One of the ladies I look after in our aged care home was the inspiration for this jewellery stand.  Every morning once we have dressed her, she likes to pick out some matching jewellery to go with her outfit. But the way she was storing them in plastic cups was causing them to get all tangled up.

Unfortunately, we don’t have time to sit there untangling all her necklaces every morning. So, she ends up wearing the same ones all the time. That was when I thought I would try and make her a jewellery stand for all her treasures.   She would also be able to see all her jewellery at a glance with this jewellery stand, no more empty out cups on the bed to find matching earrings.

How to build a jewellery display stand

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Finding wood

I wanted to make a jewellery stand that had storage at the top for all her rings and earrings. Some hanging space so the necklaces could hang without getting tangled up. And a base for all her bangles and brooches and bits and bobs. My jewellery stand has been made out of all recycled materials to match the theme of my website.  But this tutorial will give you the idea on how to make your own jewellery stand.

I used offcuts from an old corner unit for the base and shelf and a support beam that I think came off an old chair or table.

Cutting the wood

For this project, you need two circles for the shelves 1 x  240 mm in diameter and 1 x 140 x 20 mm thick

I cut my circles out first using a jigsaw going as close to the edges as I can.  Due to weakness in my hands, I don’t have great control using a jigsaw cutting fine detail.  So here is a trick I use for all my circles.

When you cut a circle, the jigsaw has to cross all the different grains in the wood, this can cause them to lift or splinter.   You can see evidence of this in the image below.

Once your circle has been cut out you can use a benchtop sander so sand the wood down using the line as a guide.   This method will give you a nice clean circle. Next, you can sand the wood smooth for the next step.

Router the centre of the wood

It was here I realised that I did not consider the fact that the jewellery could easily fall off this stand. This is where I wished I had used a square design, so I could just add small strips of wood.  But NO, that would be too easy.

To make a lip in the wood I marked out a 1 cm lip on the circle.

I started in the centre of my piece of wood and worked my way out.  That way I always had a surface for the base plate of the wood router to sit on to keep it level. 

I did still have some areas where the router bit into the wood, but it was going to covered so I was not too concerned. I repeated the same process for the top shelf as well.

My router skills or lack of them when you look at the uneven lip were tidied up using a flap wheel sanding disc which I attached to my drill and just smoothed them out a bit. 

I used the orbital sander and a 100 grit sanding disc to smooth out the inside of the circles to make it as level as I could.  But once they were all sanded it was not that obvious. 

I used Dark mahogany stain to stain the wood using a small paintbrush to get into the grooves to hide the imperfections.

I used a piece of brown kraft paper to line the trays and used the end of the paintbrush to make a groove in the kraft paper so I had a template to use to cut the felt.

You can now use the paper templates to cut your felt to line the bases.

Making the post

The old post was a much darker colour and I did not fancy my chances of sanding all those grooves, so I used paint stripper instead.  I covered the pole in paint stripper and once it started to lift I used a hard scrubbing brush and warm soapy water to scrub the old varnish and stain off.

I stained the pole dark mahogany and used spray polyurethane which is easier on a spiral piece of wood like this. Alternatively, you can just use a piece of wood dowel.  

Fitting the post

I found the centre of my circle and drilled a hole for the post to sit in.  Because I make my projects up as I go along, it was at this stage I went to myself.  How do I attach the pole?. If I drilled out the underneath for the nut when weight is added to the top the wood could split.

 

To fix this I drilled a hole slightly smaller than the nut I was going to use (I picked a bigger nut so there was more support). I lined the hole with epoxy glue and hit the nut into the hole with a hammer and let the glue dry. In hindsight, I should have used a thicker piece of wood or not routered out a section of the wood under the pole, so the pole went deeper into the wood.

You can add some small hooks for the necklaces to hang on.

 I cut a section off the top of the pole for the top shelf.  I cut another bolt and used that to attach the top shelf to the pole. 

An old doorknob was used on the top to make it look nicer. I was a bit of a mission to make this because I did not plan it out properly before I started but it turned out nice in the end.

More jewellery storage ideas

Old book repurposed into a jewellery box

Old shoes repurposed into ring holders

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