DIY Painted Basket

I love TJ Maxx Home Goods and I don't care who knows it.

There. I said it. I have an addiction. And I don't wanna quit it. (But don't tell my husband that. Let's just pretend I'm on the 12 step program when he's around, mmmkay?)

This weekend I talked the Mister into taking me to our local Home Goods under the pretense of looking for a basket to store all of our living room throw blankets. Am I the only one with a throw blanket addiction? As always with Home Goods, I found exactly what I was looking for.

 

But the basket was missing something. A little... pizazz. I wanted a basket with jazz hands.

So I dragged out my acrylic craft paint, turned on my audio book (The Goldfinch, anyone?) and got to work painting my basket. I was hoping to make this a basket painting tutorial at first, but then realized there are really only two steps. Step 1 - get a basket. Step 2 - paint your basket. 

Never fear though. I won't leave you with an empty basket, a paintbrush, and dread in your hearts. I did find some helpful tips along the way:

• Use a basket with a large weave. Trust me, you don't want the heartache of trying to paint teeeeeeny tiny basket weave and stressing yourself out about getting paint on EVERY OTHER PIECE. Cuz it'll happen.
• Additionally, put your inner perfectionist aside and try not to stress about painting inside the lines. You'll get paint on weave where you didn't want paint. It will happen. But it will also be ok. This is supposed to be a rustic, hand-painted basket. Keep repeating that to yourself.

As you can see, I have a lot in common with the Impressionist painters. Up close, my painting is a hot mess.

• Have some idea of where you're gonna go. You can paint multiple lines of weave at a time, just one line, alternate colors... Just have a plan, man.
• If a color doesn't look good - DON'T. PANIC. It's ok. Just pick another color and paint over. Ain't nobody gonna know.
• Lastly, don't underestimate negative space. Leaving some of the basket unpainted is totally fine. In fact... it even looks GOOD. I promise.

This little project only took me about 45 mins from start to finish. And the organization it's brought to our living room makes my heart happy. So get to painting!