Giving an old laundry hamper a makeover was really quite straightforward, even though I managed to make hard work of it! But with a saving of £45 from the one I had seen in the shops I am perfectly happy with my final result.

This was my predicament: 

Our old laundry basket was a round, natural wicker colour. It stood perfectly well outside the bathroom in our old house and serviced us well. 

I find it really difficult to replace things that are perfectly good but the old basket just didn't fit well in our new house. We'd had it as a wedding present 23 years ago so actually it is not too wasteful or extravagant to replace it really! 

We are in a 3 story town house now so the mid point, the first floor landing, is where we want the family laundry hamper. I'm not someone prepared to go round the house emptying multiple baskets I'm afraid, it goes in here or it doesn't get washed by me. However this first floor landing is just a small square and it's all doors and stairs, no where to put a big round basket.

I saw some lovely tall thin grey woven baskets in the shops but the best fit was £50. £50 for a thing to put dirty clothes in - really?! 

Then I just happened on this little gem in the charity shop just around the corner - bingo!

For £4.99! Or as I like to think, a £4.99 donation to charity and a free laundry hamper.

At this point I REALLY hope the person who so lovingly did this stencilling is not reading this blog! I also hope you don't all love the before more than the after - that's always a danger with a makeover post. 

Anyway, it was a bit marked and not to our taste so I bought a can of grey spray paint got busy.

Sadly, as you can see, when I had finished and put it into place I realised the colour was completely off. Oh dear! 

The spray paint colours are limited and I couldn't find a better match so then I brought a couple of little tester-pots of grey paint at the local DIY shop for less than £2 and mixed them until I had a better colour to go with our carpet. It was just a regular emulsion, like you would put on the walls. I put it on with a brush, using a swirling technique to make sure it got into all the nooks and crannies. 

This time the results were much better. I finished off with a fine brush just adding a little white detail on the plaited edge. The white I used was a little pot of Painters Touch from Rust-oleum.

To finish, just to try to make it durable, I gave the whole thing a coat of clear sealer.

I love this stuff. I bought it to coat the bangle you can see it the photo, I used it for the comic book glasses case (which I saw being used again just the other day and still holding up well to everyday use)

It just covers and protects without changing the surface noticeably. It does stink though, so use it outside!

Finally, just to add a touch of reality amongst all the glamour here is our inexpensive, perfectly sized for the space, carpet matching laundry hamper in use!

Julie