{DIY Laundry Basket}

I've never been a fan of my plastic laundry basket that I have had for years, but let's face it - it served it's purpose well.  However, there comes a point where some things need to be functional AND cute so off to Pinterest I went.  

This one from Desiree at The 36th Avenue immediately caught my attention.  I am the first to admit that I am NOT an avid DIY'er, but this seemed like a project that even I could do. =)  

{The 36th Avenue}

I saved the link to my favorites & began my search for the perfect basket.  I also loved the letters she used.  She mentioned that they were from Michael's so I figured finding those would be easy enough.  Of course, nothing goes as planned and the basket & letters were way harder to find than I planned. 

On my next trip to Michael's, I picked up a few of the letters: L, U, R and Y.  They didn't have them all, but I figured no biggie - I would get the rest the next time I was at another store.  Little did I know, the letters were being discontinued & clearanced out!   I called around to a few stores in Houston & located the A and N...but that darn D was MIA.  I jumped online & as luck would have it, D was one of the very few letters they had left in stock.  I'm going to ignore the fact that I paid $6.95 shipping for a $.79 letter, but you gotta do that you gotta do.  Could I have found other letters that would have worked?  Probably but I was determined to get these!

After hitting up several TJ Maxx & Homegoods stores, I finally decided on this basket from Lowes.  I still preferred the more round shape of the original, but it was impossible to find!

I started out by spray painting the letters black.  The paint I had a little too much sheen to it for my liking, so once they were dry - I hit them with a topcoat of Amy Howard One Step paint that I had on hand.  I like the super matte finish it gives you.

Next up was attaching the letters to the basket.  I used a level to make sure they were straight {I'm a little crazy about things like that, can't help it!} & then attached them with hot glue.

Once everything dried, I did at quick stitch on each letter using jute twine & a yarn needle {I got both from Michael's as well}.  It took me a second to figure this part out {I'm not a super DIY'er, remember?!}, but once I got the hang of it - it went super fast.  I knotted the twine on the inside of the basket to secure it.

 

*Sorry for the terrible picture.  Must.Get.Better.At.Documenting.

And here it is!  I love how it turned out & it's WAY better than the plastic one I had before.  You can read The 36th Avenue's {much better} tutorial here.

 

And yay!!  This is post #100!!  I think this calls for a party!! =)