Kristen from Lipstick and Sawdust got a call from her church’s youth pastor requesting a storage solution for rec room supplies.

She got right to work, scouring the internet for ideas and stumbling upon a wood and wire basket rack from PB Teen.

Kristen easily recreated it only 45 minutes by attaching wire baskets to a wood board and stenciling on numbers.

This DIY tutorial is pretty straightforward. Each step is relatively quick, all leading to a satisfying result. Sometimes simple designs create the best uses.

This happens a lot with storage-based projects. Hanging wire baskets in this throwback industrial-age style is no exception.

Let’s take a quick look at how Kristen built these and then cover five fun ideas in which to use these – you need at least a few excuses to build this, right?

How to Make the Wood and Wire Wall Baskets

Wire baskets aren’t the best bargain in the world, but they look great. Kristen found hers for under $10 each at her local Home Goods store. This is a pretty good price for 10″-12″ baskets.

Grab the cheapest thing you can find. Treated or styled baskets cost more, so check Target, Big Lots!, KMart and places like that for generic white ones, for example.

Why go cheap?

Well, to save money right? But seriously, you’re not going to be dropping in and storing bowling balls in these…and color doesn’t matter because you can easily paint them.

Painting is exactly what Kristen did. In her industrial theme, she chose silver, and they turned out great.

Next, Kristen sanded down her board then lightly stained it before adding a couple layers of pasted wax for protection.

For the stencils, she printed out what she wanted on her home printer, then trimmed them out. This is time consuming, but you get the exact font you want this way!

Once she had them where she wanted, she “dabbed” them with a small brush and black paint.

5 Uses For These Wall Baskets

The ideas below are some ways you can use this creation to get you thinking. The focus is organization because you can never go wrong with organizational ideas, right?

As you explore options you may realize that stenciled numbers don’t have to be…well, numbers. You can print and cut out initials, abbreviated words or even symbols and graphical icons.

1. Books Above Child’s Bed

This is actually the example depicted in PB Teen’s marketing. It looked so good, we thought it deserved a spot here. What a cool looking way to store some of your favorite books.

2. Sports Items in Garage

A garage is often a place where industrial truly is functional. If you have kids and especially boys, then you have balls you need to pick up and get out of the way. These baskets will work great for basketballs, footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, mitts, gloves, cleats, swim goggles and more.

3. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in the Kitchen

This is where graphical stencils could be helpful. Use an “icon” to designate different fruits and veggies.

An apple for hard fruits, an orange for citrus… When you come home from the store or farmer’s market, use your baskets to quickly place and organize the stuff you don’t need to use, refrigerate or wash right away.

4. Backyard Supplies and Equipment

The options are countless here. Think gardening: gloves, nozzles, bags and bottles of fertilizers and pest remedies.

Have a pool? Then small pool treasures, toys, towels and sunscreen can be at easy reach anytime you need them.

When guests come over, they’ll each have a place for their dry clothes and goggles instead of them being strewn about.

5. Laundry or Mud Room

How many of us have that space between the back door or garage entrance and the main house that collects everything? We come home, kick off shoes, place papers, bottles, sacks and anything else we picked up while we were out.

These baskets can work great if each one has the initials of family members. Make two rows and have the bottom row hold some shoes or boots. The tops can be for gloves in the winter or extra water bottles in the summertime.

Take a look now if you have this go-between area in your home and I bet you’ll see at least four categories of things that can go in these hanging wire baskets.

Kristen was inspired by PB Teen’s Wood and Wire Wall Basket. As you can see, you can stain your wood any depth of color you like to match your decor. You can even paint a light color and use a darker stencil color.

Find Kristen’s complete tutorial at Lipstick and Sawdust, and see how easy it is to kick up the storage function and appeal around your home.