Decorate With Baskets

Decorating with Baskets
A decorative basket is just that. But you can still do more to enhance its decorativeness, either by enhancing the basket itself or by enhancing placement. Even the basket you choose, its shape, size and materials, can be important in the decorative scheme of things. Here are some tips:
1. Is your kitchen countrified? Hang country style baskets from hooks on the ceiling. Try placing several in a horizontal row. 2. Or hang baskets in another room that has a high ceiling. And you can hang baskets with bottoms down, bottoms up or on their sides. You can do this consistently with the row or face each basket in the row differently. 3. Don't feel you have to hang all square baskets or all circle baskets together in a row. While you can do this, you also can hang all different shape and style baskets in a row. Or hang different shape baskets that comprise the same material, such as all twig baskets. 4. Hang baskets with tacks or other nails, S hooks or even use thumbtacks. Use rope, rods, and more. 5. Willow baskets come in huge sizes. And they're sturdy and lightweight. Fill them with throw blankets and throw pillows in the living room to create a cozy look (and a convenient place to keep these items). 6. Hang a large flat, round willow tray alone on a big empty wall. Or make it a trio; put three round willow trays side by side in decreasing sizes, perhaps in a hallway or foyer. Put the face of the tray facing outward away from the wall. Try creating a basket wall collage I have lots of lined casserole baskets. I love the look of them---their different fabric linings and their assorted round and rectangular shapes. Yet I rarely cook or entertain. So I hang these baskets in my dining room on a big plain off-white colored wall. Another spot could be at the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling, such as where you'd run a wallpaper border. Or hang these casserole baskets on the outside of your kitchen cabinet doors. And that's functional too because the baskets are convenient to grab if you do use them for their intended purpose. 7. Don't forget to decorate the mantelpiece over the fireplace. Baskets can mingle with your photos and other displays. 8. Hate dusting your baskets but want to show them off? Try putting them in an enclosed cupboard or pie cooling rack that has clear windows on the door. 9. Consider putting baskets next to other woven items such as straw purses, table mats, floppy straw hats and straw coasters. Or group these accessory items in a big complementary basket as a display or hang all the items next to each other in a wall display. 10. Group similar origin baskets on a wood shelf above a doorway or archway. This is the perfect spot for visibility, yet you're not taking away a functional spot that you may need. For display, you can't beat handmade Native American designs, such as hourglass or platter shapes, or African bowls in multiple sizes. Lean the platters on their sides (or use a table easel or plate stand to display them).The workmanship and design of these type baskets is one-of-a-kind, literally, and incredible. Naturally, these baskets cost more than some others. 11. Note colors. If you buy dyed or painted baskets, pick ones that match your home decor. For instance, if you have a solid color carpet, pick a multi-colored basket but make sure that at least one of its colors matches your carpet color. 12. Or contrast the color of the basket to the wall, such as a pale green basket on a dark green wall. Or a multi-colored basket on a solid white color wall. 13. Or contrast the color of the basket with its contents. For example, put black shiny stones in a basket painted solid white. Or green stones in a red basket. You can do softer color blends too (versus the contrasting colors). 14. If the basket is to hang on wallpaper with a busy pattern, pick a solid color basket that complements or is the color of one of the elements in your wallpaper design. A multi-colored basket would clash or get lost in the jumbled design. A simple wire basket with a rattan base might be ideal in this situation. 15. If you're hanging wall baskets or platters or other flat back baskets, think vertically too. Put a vertical row on each side of a doorway or archway. A basket can add three-dimensional texture to your otherwise flat smooth wall surface. 16. Pot-bellied wall pocket baskets have a rounded bottom and front and a round fixed top handle. But their back is flat so it hangs flat against the wall. Fill them with dried flowers and hanging ivy. 17. Create dried or fake flower arrangements in your tabletop basket. Pick a basket with a tight weave so the floral foam core doesn't show. Or if you're not handy with creating floral arrangements, buy an inexpensive pre-made floral arrangement from the craft section of bricks and mortar retailers, even one that's in a flower pot or basket already. Just drop the whole thing into your basket. If needed, fill in around the edges and rim with moss to hide the other planter or basket from view. 18. Flat-backed cone baskets hang against the wall and hold free-flowing vinery or dried spray arrangements. These baskets usually have a cone shaped base with a wider flared opening at the top (for instance, picture an ice cream cone or an upside down witch costume hat). 19. Or use a shallow fireside basket in which you loosely set, but arrange, flower cuttings, glass stones, rocks and other items. You could place an assortment of nuts, such as walnuts and pecans, on these too or include the nuts in your naturalistic arrangement. This would set on a table. 20. The cornucopia basket is a classic. And it's easy to work with. This basket sort of looks like a horn. Stuff it with fake fruits and let them hang out a bit. Use a floral foam core if you need to do so to keep fruit or other elements in place. Use the cornucopia basket as a seasonal centerpiece. You can put other things in it as well, such as a free-flowing fern that sets on an end table.

Decorating with Baskets