Wire mesh basket for magazines, towels or veggies

This wire mesh basket is perfect for magazines, storing bathroom towels for easy access, as a vegetable basket, or for general storage in and around the home. The basket is made using wire mesh that you can buy at your local Builders Warehouse, as well as a recycled veneer carton and a piece of cork or plywood for the base. Grab your supplies and make one...

 

theartofdoingstuff.com

Designed by Karen at the art of doing stuff, this easy wire mesh storage basket is a simple project that you can tackle in an hour or two.

YOU WILL NEED: 

1 metre of wire mesh cut to height of basket
10 metres of veneer strips
300mm diameter piece of cork or plywood
2 pieces of 10 x 44mm pine cut to 1 metre length
Twine or rope
Long-nose pliers
Hot glue gun
Optional: Heavy-duty stapler
Spring clamps or pegs
Gloves

 

 

HERE'S HOW:

While this basket uses a recycled veneer carton, you can easily substitute with veneer edging that you can buy at timber merchants and select Builders Warehouse stores. It is sold by the metre and you will need about 4 metres for this project.

Cut a piece of wire mesh to fit whatever sized piece of cork you have. For a 300mm piece of cork your wire mesh will need to be 1 metre long x 400mm high. You can make your basket larger or smaller depending on what you want to use it for, but the size shown here is a decent size for most uses.

GOOD TO KNOW
When cutting your wire mesh to size, make sure to leave one end with extra for bending under the cork or plywood base.

Use pliers to bend the excess so that it will fit neatly under the base.

After bending the ends, roll the wire mess into a tube shape and tie the edges together using twine or rope. ABOVE: Here you can see the green twine that secures the edges of the wire mesh tube.

Press the wire tines tight against the bottom of your cork or plywood base and use a hot glue gun to secure the tines to the base.

Note: I would also recommend that you pop in a few staples with a staple gun if you find that the tines are not staying put !

Cut the veneer strips to fit around the top and bottom of the wire mesh cylinder. Use hot glue to secure the strips in place. Spring clamps or pegs comes in handy if you need to hold the strips in place.

Glue a strip of veneer onto the inside top edge of the basket and then finish off by using hot glue to attach rope along the top for a decorative finish.

Use hot glue to attach the two pieces of 10 x 44 x 1 metre pine to the sides of the wire mesh basket. You can leave these off if you aren't adding a carrying handle to the basket.

Finally, glue double lengths of veneer over the pine strips to create a handle. Pop in a small screw along the rim for additional security if you plan to carry the basket. However, if you plan to use the handle a lot, rather replace this will strapping rather than veneer, which is more for decoration than regular use.