A Tutorial: DIY Barrette Holder

I mentioned in this post after making the headband holder that I also wanted to make a barrette holder for babygirl's barrettes.  I had been using the one below (hung over her closet doorknob) that I had made a few months back.  It was functional, but it was a little flimsy looking, and I had an idea in mind about how to upgrade it.

I was thinking of using a picture frame, so I've been on the hunt for one at Goodwill, with no luck.  Then I was in my closet the other night and found this item below:

I had been hanging onto it for a few years to use to hang my necklaces from, but had totally forgotten about it.  It was originally part of a shoe rack that was poorly designed & fell apart.  Hmmm...

First I removed the top row of metal things (no idea what you'd call them!), then I lightly sanded the entire piece with a 220 grit paper just to smooth the area where the screws had been, and remove a bit of the varnish.  Then I found some short dowels (is that what they're called?) leftover from countless Ikea purchases, and hot-glued them into the 3 holes that were left- these would serve to make it stand upright.

At this point the hubs had come home (thanks for helping out with the action shot!) and asked what I was up to.  "Making a barrette holder", I replied.  "Oh cool!", he said.  "Wait, what's a barrette?" LOL.  True story!!

After I glued the three dowels in place, I got to work painting the entire thing in my favorite glossy black acrylic craft paint.  Then I grabbed some thumb tacks and some ribbon from my stash, and got to work.

And here it is all loaded up with barrettes:

And in babygirl's room:

I've got to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this one.  It's serving its purpose, but I'm not totally loving it.  There may be some tweaking in it's future, which by now you might be figuring out is my m.o.!  I'm thinking maybe removing those dowels, installing a picture hanger and hanging it on the wall?  Maybe backing the whole thing in a cute fabric instead of leaving the back open?  Not sure, will keep you posted...