Most often, a bathroom is associated not only with a shower and a hot bath, but also with a washing machine. Modern housewives have long stopped washing clothes in a basin, with the exception of particularly delicate items, so a laundry basket has become another necessary element of the bathroom.
It is extremely undesirable to put dirty clothes waiting to be washed into the drum of a washing machine, which is practiced by some young, inexperienced housewives. A special container does not take up much space, but allows you to store dirty items for some time without compromising their integrity.
A special feature of any laundry basket is the many small through holes that provide ventilation to the container and prevent the laundry from becoming sour or becoming moldy, even when the laundry is wet, such as towels.
The maximum shelf life of dirty laundry in the basket is no more than 2-3 days. Usually this time is enough for things to accumulate to start the washing machine.
Bathroom furniture
A modern bathroom can be quite spacious, and many owners place special furniture there for storing things. These can be all kinds of cabinets, dressing tables, bedside tables.
Typically, such furniture is made to order in accordance with the planned design. Next to such an environment, an ordinary laundry basket will most likely be inappropriate, so designers hide not only washing machines, but also containers for dirty laundry in cabinets.
One option could be a built-in laundry basket. This can be a separate drawer in a cabinet or plastic containers with holes built into the drawer.
Owners can choose any volume of such a box or compartment depending on the size of the family. The main thing is that a single ensemble of the bathroom is maintained and a free-standing basket does not discord with the overall design.
Other ideas
For a needlewoman, there are no things from which something cannot be made. That’s why anything can be used as a material for a bathroom basket! Based on the proposed master classes, you can create a real masterpiece using other materials.
For example, cut out cardboard and glue a base for a basket. You can use a ready-made diagram or calculate it yourself.
Related article: African crochet flower with patterns: slippers and toilet mat
Another option is a basket made from a box, which can be covered, for example, with rope or covered with fabric. Baskets made of rope and fabric look very stylish and will fit into any interior.
To make a storage room for linen from twine, you should arm yourself with glue and, tightly connecting and gluing the twine in a spiral, make an original interior detail. The end of the twine can be secured with glue or covered with tape.
What do the stores offer?
When equipping your bathroom, it is not necessary to order furniture. The modern market offers a fairly large number of finished products, including those for storing dirty things.
If the bathroom is small
If you don’t have much space in your bathroom and don’t want to install a traditional basket, you can purchase a ready-made pencil case with a laundry basket. This is a narrow compact cabinet in which a basket made of chrome-plated metal rods is hidden. There is no need to take out the basket - it opens together with the hinged door, which is very convenient.
In addition, such a pencil case, as a rule, also has upper shelves where you can put clean linen or accessories and laundry products. Pencil cases can be found in any size and color from classic white to bright blue or red.
How to make a laundry basket
Any box in skillful hands can turn into anything and this master class is proof of that.
I had a large horizontal box of plumbing equipment. It should be noted that this is a very durable packaging; there is good double-layer cardboard.
Having measured the required height, I cut off all the excess and removed the metal brackets that connected the opening parts of the box.
The opening parts of the box (usually the top and bottom) must be firmly connected to each other. Scotch tape is not an assistant in this matter and don’t even count on it, since it doesn’t stick well to it, and it’s difficult to glue it later. It is good to join with strips of paper, wallpaper or newspapers, as in my case. Glue the joints on both sides with paper and wait until completely dry. Then strengthen the inside of the box by gluing a sheet of cardboard there to fit.
The edge of the future basket around the entire perimeter should be covered with thick paper or wallpaper. This part will not be visible, since it will hide under the fabric cover.
Now let's move on to my favorite part of any job - decorating. For decoration, I used a round linen cord, which I simply wrapped around the basket, gluing it with hot silicone every 5 centimeters.
It took me a lot of glue and rope, but the dimensions of the box are not small - height 80 cm, width 48 × 50 centimeters. By the way, for a family of three it turned out to be too big and more than half is never filled.
After the rope is glued, we move on to decorating the main part of the basket. Measure the length so that the seam is in only one place. Then unfold the wallpaper and coat it well with PVA glue, then apply it to the cardboard and immediately smooth the surface, expelling air bubbles.
The laundry basket is almost ready, all that remains is to make the lid. To do this, you need a piece of thick cardboard that matches the size of the box. We glue it only on the front side, bending the remaining edges to the wrong side, as in the photo. We don’t glue the inner part yet.
By the way, vinyl wallpaper with an overlap is glued very poorly, and in order to fasten such edges, use superglue. Drop this glue between two surfaces and press on top. This is the only way I managed to achieve neat joints.
Now is the time to make a handle on the lid. I made a braided handle from the same rope; to secure it, we make 2 through holes in the lid.
We thread a rope through them. In order to get a twisted handle, the same rope must twist the base 2 times. Therefore, conditionally divide the rope into 3 parts = 1/3 - this is the base, which will be fixed, and the remaining 2/3 - one long one, it will wrap around the base.
So, we twist the main rope with a long rope and bring it to the wrong side, make a knot there and bring it out into the same hole. We wrap the handle around it again and take it inside out, but into another hole, where we also secure it.
In order to smooth out the knots and additionally secure the handle, apply a small amount of silicone to them, cover the top with a piece of thick paper and press well.
Now we cover the wrong side with wallpaper.
I also decided to use woven rope fragments as a connector between the lid and the basket.
Instead of the option I suggested, you can use metal loops; they come in different sizes, ranging from very miniature ones.
For improvised fasteners, I needed 2 long braids of rope, the edges of which were stitched with thread.
Then, using white thread, I sewed them together, creating an interesting, tight weave. I cut the long double braid into 4 parts, the edges of each of them were well stitched and singed.
The photo shows how the “loops” are located. Only the edges of the segments are glued so that the middle is movable.
The laundry basket is already ready, all that remains is to sew the fabric cover inside.
Washbasin with cabinet
Very often, owners hide the washbasin in the cabinet. This is aesthetically pleasing because all the pipes are also hidden, and it is also practical because there is always something to put in the cabinet.
So, in furniture stores you can buy a ready-made cabinet with a laundry basket. Such a cabinet can be under the washbasin or free-standing, depending on the plans of the owners. The basket itself is most often made of stainless steel rods.
