Covering fabric bins with burlap

I've loved reading all the comments on my little blue cabinet post, you guys had some great ideas for what to do with those open cabinet doors. In the end I decided to go with baskets - which wasn't even one of the original options, y'all are good. Baskets will be perfect, esecially since I forgot to share that the right door doesn't actually open.

You see, it's a faux door...probably where the old radio speakers were housed. Even though I removed the interior wall between the two cabinet spaces, using the area behind that right "door" would have been very difficult. I don't know about you, but if it's difficult, I'm probably not going to do it.

Unfortunately, finding a basket that fit turned out to be trickier than I anticipated. All the square milk crate-style baskets I looked at were between 12 and 13 inches, and I needed my baskets to be closer to 11 inches square. I looked at so many stores and searched online for so long, I'm probably going to have nightmares tonight. The horrible 'I-played-tetris-for-too-long-and-I-still-see-it-when-I-close-my-eyes' type of nightmare... you know what I'm talking about.

Yesterday, I stumbled across these at Walmart (not my favorite store in the world, but hey -- desperate basket times call for desperate basket measures!)

They are medium-sized fabric bins, and they cost only $6 each. Unfortunately they're lacking in both the "cuteness" and "basket-like" categories.

What to do, what to do...

Pull out some leftover burlap and a glue gun and sort it out, of course!

I started by wrapping a long strip of burlap around all sides, pulling it tightly and gluing along each corner to secure the fabric.

Then I folded the raw edge under and glued.

The next step was to finish both the bottom and the top of the bin -- I did both the same way. First I glued each corner down, after pulling the fabric tight.

Next I worked my way around the bin, starting in the middle of each side and working toward the corners.

The last thing I needed to do was cut the holes out for the bin's handles.

It might be hard to see, but I cut little V's at each end so that I could more easily pull the fabric tight against the curve of the handle.

Using my skills of a photoshopper, I have enhanced this photo so that you might have an idea of what I'm talking about here:

Then I went crazy with the glue gun, peeps. Don't be afraid, glue that sucker down. You definitely don't want it unraveling or peeling off.

Here is a side-by-side: Walmart $6 bin, meet your surgically enhanced twin.

 

(Did you see that I replaced the large photo with a mirror? Looooooove it!)

And there ya have it. My $0 fix for a $6 bin.

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