Reduce, Reuse, Redecorate: Vintage Doorknob Jewelry Holder

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Vintage doorknobs make beautiful jewelry holders. They used to be a dime a dozen (literally), so with a little bit of searching, you should be able to find just the vintage style to suit you (if not, decoupage pictures of the Avengers on them!).

Doorknobs are gentler on hanging necklaces than, say, a hook driven into the wall, but there are still pieces of jewelry that shouldn’t be stored hanging. Be a responsible jewelry owner to your nice pieces, but for your sturdy, awesome, cheaper pieces (and that describes pretty much all of MY stuff)–try these doorknob jewelry holders, and store your pieces out where you can see and enjoy them!

You will need:

Putting these doorknobs straight onto the wall is a possibility–I attached my doorknobs straight to my comic book wall, and I love the way they look. If you’re less into gluing things to your house than I apparently am, however, just attach the doorknobs to a nice wooden plaque, vintage serving tray, or anything else that you can then hang on your wall.

The only thing that you should need to attach your doorknobs to their surface is a tube of really strong epoxy glue. Even if your doorknob is made of metal, the glue should still be able to hold it–doorknobs aren’t THAT big!–but you can easily find the specs of your particular glue online to double-check the poundage that it will hold, if you’re nervous.

If you’re attaching your doorknobs to a plaque or tray, you’re made in the shade, but if you’re attaching your doorknobs straight to the wall, get ready for a nice arm workout, since you’ll want to hold each doorknob in place for about a minute until the glue sets enough to support it while it cures. As I was doing this project, I had one doorknob that just would not stick to the wall, but only one. But because I’m stubborn, because it was late at night and I was crazy, and possibly because I might have been a little high from glue fumes, I insisted with that darn doorknob, and just held it to the stinkin’ wall until it took. Upon looking at it the next day with a clearer head, I saw that it was situated just over the spot where there was a bubble under my comic book wallpaper, and the whole thing caused it to have too much give. Fortunately, walls don’t generally have give like that, so you should be fine.

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Kiddo doorknob mounting in progress–yes, I also let the kids glue stuff to their walls, as this kid-decorated, kid-cut, and kid glued cardinal direction sign attests. Their bedroom window faces east!

To save money, I padded out my collection of vintage doorknobs with plain wooden doorknobs, half of which I dyed red with liquid watercolors to match my bedroom (I know, right? Red bedroom=sexy, *especially* with the comic book wallpaper). They’re super light and therefore even easier to attach to the wall. In fact, I dyed another set of these doorknobs in rainbow colors and mounted them in my kiddos’ room for their jewelry.

I really like being able to see most of my bracelets and necklaces all at once–it’s inspired me to wear my jewelry more often, and especially to choose pieces that I’d been neglecting. Of course, being able to see all my jewelry has also caused me to see that some of those pieces are badly in need of updating…

Jewelry refashioning projects, here I come!

3 thoughts on “Reduce, Reuse, Redecorate: Vintage Doorknob Jewelry Holder”

  1. What a fun idea! Since moving to this smaller house, I have yet to get my jewelry back up on the wall. This just might motivate me to do it (though I won’t be gluing right to the wall).

    E6000 kinda makes me nervous with all the precautions on the tube. Have you had any problems with it?

    1. Like lung problems? No, not unless you count the fact that I’m pretty sure it gets me stoned when I use it. I wouldn’t use E6000 on a “natural” project in which you’re trying to use eco-friendly materials, or want something that a kid can put in its mouth, but for a recycling project, where you mostly trying to keep things like old doorknobs and ripped comic books from the waste stream, I say why not?

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