French Market Basket and A Winner!

Hello all….thanks for stopping by..
Today I am going to show you how I made this French style Market Basket


But first…the winner of the FOLK magazine is

Bliss Ranch

Yay! She will be receiving her issue soon! 


Now, on the the basket…
I collect the woven, double handled picnic baskets because I love them for storage.
I found this one at the thrift store for around $6 and loved it immediately because it was square!
It was an unfortunate shade of yellow however…


It’s been in my garage for months and months. I tried to do a bit of sanding on it initially 
because I thought I could expose the wood and just leave a hint of yellow. 
I soon realized that this idea was pointless as it was heavily painted and all those woven bits would never be able to be done in my lifetime….
So it sat until the other day when I showed you the little angel I used a gesso treatment on (here)
I remembered the basket and thought Aha! 
Perfect.

First a coat of gray paint. I am using spray gray primer…cheap and gets in all those woven parts well….


 I let that dry and then began applying gesso…just brush it on and get in all those corners and grooves


Wipe off the excess with a dry cloth…leaving as much or as little as you like. Remember, you can do another coat.


Let it settle nicely into all those cracks


Handles too!

Next I decided I wanted something on the top. I love all the French labels everyone is using and that would work 
but I decided something simple was what I wanted….just numbers


I stenciled that on with some black acrylic paint. Let it dry, then sand the numbers back.
 I tried to only sand the numbers themselves since that garish yellow was underneath and I didn’t want much of that showing through.


More gesso over top of the numbers and then wiped back until I had the look I wanted.
If you want a darker, even more aged look, apply some dark furniture wax and rub that in well.
I left this one a bit lighter.

All done. So many uses! 
Storing hand towels in the kitchen, TP in the bathroom, papers that accumulate near the back door, craft supplies, magazines……..

Here it is again


Comments

  1. So cool!

  2. Congrats to Bliss!

  3. That looks so good. Really looks old and worn. Hope you join Wow tonight, too.

  4. Love the transformation, making it look very vintage and frenchy.
    Your newest follower, Mary Alice

  5. i love that finish and the numbers! and i am keeping your link up- this basket is big enough to almost be furniture. 😉

  6. wow, this turned out great, love the number on it, too. I’ve never used gesso, but it looks wonderful!! be sure and link up for VIF on Thursday afternoon! xo

  7. Thanks for the great tutorial. I have never used gesso before. It confuses me, but i liked seeing how you worked with it.

  8. Looks great! Would go nicely with my French Market Bag!! Visiting from WOW.

  9. I think I love it, especially because from our wedding years and years ago, we used a basket just like that for our gift cards. It’s been in the storage room ever since. I don’t have any gesso, so adding that to my list (don’t even know what it is) but then I’m getting that thing out and painting ‘er up. Might even gift it to my daughter after as a momento if I can’t find a place for it!!!!

    And ‘Danke schön’ for the mag. I hope I don’t get too many more ideas from it, I’m about to explode with creativity!

    ~Bliss~

  10. Love finding a great new blog to follow on Linky. I’m following you now with the new Linky tool, so follow back so we can stay connected, Lori

  11. I think you did a fabulous job! Love the gesso treatment. Filed that idea away for future projects <3
    xx
    z

  12. Wow, I love it! great idea, I need to try that someday

  13. What a beautiful basket! Thank you so much for sharing this at our link party. We look forward to seeing you again next week!

  14. Great job, sooo much better!! Like the idea of the numbers, too. Thanks for sharing! ~Lorraine ♥♥♥

  15. ooh, la, la! It looks very french…awesome transformation. Thank you for sharing this fabulously french basket at my Show & Tell party.

    Sharon @ mrs. hines class

  16. I Love it! I need a basket for throws in the Family room, I may have to find one and paint it. You’ve inspired me! XO Cindy

  17. Thank you for sharing your how-to! It’s a great basket!
    Jane @ passingallunderstanding.blogspot.com

  18. Charming basket! Thank you for sharing at Potpourri Friday!

  19. I love how it turned out. I have never tried Gesso, but think I will have to give it a whirl. I am a happy new follower from Feathered Nest Friday.
    Laura
    http://www.imsovintage.blogspot.com/

  20. I love how the basket turned out! I am visiting (and now following!) from FNF! I’m off to check out your archives!

    ~Shanon

  21. Nice job.

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