Transform a simple box into a designer basket to tidy up your home

January 14, 2023

When it comes to tidying up the house, baskets and containers of various kinds are essential allies. Especially when we have a lot of open-faced furniture, baskets are perfect to avoid seeing pile of things crammed into them.

You can find many different basket models on the market, but when looking for wooden ones, they usually cost a little more. So how about "pretending" a basket is made of wood, when in reality, it's a big, sturdy (cardboard) box? This is the idea behind a DIY project proposed by @buildandcreatehome's on his TikTok account.

via @buildandcreatehome/TikTok

@buildandcreatehome/TikTok

The basic idea, is to show a wooden facade on the outside, visible part of the box.

To carry out this project, you will need:

a sturdy box, which is the right size to fit into the relevant furnishing unit. If it is a little smaller, this is not a problem: the wooden facade will compensate for this;
a sheet of plywood the exact size of the opening to be filled, removing just half a centimeter from the top to ensure the necessary clearance;
a wooden strip which will serve to strengthen the box where the plywood is mounted;
a drill with crown saw blade (the diameter will be whatever size you want for the handle);
screws and screwdriver;
sandpaper for smoothing the plywood.

How to proceed:

Drill the hole for your basket's handle into the plywood so it is centered.
Sand this down with sandpaper so it's smooth when place your hand on it.
Place the side of the box that faces the wooden front on the relative piece of plywood.
Then also place the wooden strip immediately under the handle of the box, and with a couple of screws (or even 4, one or two at each end) fix the strip on the cardboard and on the wood below. Be careful not to use screws that are too long and which would then pop out from the facade of the work.
Your basket is now ready to be filled and placed in the furniture unit.