Headband and Bow Organizer

Five girls (including me)= A LOT of hair things.

Do any of you have a drawer like this full of headbands and other various hair things?  Well each of my girls has one.  It stresses me out every time I open the drawer.  I have tried many different types of organizational things but, they all end up back in this drawer.   A while back I came up with an idea that has helped us solve both our headband and clip dilemma.

 I have an old shutter obsession.  I have collected few over the years and have used them for various things around my house.  I realized one day that I could put my shutters to use with our hair things.  

The slats are PERFECT for displaying and holding headbands all I needed to do was add something at the bottom to display hair clips and bows.

Would you like to learn how you can make your own????

First you need to find some wood shutters.  My husband and I have found them at the Habitat Re-store.  I bought this shutter for $1 last month. 

So here is where I will strongly encourage you to check out your local Re-store before doing ANY home improvement projects.  You will find so many deals it will blow your mind!  If your local one doesn't have anything useful check out any neighboring towns to see if they have anything you would need.  We always stop at the Re-store when we travel.  We have saved hundreds of dollars on paint, light fixtures, wood, old windows, furniture, knobs, doors, drywall, insulation, solid oak molding, chairs---you name it we have found it there!  You just might have to look around a bit.

 Okay there I am off my soap box.:)

Now back to the project:

 Now after you have your shutters you are most likely going to have to scrub them up.  You will have to scrub them a lot.  I actually ended up taking mine inside to finish scrubbing with some hot water and a wire scrub brush.

  Then cut off 14" off of each end of the shutter.

 Here is what they looked like after cutting them.  I didn't sand them at this point because I planned to sand them after I painted. 

 Now pick your spray paint colors.  I did 3 different colors for our different rooms. I have spray painted a lot over the years.  I have a preference of spray paint and that is Valspar which you can find at Lowes.  It is a little more expensive but, it sprays on so nicely and I have to apply fewer coats.  Krylon is also a nice brand but, in my experience I always have to apply an extra coat compared to Valspar.  

For this project I did a total of 3 layers of paint (4 with the Krylon brand).  Always allow each layer of paint to dry before applying another coat.

 

Here they are after my paint was done drying.

 Now on to sanding.  I like to rough up my paint a bit.  I don't have a certain technique that I use.  I just sand by hand until I get the look and the texture I want for each project. Since the base of the shutters is black I just sanded lightly until I reached that layer.  I wanted the black to pop through.  Definitely sand until you get the look you want.

 A closer look at my sanding.

 Then I picked my ribbon color.  I used a 7/8" thick grosgrain ribbon.  I would recommend using a sturdy ribbon so it can hold all of your bows and clips.

I cut 5 pieces of  ribbon to be 14" long.  I wanted to end up with about a foot of hanging ribbon.  I then singed or sealed the end of the ribbon by burning the tip of it with a lighter.  Then I thread it through the bottom slat.

 Then apply your adhesive-I used hot glue.  After applying the glue press the glue side to the under side of the long piece of ribbon.  Repeat that 5 times or as many ribbons you have to attach.

 Then I threaded a large yarn needle with the grosgrain ribbon.  This will be used to thread through the top holes of the shutter.   My shutters already had holes drilled in the top and the bottom so it made it easy thread the ribbon through.  The ribbon on top will be used to hang your shutter once you are done.  So measure your desired length---mine was about a foot long (I trimmed a little off once I got it on my wall so it didn't hang so low).  Make sure you tie knots to secure the ribbon like pictured below.

 There you have it!  Doesn't that look nice and organized?  I love how it displays everything in plain sight--easy to find.

Now as I give my sigh of relief that all our hair things are nicely and neatly organized I  realize I space for a few more headbands.  I think I will get to making a few more for my girly girls....

-Julia