Baskets for storage and what happened next...

Good thing I mixed up loads of paint for the baskets I was working on and posted yesterday. I am really pleased with them. I always admire storage solutions at Howard's Storage World and baskets at home ware shops. When you think about it baskets are wonderful, useful in so many ways. Now I have so many more!

I went on to paint square storage baskets I already had. Both were used in cupboards and I thought !!! I can make these over as well. More painting in the sunshine yesterday. 

A tip is water down your paint a bit to make it more of a glaze and it goes on much faster. My paint seemed too thick so I ended up adding about 50% water and it went on much more easily. 

This is a before... functional but you can see the reason they were in the cupboard.

This first one is really large, ie could hold a blanket or two. 

I used the same curtain lace as yesterday and added a little mirror that I had bought in an op shop for $2... I had bought this ages ago thinking it could be added to a cupboard or wardrobe, at the top, to be like a moulded finish... Well it fitted here just right (I knew it could come in handy!)

I am using this basket now in the lounge room to hold my knitting yarn. It fits heaps! I am dreaming of doing something like this with a picnic basket and old lidded sewing basket... I will be on the look out to find either. Imagine going on a picnic with everything packed into a beautiful country basket.

The second is a much smaller basket, useful for paperwork, cds, dvds... that kind of size.

I feel I have discovered a super cheap way to have great storage containers that I like. I will be keeping this paint mixed up for future finds! And I think a trip back to Provincial Living is in order as I got so many ideas there. Much of what is used is ordinary... old ladders, old baskets, natural elements. Other than this store there are plenty of stylish french/country type stores around and they are beautiful to browse for inspiration. 

I posted about how Andy was going to the nursing home with the Easter baskets but I never told you what happened. Well, firstly the baskets were a big hit! That was lovely. But Wilma was in the hallway when Andy caught up with her and she lit up when she saw him and they were chatting away. A nurse commented that Wilma is so animated! But then several oldies who also live there kind of gathered around as if they were watching. As Andy was leaving one of them approached him and said that they were all so interested because Wilma NEVER talks to anyone and certainly never "chats" and they were amazed! Now Andy had told me initially Wilma is very quiet and reserved and I had found that the first time I went, the second time she was easier to talk to and cheerier. Anyway now she is in full flight with him and none of them have ever seen this. I just thought that is a big compliment to his ways, kindness and persistence as Wilma could be easy to look over in favour of someone more talkative. But no he keeps working on her as he has been told she sees no one. So the delivery guy gets better results than anyone else apparently. And so it goes, many times I have found that someone easy to look over turns out to be a treasure. Interesting people or op shops what you see on the surface isn't very indicative of what is hidden, it's like mining diamonds, you just never know...

xxx