A simple tutorial for installing a recessed DIY jewelry cabinet between the studs and creating hidden storage for all of your jewelry!
This post was originally published on May 23, 2018 but has since been updated to include a more thorough tutorial.
If you’re like me, and you have way too many pairs of earrings or loads of necklaces, then having a way to store and hide away your jewelry is critical to the style of your bedroom or bathroom.
In today’s post, I’m sharing with you an easy solution for storing you jewelry out of sight with a DIY hidden jewelry closet.
This small cabinet can be built between the studs with low-cost materials and takes less than an hour to install.
If looking at all your jewelry is driving you crazy, or if you’re tired of digging through piles of jewelry and would like it stored away and nicely organized, then this DIY jewelry cabinet is just what you need!
Before we get to the tutorial, let’s take a look at how our DIY recessed jewelry cabinet turned out in our master bathroom.
We chose to finish the door with white shiplap to match the wall behind it – leading to the “hidden” quality.
Can you spot it in the picture below?
The shiplap lines didn’t get perfectly aligned, but they’re close enough that in person, you don’t even notice the door.
I chose to hang a few pieces of art on the front of the door to make it even less noticeable.
Both the sign and the gold frame are thrift store finds (I’ve linked up similar options) and the black and white photo is one of my favorites from our engagement shoot. I can’t believe those were taken 7 years ago!
Ok, you ready to see all the jewelry that’s hidden in there??
Ta-da!
We added a row of simple hooks along the top for necklaces, a DIY earring holder made out of an old frame and some wire mesh, and small boxes to hold bracelets and rings.
Like I said, I have a lot of earrings… 😉 But what a fun way to keep them organized and out of sight, right??
So, how do you make one yourself? Easy!
DIY Between Studs Jewelry Cabinet
For a printable copy of the materials and instructions, scroll down.
Materials Needed:
- Pre-primed 1×3 Boards (we used one 8′ board)
- 1/4″ plywood (enough to cover the back and front of your closet)
- Caulking
- Paint
- Small Hinges & Screws
- Small Hooks (for necklaces)
- Earring Organizer (mine was DIY’ed with a frame and wire mesh)
- Ring Holders
- Bracelet Boxes
Tools Needed:
- Stud Finder
- Level
- Ruler
- Pen
- Box Knife
- Circular Saw
- Nail Gun & Nails
- Paint Brush
- Screw Driver or Drill
How to Build a Jewelry Cabinet in the Wall
STEP 1: Determine Placement
Your cabinet will need to be installed using two studs as the outer frame, so start by using a stud-finder to locate and mark the studs in the wall where you’re planning to install it.
Choose two of the studs as your “outside frame” for the cabinet (you can skip studs to make it wider – we skipped one and went with two studs that were about 32″ apart) and draw with a pencil where you want the finished cabinet to be on the wall.
STEP 2: Create the Recess in the Wall
Next, use a box knife to carefully cut away the sheetrock from the section you’ve marked.
If there’s any electrical wires running through this section, you’ll need to consider rerouting it or consult an electrician about how to move it.
You could also choose to make your closet slightly less deep and see about leaving the wires behind the cabinet (between the back and the sheetrock on the other side.)
We purposely chose a section of wall where wires weren’t located to avoid this issue. Had we gone any lower, we would have run into the wires for the light switch, so we chose to keep it only above the switch to not have to deal with electrical.
Your next step is to carefully remove any studs between your two outer frame studs using a circular saw. Make sure you don’t cut the sheetrock on the other side of the wall with your saw while you’re doing this!
You should now be left with an empty recess between two studs, ready for your jewelry cabinet box to be installed!
STEP 3: Build and Install the Box
Next, measure the size of your recess and build a box to fit nicely in that opening.
Nail together 1×3 boards to create a frame (if your home has typical 1×4 studs, these boards are already the right size to fit inside that cavity – you may have a deeper wall, in which case you could increase the depth of your box to using 1x4s or 1x5s) and then nail 1/4″ plywood to the back of your frame.
Place the box you’ve built into the recess in the wall and nail it into the two outer studs to keep it in place.
Here’s how ours looked after installing the box.
STEP 4: Build a Door
After the box is installed, it’s time to build a door for your cabinet! This can be done in a few different ways, depending on what you’re wanting for the finished look.
I wanted mine to be hidden in the shiplap, so we chose to make the door out of 1/4″ plywood and then cover it with the same shiplap used on the surrounding wall.
You could do a shaker-style door with 1/4″ plywood back and 1×3 frame on top.
You could do a simple, 1/4″ wood door painted the same color as your surrounding wall to create a similar “hidden” look.
The choice is yours!
Once you’ve built the door, attach it to the wall using your small hinges.
STEP 5: Caulk and Paint
The next step to finishing off your your DIY jewelry wall cabinet is to caulk the seam between the box and the wall and then paint everything.
Like I mentioned, we were going for a hidden look, so we painted all of it white, including the hinges and hung some artwork on the front using Command strips.
If you wanted it to stand out as a fun, stylish cabinet, you could paint it an accent color or the color of your cabinets.
STEP 6: Install Jewelry Organizers
Once the door is attached and everything is painted, finish it off with some simple hooks along the top, an earring frame, and some bracelet and ring organizers along the bottom.
SHOP ORGANIZERS ON AMAZON:
I am thrilled to have a space that not only hides my massive jewelry collection but keeps it organized and in an easy-to-reach spot when getting ready each morning.
As promised, here are the printable instructions:
DIY Jewelry Cabinet
Hide all your jewelry between the studs with this simple DIY recessed jewelry cabinet!
Materials
Tools
Instructions
- Mark the studs on the wall where you want to install your cabinet. Choose two studs to use as your outer frames and draw on the wall where your box will be installed.
- Use a box knife to cut away the sheetrock from the section you marked and use a circular saw to cut away any studs between your two outer frame studs.
- Build a box to sit in that recess out of 1x3s and a 1/4" plywood back.
- Place the box into the wall cavity and nail it to the outer frame studs.
- Build a door for the cabinet out of 1/4" plywood and screw it into place using small hinges.
- Caulk the seam between the box and the wall and then paint everything.
- Install jewelry organizers like hooks for necklaces, a frame for earrings and boxes for rings and bracelets.
Notes
If you don't want this to be jewelry cabinet to be hidden, add shaker-style trim to the door and paint it the same color as your trim or bathroom vanity.
As always, let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to hear how your DIY jewelry storage cabinet turns out!
Very interesting
Darlene, that’s a good question! You could get one of the pre-made post holders and just hang it in your hidden jewelry closet, or I’ve seen the idea of hanging ribbon and putting the post earrings through it. 🙂
I’m planning something like that for my jewelry. I have a jewelry armoire now but it takes up floor space. I only wear earrings with posts so I haven’t figured out how to store the earrings. I also have lots of pins that I need to figure out storage for them.
This turned out beautifully! And, it is huge! lol The jewelry cupboard was a great idea, congrats!