It was in our previous home in San Francisco that I first created a wall of baskets ~ you can read about it, here. You see, I had (and still have!) lots of baskets in many parts of the house; most of them have a permanent place and are used for organizing drawers, cupboards and desks, or to hold magazines, blankets, wood logs by the fireplace etc. But I have even more baskets that I use only occasionally, for seasonal décor for example. Most of these are extra big and bulky and I couldn’t find of a place to store them until I would need one again. That’s how I decided to hang them all on a kitchen wall. The moment they were up, I realized that this was more than a storage solution ~ I loved how they added warmth and texture while dressing up a whole wall! Unfortunately, the only available wall in the kitchen of our former home was behind the french doors that led to the family room/kitchen so I rarely had the chance to enjoy the baskets, as the doors stayed open most of the time.
So when we moved to Houston, Texas, I was more than happy when I realized that the new house had an entire wall by the kitchen eating area that could be dedicated to my beautiful baskets. I hung them up when we moved in ~ that was months ago ~ and you may have seen them on random photos of the house throughout this blog, but I thought they deserved a special post of their own!
I took a few pictures of the kitchen area to show you what a beautiful display simple baskets can make:
To create such a wall display, you can use baskets of all sizes and shapes, provided that they don’t extend much from the wall. The one on the bottom right is 8 inches deep, on the border of being too bulky for this small eating area.
The food dome on the upper left was red when I bought it (you can see it on the original post, here). I soaked it for a few hours in a water/chlorine bath, let it dry and dyed it with wood stain.
Baskets can be hung from either side, displaying their front or back part. Choose nails appropriate for the size and weight of each basket. The huge – almost 30 inches – round one is hanging from a piece of twine that I passed through the front and tied on the back.
Baskets can easily give your home a country feel. If this is not the look you’re going for, add decorative objects and furniture that define your style. I like elegance so I use polished silver items on the kitchen table on a daily basis: a silver bowl to hold the napkins, a silver plate to keep the salad dressing and the salt & pepper shakers, and a silver plated jam container with a silver spoon for breakfast.
I also took out my very special three-tier cake stand that I bought in Europe, which used to be reserved for exceptional occasions, only. Now, it’s on the kitchen table on a permanent basis and that’s where we keep fresh fruit. And yes, it adds the luxury I need so that the space does not scream “country house”.
