Do you have a great wicker basket you love and want to add that personal touch that makes it perfect? Fabric lining is a great way to do this. There are a myriad of fabric colors, patterns, and textures that you can use to help make it your own. Lined baskets are great for decorating or utility. In our home, we use large lined baskets for laundry and decorate the bathroom with smaller ones for holding washcloths next to the shower.

Liners are simple to make as well; it does not take an expert. If just used for decorating, often a little bit of glue and a few pins are all you need. For more durable solutions like a laundry basket, some sewing would be required – but don’t let that intimidate you.

In fact, here is how easy it is to decorate a basket with lining with some string, fabric, a ribbon, pinking shears, small tape measure and a glue gun:

1. Measure around a basket; this can easily be done by turning the basket upside down and laying a piece of string around the top of basket. Mark the edge of the string and measure it. You will want to add about 2 inches for a proper, and not too snug, fit.

2. Next, measure the depth of the basket and add about six inches. The excess will be used for the overhang on the basket and gluing the seams.

3. Finally, measure the length and width of the bottom of the basket and add two inches.

4. Don’t be shy about running through the previous steps once more. It’s often best to measure twice and cut once.

5. Now the fun begins. For this next part, it is best if a set of pinking shears are used instead of scissors. You can get a good pair for under 20 bucks at Amazon. Pinking shears are used to avoid fraying the fabric. Cut two pieces of fabric to the measurements you recorded.

6. The smaller piece will be used for lining the basket. Take the smaller piece and find the best fit in the bottom of the basket; it should go up the edges about an inch on each side. This is where you will want to apply glue to the fabric.

7. Now take the larger piece of fabric and wrap it along the inside edges of the basket. It should overlap the bottom piece about an inch, and glue it together. You will also want to overlap the seam of where the fabric comes together and apply some glue here as well.

8. Next, at the top, you should have about four to six inches overhanging the basket. Fold it under once or twice to your taste, and add a few dabs of glue to hold it in place. Try to leave about an inch between the top of the basket and the final fold.

9. The final step is to take your ribbon and wrap it around the basket using the inch of space between the top and final fold. Tie a nice bow with the ribbon and adjust its location until you are satisfied. Add a dab of glue to hold it in place.

Congratulations, you now have a customized basket you can proudly display in your home.

Organizing your life after baby can be a tremendous task. Yet, every parent knows this is an essential part of addressing the high-speed life we lead. An organized parent is one that is able to leave the house on time for babysitter drop-offs (and work!), has all of the essentials at doctor’s appointments, play dates, or the park, and minimizes frustration and stress. If all of this sounds good, let’s get started and find out just how easy organizing baby can be with wicker baskets.

Perfect for collecting baby's shoes

For the first few years (and probably beyond!), you will be responsible for keeping baby’s things neat and clean. This is especially important in baby’s room, where a few well-placed wicker baskets will save you time and keep items tidy. As a mom, I have found four key areas in baby’s room that benefit from wicker basket use: shoes, clothes, the diaper changing station/area, and toys. Little shoes (for baby or early toddlerhood) are so small, they tend to get lost in the shuffle. It becomes even more of a challenge when your baby becomes enchanted with the sight of shoes and wants to carry them around the house! I use a small wicker basket on top of a dresser to collect the shoes immediately after I take them off his precious little feet. This ensures they are always there when I need them and keeps them out of his sight. Before doing this, I spent more than a few hectic mornings searching for this essential item before heading to the baby sitter. An added bonus is that the basket is only big enough to hold four pairs of shoes; this really curbs my desire to purchase every shoe on the market. Of course, if you are an unapologetic shoe lover, you may need more than a single basket or a really big one!

Clothes require a little more than a small basket since most babies amass quite a bit of clothing to get them though the day, not to mention the week. To keep things simple and be able to tell which laundry I really need to do on wash night, I sort different “kinds” of clothing into separate wicker baskets that I keep in his closet on some shelves (out of his reach for now until he starts climbing). Short sleeved onesies are in one basket, while short sleeved t-shirts and shorts are in another.

Long sleeved onesies live in a different basket and long pants are in another basket. Socks are kept in the tiniest basket I happened to find (adorable!) and I corral hats, mittens, and other miscellaneous items in a bigger basket. You can really be creative in choosing your baskets while making sure they serve your needs. Craft stores have such an array these days – matching to your décor is usually no problem. Every month, I take out clothes that no longer fit and store them in a bin in the garage in the event I’ll need them again for another baby. For me, the area that is most important to keep organized is the diaper changing station. This is because I keep medicines, such as baby Tylenol or prescriptions, syringes for giving meds, diaper rash cream, special lotion for baby’s eczema, a thermometer (yes, you know the kind I’m talking about!), alcohol wipes, a notepad and pen for keeping record of when we administer medication, teething tabs, his immunization card, several books on infant/baby care, and everything that is needed when you are changing a baby’s diaper. When baby is sick, you are worried, and/or it is the middle of the night, being organized is such a relief and helps you give baby what he or she needs in the fastest time possible. Although I have a diaper changing table, it only has a small drawer that can’t quite accommodate everything I need, so my husband put up several shelves around the table that are within my reach but not within baby’s. I have wicker baskets of several widths and depths, depending on the items it is storing, and I also labeled each one with the contents it holds. If you organize nothing else in your baby’s room, organize this one! It will really make you feel good the first time you can get your hands on that diaper cream immediately to stop baby’s pain or get that thermometer when he is really hot. Keeping it well-stocked is essential, so take an inventory every week so you can replace what was used.

Great for gathering baby's toys!

Finally, a word about organizing toys with wicker baskets. I used to have several baskets to hold baby’s toys around his room. I tried to keep certain toys together, but it was too much trouble and nothing ever fit! Now, I have one big wicker basket in which I place all of the toys at the end of each night. I make sure the baby is there to watch and “help” so that eventually, taking over this chore will become natural for him. (A mother can dream, can’t she?) I don’t have a lid on the basket so that there is nothing that can fall on him when he leans into the basket to grab a toy or tumbles into it as sometimes happens!

Organizing baby’s room is a satisfying and essential task for every parent. Not only will it keep you at the top of your game, it will teach your baby great skills he or she will take into adulthood. Having the right stuff – like wicker baskets – is an important part of being and staying organized, but the key to success is being proactive and actually taking the steps needed to keep things neat and tidy. Good luck!

Every year we have a family ritual when we clean our house from top to bottom. This includes all of the wonderful wicker baskets and containers used for organizing “stuff” around the house. Wicker is great for organizing things and depending on the things or area it is being used to organize, it will eventually need to be cleaned. Like most things found in a home, wicker can collect dust – and if left alone, that dust can really add up!

Typically, the task of cleaning all our wicker products falls on me, and after a few years of doing this I have a pretty effective strategy for tackling it. It all starts with dividing and conquering the various wicker items into categories. Let’s get started:

This first category I’ll cover is the easiest in my opinion, and the majority of your wicker items will fall into it. I start by gathering up all the big wicker baskets used for dirty linens, magazines, firewood, etc., and place them on the patio in the backyard. They usually have cloth inserts that I remove and drop in the washing machine. Once the inserts are being washed, I mix a bucket with mild soap and warm water for the baskets themselves. I give each item a quick rinse with the hose, and then gently wash them with the warm soapy water and a soft sponge. Finally, give them another quick rinse and a light shake to remove excess water. I let them dry in a shaded area of the patio, usually overnight. Here’s an optional tip that I use when I need them to dry in a hurry – just hit them with a leaf blower for a few seconds each – it is amazing how much water clears off by doing this (obviously, you will want to be in relatively clean area, grass works great for this). My wife is not a big fan of this method due to the noise and prefers I simply pat them down with utility towels.

Compressed air works best when cleaning items like this

The second category is for items that cannot get wet and washed properly. I gather those on the side of the house near the garage and set up a small table to work with them. I use the air compressor to gently clean off the dirt and dust gathered over time. In a pinch, I’ve used canned air for this and found it to be just as effective. Just remember to use some eye protection because there can be a lot of dust and debris in the air while cleaning with this method.

At this point, I usually flip the inserts into the dryer and start returning the air cleaned items to their proper places. I can accomplish this in about an hour flat, plus another 15 minutes the next day putting the inserts in place and returning the items back to their original wicker homes.

In our house, I am the project manager responsible for the weekly laundry duty. My wife and I both work full-time, and long ago it was decided that the ongoing chore of laundry would be my responsibility. Over the years, I have developed a strategy for streamlining this process to ensure my weekend does not become consumed by it.

Let’s start with the kids’ rooms. We have two, one is 15-years-old, and the other about 19 months. I use the same strategy for each: two heavy duty wicker baskets in each room. One is white, and the other is a natural wicker color. The white basket is for the white laundry, and the natural wicker basket is for everything else. Special requests are routed to a blue wicker basket in the laundry room.

First thing Saturday morning, I’ll tackle our toddler’s laundry; it goes pretty quickly since it’s only two loads – a light and a dark. The goal is to have both loads complete by noon. At noon, the laundry machine is turned over to our teenager. She is responsible for doing her own laundry and has the rest of the day to accomplish her task. She usually does about 2 or 3 loads of laundry and understands she has to get it done before Sunday.

Wicker can be very stylish and functional

By the time I’m done, I’ve usually completed a load of whites, two loads of darks, a load of lights, and occasionally, a load of special laundry depending on the contents of the blue basket. Every other week, I also do bed linens and probably only spend about an hour-and-a-half total on that process. Oh, and if you are wondering, that dry cleaning basket gets emptied every other Monday when I pick up (and drop off) the dry cleaning.

The best tip I can share with you is this – having family members pre-sort their laundry in two baskets really helps to streamline the whole laundry process. I hope my story has helped give you some ideas on ways to make your own laundry chores just a little easier by using wicker baskets!

I’ve always thought my mother was a genius when it came to keeping things organized around the house. Of course I didn’t realize this until I was older and had a place of my own to look after. One of her tricks that really work for me is the use of a wicker basket to organize the chaos of “stuff”.

I have found them useful in nearly every room. This is mainly due to the fact they come in so many different shapes, sizes, and even colors – plus they are typically inexpensive, light, durable, and add a little sophistication to our home.

Finding the right wicker basket can also be an interesting shopping experience. When I start browsing for the right one for a problem, it is inevitable that I find two or three others that I can use for things I did not originally consider. For example, the other day I wanted to find a basket to store a few magazines in the living room. While I was browsing through a selection of various baskets, I discovered a low walled basket that would work well to store all the electronic remotes on our coffee table. On that same trip, I found another small basket with a top that fits perfectly in my desk to store receipts for taxes at the end of the year.

I should also mention how I conquered my junk drawer. You know the one, typically filled with batteries, orphaned keys, a handful of random tools, and an odd arrangement of screws and other stuff. I was at the auction searching for a basket to store my kid’s toys when I ran across a smartly designed basket that had multiple dividers with deep cubbies in the front half and a shallow lift out tray with dividers in the back half. I no longer have to shift the junk around from side to side to find the AAA battery I need; there’s a cubby for that. Nor do I have to wonder where a small screwdriver is when I need one, there’s a wicker cubby for those too. Now when I need something from the junk drawer, it only takes a moment to locate it.

In summary, using a wicker basket is great way to keep things organized. So take a moment and think about some “stuff” you need organized. Or browse through some stock and see what speaks to you – you just might be surprised.

For other organizing tips check out Huggable Hangers, they are great space saving hangers that help keep your cloths organized

Last Easter, my wife had to create dozen white wicker baskets filled with goodies to give away at a local charity event. She found these great wicker baskets at an auction that were perfect for the project. They were untreated and ready to be primed and painted. This is the point in the story where I became aware of the project, and its requirements…

Well, the good news was I didn’t have to do much to prep the wicker baskets. So let’s get started with the basics.

Step 1. On the side of the house next to the garage, I laid out a few drop cloths. They covered both the lawn and the section of fence against which I planed to paint. I also used six cardboard banana boxes from the local grocery store to create a semi-enclosed booth in which to hang each basket. At the top of each box, I pushed a hanger (from the drycleaners) through, forming a hook in the box to hang the basket and a handle on top of the box that I could turn as I painted the basket. It also helped that it was a clear cool day with no wind, which is important because I didn’t want the paint going anywhere else but on the baskets.

Step 2. Often wicker is treated with a coating of gloss that requires a liquid de-glosser to remove. These baskets were not treated, so I was able to go straight to priming them. Using compressor sprayer, I gave each basket two light coats of oil-based wood primer. Each coat was about 45 minutes to an hour apart. You will probably notice the second coat of paint is absorbed by the wicker pretty quickly. I should also note I used a protective safety mask and goggles. Ventilation was a concern, and that was the reason I decided to paint outside.

Step 3. I always get excited when it’s time to actually paint, and this time was no exception. All my prep was done, and I was ready to really make these baskets look sharp. With the compressor, I used a pure white, outdoor oil-based semi-gloss house paint to spray each basket. I sprayed each basket with two light coats of paint, leaving them gleaming.

Step 4. Inside the garage, I strung up a couple of lengths of cord and used clothesline pins to keep the hooks in place every few feet. There the baskets hung for a few days while the paint cured. In seeing this, my daughter wondered aloud to me if I thought the Easter bunny had elves like Santa. I could only agree with her because our garage certainly looked like an Easter workshop. I mean really, how could one bunny do it all alone?

The baskets turned out beautifully, and my wife was very happy with them. She packed each with chocolate and candy treasures on beds of plastic grass. Each masterpiece was wrapped in a thin protective layer of plastic, with a fancy ribbon on each handle. They were a hit at the event, and those that were lucky enough to win one remarked how great the basket would look in their home.