If you heard the stories my husband could tell from our courtship, you would laugh and I would turn red. I'm lucky he's so patient; I really put him through the wringer. Not only is he patient, but he's very generous, AND he has good taste in jewelry. When we were dating, my husband gave me a gorgeous cameo for my birthday, sapphire earrings and a necklace for Valentine's day, and a really, really amazing engagement ring--all of which he picked out himself without help. On our honeymoon, he bought me a pearl necklace. On our first annivesary, he bought me some pearl earrings. Another birthday brought me a pair of emerald earrings set in white gold filigree, and another brought me a pair of smoky quartz. My favorite piece of jewelry from my husband is a Lisa Leonard necklace with the names of our children stamped in slender silver rectangles that he gave me two days before our second daughter was born.
But enough bragging! As you can imagine, I have a lot of jewelry, and only one small, over-burdened jewelry box in which to keep it. After the holidays, I decided that one of my first projects of the new year would be a framed piece of pegboard on which I could hang necklaces, bracelets, and dangley earring. It has taken a few months of trial and error, but it is finally done! My Valentine's Day gift this year was a lovely, distressed gold 22x22" picture frame. It was absolutely perfect when I got it, so it didn't need any modifications. The pegboard was another story. I didn't want the bare particle board, but I tried painting it white and that looked awful too. I ended up spraying the rough side with a turquoise spray paint, and then whitewashing it after it dried. I just took some old, white interior paint, watered it down a lot, applied it with a cheap sponge brush, and then gently rubbed it off with a rag. All of the earrings on wires go directly in the holes, and the necklaces and bracelets will go on pretty hooks (if and when I find them). For now, the necklaces are hanging off of wooden pegs that I painted "Metallic Champagne." Now my jewelry box can breathe again, and I finally have something hanging on that wall!
