REVIEW – If you travel, you probably collect souvenirs. You know – those things that remind you of where you’ve been, and collect dust as they sit on your bookcase, cabinet, or curio table. We travel but my wife hates clutter as well as dusting. Therefore, typical travel knickknacks like figurines, magnets, and such don’t work for us. The solution has become jewelry – earrings, rings, bracelets, pendants, and necklaces. She usually looks for something unusual that is unique to the area. This comes with its own set of issues, like where to store it all so it is visible and accessible. When the offer came in to review the SONGMICS Lockable Wall or Door Mounted Jewelry Armoire Organizer with Mirror, it sounded exactly like the solution we were looking for.
What is it?
This is a jewelry armoire or cabinet with dedicated storage spaces for earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, and pendants. It has interior LED illumination, is lockable, and can be mounted over a door or directly on a wall. It also has a large mirror so you can see how amazing you look in the jewelry you just selected.
What’s included?
- Jewelry armoire with mirror
- User manual
- Door hangers (x2)
- Door hanger mounting screws (x4 but one was missing, so 3)
- Drywall mounts with screws (x2)
- Mounting template
- Adhesive bumper pads (x2)
- Keys (x2 – but I got 3)
Tech specs
Click to expand
Dimensions: 3.9″D x 14.6″W x 47.2″H
Weight: 20.5 lb
Material: MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), Velvet, Glass
Mounting options: Ocer-door hangers or wall-mounted
Lighting: Six LEDs powered by three AAA batteries (not included)
Capacity: Ring slots – 84; Earring slots – 90; Earring stud holes – 24; Necklace hooks – 32; Storage trays – 5 (2 x full width, 1 x two tray, 1 x three tray, 1 x four tray); Bracelet rod: 1 double-sided
Design and features
Basically, the SONGMICS armoire is a big wooden box. It is nicely finished with a woodgrain veneer over fiberboard. You can see the glass mirror on the front of the door with its thick wood frame.
The left side holds the four hinges for the door.
The right side has a key lock and a notch for opening the door. The lock is fairly secure but it is more for keeping prying eyes and fingers out than preventing theft, especially since you can lift it off the wall.
Looking at the back, up at the top, you can see the four small holes for mounting the door hangers. The nut is installed in the hole so you need just the four mounting bolts. Unfortunately, I only got three. Below that, you can see the two wall-mount notched brackets.
Opening the door, you can see the comprehensive jewelry holders on the door and in the main cabinet. You can also see the six LEDs illuminated along the top of the inside of the cabinet.
Those lights are controlled by a pressure switch that activates when you open the door. You can also shut off the lights completely by turning off the switch near the battery compartment on the top of the cabinet.
Let’s look more closely at the jewelry holders, starting inside the cabinet. There is a foam insert at the top with slits in it. This pad can hold up to 84 rings.
Each ring will slide into these slits.
Right below the ring storage, we see a dozen necklace hooks and a pouch to corral longer necklaces. The back is lined with velvet to protect everything.
Below that, we see the first of several trays. This one is divided in the middle.
Continuing down, we see two more trays divided into three and four compartments.
There are two more trays below that. These are undivided.
Finally, there are two slide-out boxes at the bottom of the nearly four feet of storage,
They just sit in the space and pull completely out. They fit tightly and sometimes need a little jiggle if you don’t pull them straight out. That is a minor complaint.
Next, let’s check out the storage on the door.
The earring storage is mounted at the top of the door. Each of the four rows has 15 slots for earring wires and eight small holes for earring posts. Note that I said 15 slots. Earrings generally come in pairs and unless the earrings are quite small, only one earring can fit in each slot. That means each row can hold 7.5 pairs. Weird. The post holes are another issue. There isn’t a lot of room behind the cross piece. Unless you have tiny hands, it is nearly impossible to reach behind and push an earring back onto the post. Taking it off is even harder.
The spacing between rows also precludes hanging long earrings without them hanging over the next row or needing to be tucked behind the lower row. A layer of black velvet is mounted on the back to protect everything.
A two-sided bracelet bar is mounted below the earring area. Bracelets are slipped over each end and left to dangle. I guess those could be dangling bangles.
Rounding out the door storage are two sets of 12 necklace hooks with velvet mounted on the door. Sorry about the fuzzy focus – my camera was struggling with so little to focus on.
I think the SONGMICS Wall or Door Mounted Jewelry Armoire looks very nice mounted on the wall.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The armoire arrives fully assembled. I had to install three AAA batteries in the battery compartment on the top of the cabinet.
If you plan to mount the cabinet over a door, you need to attach the door hangers with the four included screws. Unfortunately, they only included three, forcing my hand for wall-mounting. To mount the cabinet, figure out where to mount it and then use the included template to determine where to drill the mounting holes. We wanted the bottom of the cabinet to align with the bottom of the window. I mounted the templet based on the height of the mounting holes on the cabinet.
After drilling the holes, I pounded in the drywall mounts and drove in the screws, leaving 5mm exposed.
Next, I attached the two bumper pads to the back of the cabinet.
I slid the mounts over the screws and we were good to go.
Performance
All this storage needs some content!
I turned my lovely wife loose and here is the result.
Here is a closer look at the earring storage.
You can see how some of the longer earrings don’t fit between rows. She wants to organize by color so that precludes moving longer earrings to the bottom row. She was unable to use the post holes as it is just too hard to put a back on the earring, especially when trying to reach around other earrings from the row above. She did slip an earring back on longer posts and slip them in a slot. She was also able to slip a wire into a post hole. Still, it’s odd to have 15 slots rather than 16 or 14 on each row.
I’m considering unscrewing the whole thing, mounting hinges on the left side and magnets on the right. This would allow her to “open” the earring bracket completely and access both sides.
She placed several bracelets on the bracelet bar.
She decided the necklace hooks on the door would serve better as pendant hooks. I think it works!
She inserted a bunch of rings in the wrong holder. The rings slide in and out easily and are held securely.
These necklace hooks have their namesake necklaces.
She is using the shelves for other bracelets, pendants, and odds and ends. She is still determining what might go in the drawers at the bottom.
One other minor complaint is that the door seems to want to swing closed all the time. It would be nice if it just stayed open. That would make it easier to peruse the contents and make a selection. Instead, she has to hold the door open. I checked using an old-school bubble level and a high-tech digital level and confirmed that the cabinet is level. On the upside, when the door closes, it turns out the light so there’s that.
Finally, having another mirror available is a nice addition to our room. The glass mirror looks great and is large enough to use for a full-length view.
What I like about the SONGMICS jewelry armoire
- It looks good
- The capacity is terrific
- The LED lighting does a nice job of illuminating the interior
- The mirror is a nice feature
What needs to be improved?
- Unless you have tiny fingers, using the earring post mounts is nearly impossible
- The entire earring rack should be mounted on a hinge to allow easy access to the back
- The number of earring slots would make more sense if they came in pairs
- The two drawers are a little fiddly to get in and out
- The door won’t stay open on its own
Final thoughts
Timing is everything. We recently returned home from a trip and my wife had several new treasures to put into her already overflowing jewelry storage. The SONGMICS armoire arrived just in time to handle that overflow, plus let her space out her existing inventory into a much more manageable collection. Is it perfect? No. but no product is. This armoire hits on pretty much all jewelry storage cylinders and is a great addition to our home. With easy access to and secure storage for a large jewelry collection, the SONGMICS Armoire is a terrific solution for jewelry storage. Time to travel and bring home more content!
Price: $119.99
Where to buy: Amazon; SONGMICS ($148.31 – other colors available at varying prices)
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by SONGMICS. SONGMICS did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
