Upcycling for Good

Create a pet basket

Give an old laundry basket new purpose by upcycling it into a cute and quirky pet basket.

Resene upcycling for good with Sarah Herring - Project 51

Finished project
Finished project

You will need

Laundry basket before
Before
Your pets finished new basket
Finished project

Instructions

Top tip: Use this as a family project and get young and old involved. Try using Resene FX Metallic testpots for extra bling.

Step 1 Step one
Make sure the basket is clean and suitable for modifying. i.e. It won’t collapse when you cut an opening into it! Carefully mark out where your opening will be for a small dog or cat to be able to climb into the basket. Then carefully cut with a hand saw (or coping saw if you have access to one).
Step 1 Step one contd.
To prevent the open ends of this basket from coming loose, use a few small plastic cable ties to hold the weaker areas together and trim the lengths off with scissors.
Step 2 Step two
Give some of the freshly cut edges a gentle sand to smooth them off and remove any sharp splinters. Apply two coats of your chosen paint colour. Sarah chose Resene Noir and applied the paint with a testpot brush. You don’t have to be very neat or careful when painting a woven surface like this, it’s all about coverage! Sarah needed three testpots to be able to sufficiently cover the whole basket.
Step 3
Step three
Once your main colour is dry, add an accent colour if you wish. Sarah decided to add a bright pop of colour around the edge of the basket using a small paintbrush and a two coats of Resene Charlotte.
Step 4
Step four
To make a sign for the pet basket, cut a small piece of balsa wood to fit along the front of the basket under the opening. Paint with two coats of Resene Blackboard Paint. Once the paint is dry, pop a couple of holes in the balsa for hanging with a final two cable ties.
Step 4
Step four contd.
Sarah added a couple of cute hand-painted paw prints in Resene Charlotte to match the basket trim.