Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Hanging Basket Storage- Not Just for the Bathroom!


I have a million projects going on right now. For once, I'm actually blogging about one! AND I somewhat documented it with my handy-dandy iPhone. I've seen a million photos on Pinterest of hanging baskets on the wall, mostly used in a bathroom. Well, most of those photo links lead to dead links and no explanation, etc. Nothing gets under my skin more than a Pinterest link that leads nowhere. Well, one thing irritates me more, not having an outlet in my bathroom.

I live in an older home built in the early 50's. Sad story, many of these homes weren't built to have outlets in the bathrooms. Honestly, that's one of my biggest pet peeves about this house. The next house we purchase WILL have outlets, lots of outlets in every room- NOT connected to light switches (back on track now..). Because I have no outlet in my downstairs bathroom, and I refuse to use one of those screw-in light fixture adapters to have an outlet in my light socket. Because I refuse to make my light socket about my mirror look ridiculous with the adapter, I'm forced to do my hair in my bedroom, a small bedroom with no room for a vanity.

This is how my hair necessities are were stored:

To me, this is a cluttered mess in the corner of my room. I hate having things in the floor like this.

I have a small space of wall behind the closet door and the the connecting wall. What I thought would be perfect to hang a couple small baskets. My challenge was to find small baskets that were my definition of cheap and that were cute. Baskets are expensive! And I love love LOVE baskets. But I will typically thrift for them. 

For some reason today, I got an itching to just get out of the house. I decided to go hunting for baskets. I went to the Navy Exchange, they just didn't have anything that stood out for me. Everything was too big or not aesthetically appealing in my eyes. So, I went to Wal Mart. I loathe Wal Mart, but yet I'm always there. Today was no different, it was a fail. I walked out empty handed. I decided to try target, but went in with the mindset of anything I would find to fit what I saw as "perfect" in size and style would be "expensive". 

I stepped into the aisle with baskets and I saw them. They were cute, perfect size and even had a pretty liner in them. I expected them to be about $10 each and almost didn't even pick them up. But to my surprise, they were only about $5 each. The baskets cost more than I would typically spend, only because I'm thrifty, but $5 per basket still was "Cheap" considering how perfect I thought they were. 

Then I realized I needed some sort of hook. I don't trust the hooks that have the tape on the back. I've never had any luck with them. I need some sort of small hook that would be nailed into the wall. I found hooks which were too large and I was getting a little bummed thinking my project was not going to get finished today. I happened to walk by frame hanging hooks. After studying the different sizes and style, I grabbed a simple Heavy-duty frame hook pack. It was a 4 pack, exactly what I needed for only about $2. 

For about $12, I walked out with everything I needed for my project! Score!


Are these baskets not cute? And those who know me, or follow me on Instagram, know they are so.. "ME". When I got home, I grabbed the leveler, a pencil and a hammer and I dove straight in for my project.


First, I marked the wall for the first basket's hooks, one for each end. Then, I nailed the hook to the wall. The nails were somewhat of a pain in the rear to hammer in on my textured walls because they go in at an angle. But, I figured it out and somehow kept the two hooks level! Go me! After I got the first set of hooks up, I stretched part of the weave on the basket to easily, but tightly, fit over the hook. I check to make sure my basket was level, jumped up and down out of excitement and started on the second basket. 


After I admired my work, I filed the baskets with all my "junk". Guess what! They are still level, so I think I did a good job! Woot!
Now, I feel like my bedroom is fully organized and I don't have that little clutter spot bugging me!

I hope you find this as Pinteresting as I did! Do you see what I did there? ;) 
always a nerd.

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mrscrush/