Found Driftwood Turned Into Jewelry Organizer

While working on Cami's room makeover I came up with a fun way to organize her jewelry.

A couple times a week I meet up with a foursome of my girlfriends for our weekly beach volleyball workout.  I found this cool piece of driftwood at the beach near our court.  Actually my friend Cheri found it and didn't want it, so I took it home.  One of the benefits of high tide is you never know what the surf will bring in?  The bad news is we have to clean the seaweed off our court before we can play.  It's all part of the workout. 

I cleaned this really well and left it out in the sun to dry.  I didn't want any possibility of bringing a smelly(dead) minuscule sea creature into the house.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at the time, but I was in the middle of Cami's room makeover so I had horses on my brain.  So far for the room I have found a bamboo chair, a dresser, I painted, refinished the concrete floors, made a light fixture, and added some horse wall art.

I thought the driftwood might look cool as a wall hanging? 

 Maybe with hooks on it for Cami's purses, or scarves, or jewelry? 

I can't tell you how many times I have had to untie knots out of jewelry chains for my girls.  Hooks seemed to predictable so I came up with another idea.

Plastic horses for my horse loving girl. 

 I found the horses in a package at a toy store.

I started by spray painting them white.

I wasn't sure at the time if this would hang horizontally or vertically?  It works both ways.  I drilled screws into the back of the driftwood so they extended through the front about a half inch.  Stagger the screws so the jewelry won't over lap the one hanging below it.

Here is the back of the driftwood. 

Then I drilled a small hole into the back of the plastic horses about half way in and twisted them onto the screw poking through the front. 
Shish Kabob Horse.

(sorry horsies)

At this point I thought it was done? 

I loved how it turned out, but it was a little too rustic for Cami's room. 

The little white horses were hard to see on the driftwood.

Trial and error is a big part of my DIY projects.  I took it apart and spray painted the wood white and the horses bright orange.  I added a picture hanger to the back.

I like the texture and the functionality it brings into the room, plus it was almost free. 

Now Cami has a unique jewelry organizer.

No more knotted chains for me to untangle and she loves the horses.

If I had boys I would use trucks or dinosaurs.

Thanks for checking it out.

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Family Art

   I have many objects in my house that our pieces of history from my family.  I recently framed some watercolors and displayed them in my family room.  I've had them for some time. One was painted by my Father-In-Law and the other three where painted by my Grandmother.

This is a landscape my Father-In-Law painted.  I asked if I could have it last time we were visiting.  My daughter has had it pinned on her bulletin board.  I framed it and placed it on my desk in the family room. 
I love the colors.

The next three were painted by my Grandmother.  This one is of a fountain.  She lived in Columbia, New York, California, Japan, Illinois, and Hawaii so I don't know when or where this picture was painted?

     This one says "Amalfi Coast" on the back of it. 

I don't know if she traveled to Italy or she painted it from a picture?

This one is dated 1933.  She was born in 1916 she would have been 17 years old when she painted it. 

I always tell my kids to sign and date their art work.
You never know who might cherish your creations later?

 

       I placed my Grandmother's painting over this little chair that belonged to her.  It used to be in the waiting room of my Great, Great Grandfather's office.  He was a doctor.  It later occupied one of the bedrooms in my Great Grandmother's house.  The room had a sloped roof so the legs were cut off to compensate for the lack of head room.

Here they are together.

I have been playing with the fireplace mantle display.  I've never had a mantle before so decorating one is new to me.

These pictures hang next to one of my paintings I did over the fireplace.

Do you have family art displayed in your home?

Thanks for checking in.