Wire Basket Makeover ~ Painting & Adding Handles

Today’s project was so last minute it almost didn’t happen!  Sometimes I know what I’m going to do for every post of the week & sometimes I actually get it done early.  Most of the time I’m just winging it!  When I went to bed last night I still didn’t know what I was doing for today’s post.  Then I remembered the wire baskets recently added to my DIY collection.  I thought a wire basket makeover would be perfect for a last minute project!

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Painting a Wire Basket

These are the wire baskets I’m making over…

I found them for $1 apiece at the 100 mile yard sale in October.  They needed a little scrubbing with some all purpose cleaner & a big scrub brush.  I didn’t think y’all would want to see pictures of that!  ; )

After they were dry, I decided to paint them since the finish was worn off & they had a few rusty spots.  I’m using Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover in purple & coral so they will match the color scheme for my craft room’s future makeover.  I painted 2 baskets purple & one coral.

When you spray paint something with lots of holes, make sure you have an area ready that can handle lots of over spray.  I think more paint got on the surroundings than the basket!

That’s all it really takes to paint a wire basket, but I would let it dry fully between turning it to get all the angles.  Then maybe go back over it once more.  I had limited time & may or may not have purple paint on my hands!  ; D

Making Handles

For my handles I grabbed some larger wooden thread spools from my jar, some vine wrapped craft wire, & a piece of leather from my stash.

I cut 4 pieces of wire to the length I wanted the handle + about 6″.

I slid a spool on the wire & wrapped one end around the top wire on the basket.  Once the spool was centered how I wanted, I attached the other end of the wire & cut off the excess.  Easy peasy!

For the coral basket I decided to use leather strips plus grommets.  You may notice there are only 3 grommet sets in the picture & that’s because it’s all I had left!  I’ll have to attach the second handle after a trip to the craft store.  : )

I cut the leather in half lengthwise, then folded each end over about 1/2″, marking it by creasing the leather.

I pressed the two grommet halves onto each side to mark for the holes.

This makes it easy to know what to cut out for the grommets!

At first I was a little stumped at how I was supposed to hammer in a grommet on a basket strap!  Then I realized I could just lay it on it’s side & hammer through the wire openings.

Leather handle complete!

Finished Baskets

I just gotta say, wire baskets are not easy to photograph!  I stacked them on my dining room table first…

That really wasn’t working because it’s hard to see the baskets because of all the stuff in the background!  Then I decided to try hanging them on my {currently} empty mantle shelf…

That makes a much better picture!  My mantle shelf is waiting for me to decide if I’m going to throw some fall decorations up there or just wait for Christmas decorating time.  : )

The white wall makes for a much better back drop…

I can’t wait to fill these with fun things – like fabric!  : D

Pin it for later!