots go in old crystal mini ashtrays commonly found at thrift stores (and wash up to a gorgeous sparkle).

I have a friend who hangs her jewellery off a corkboard she covered in velvet, lace and ribbons to get a more classy, boudoir look going. Lovely too.
posted by shazzam! at 8:45 AM on September 21, 2010

I had the same problem as you and spent a fortune on various jewelry rack / trees that took up too much space and looked more disorganized than organized.

And then I was at the dollah store and saw a tie hanger like this one and problem solved. I can fit a ton of different bracelets and necklaces on just one hanger, nothing gets tangled and everything is in plain view.

I hang mine up on the wall using a small nail which doesn't ruin the wall, but you could also hang it in your closet.

I loves me dollah store bargains.
posted by HeyAllie at 8:55 AM on September 21, 2010

I just made a jewelry rack yesterday! I got some screen at the hardware store cut to size, and tacked it into the back piece of my built-in shelves. If you get it cut/folded to a pretty tight size, you won't need to even nail it in - the friction of the screen wire on the shelves will do a lot. Then just get some itty bitty S-hooks to hook to your necklaces, rings, bangles etc. to the screen. Hook earrings can just be hooked directly in. The screen was about $2.50 at the hardware store, cut to size.

I love it - I can actually see everything now, my beaded necklaces will hopefully stop getting tangled and break. I also like the little bit more edgy look of the wire screen, rather than the frou frou optoins I saw online. I do need to come up with a way to include my post earrings into this display.
posted by foodmapper at 8:58 AM on September 21, 2010

My homebrew solution to this issue was a bamboo placemat, available for cheap pretty much anywhere. Some twine tied to the "top" (meaning the short end) loops over a hook already in my closet (you could also hang it from one of those hooks that fits over the top of the door). Mangled paper clips hook between the slats, and the necklaces hook on to the mangled paper clips. Bonus: you can hook earrings between the slats as well, so all your jewelry is in one place.
posted by somanyamys at 9:30 AM on September 21, 2010

I use a canvas jewellery organiser like this, it has 80 pockets and can hang in the wardrobe, I have a hook on the back of my bedroom door that I hang it on so I can see it all easily.
posted by ellieBOA at 11:35 AM on September 21, 2010

I use a craft paper organizer, that I found at Costco, it has about 15 shallow drawers. it is easy to organize all kinds of jewelry, laying them out in the drawers. It is very light weight, maybe 40" tall. cost less than $30.
posted by jennstra at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2010

I have ordered jewelry hangers from fetpak.com and they work great.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:45 PM on September 21, 2010

I asked a friend who makes jewelry what she does and she replaced all of her clasps with magnetic clasps and keeps her necklaces and bracelets on the fridge.
posted by dogmom at 2:08 PM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]