Tip Technique Tuesday--Decorating Your Home with Baskets

Dear Friends,
Baskets can serve a dual purpose by being both practical and decorative. I've found several wonderful ideas for how to decorate your home with baskets. I've compiled these from different sources and have added a few of my own ideas. Let me know how you decorate with baskets.
Enjoy and Baskets of Blessings,
Nancy

• If you have a country kitchen try hanging baskets from hooks on the ceiling or on a beam. Try placing several in a horizontal row.
• Hang some baskets with their bottoms down, or their handles down. Hang some of them on their sides.
• 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 shapes and styles of baskets in a row. Or hang different shape baskets that comprise the same material, such as all twig baskets.
• Nothing says "welcome" more than a small basket in a guest room filled with trial size bottles of soap and shampoo.
• Have a second, larger basket in the guest room with an apple, orange and banana as well as a TV guide and brochures to local attractions to help your guests plan their stay.
• 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.
• Hang a large flat, round basket trays alone on a big empty wall or make it a trio. Put three round willow trays with the inside of the tray facing outward away from the wall.
  You can even try creating a basket wall collage.
• Place a beautiful basket on the mantelpiece over the fireplace. Baskets can mingle with your photos and other displays.
• 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.
• Don't forget your front porch. With a table and chair on the porch, set a basket on the table that holds some potted flowers. Just be sure to put a liner in the basket so that water will not damage it.
• Consider putting baskets next to other woven items such as straw purses, table mats, floppy straw hats and straw coasters.
• 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.
• Weave baskets using colors that match your decor.
• Baskets are not just for food and flowers. How about putting some beautiful polished rocks in a low flat basket.
• Don't forget to contain those magazines in a magazine basket.
• If you have a fireplace, weave a hearth basket to hold extra logs.
• In a laundry room, a basket can hold stray socks or corral laundry supplies for a pretty look.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Flat-backed cone baskets hang against the wall and hold free-flowing vines 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).
• 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.
• Finally, don't forget the holidays. Easter baskets decorate a table with much beauty. Miniature baskets can become ornaments on a Christmas tree.