easy and affordable boho basket wall

A vignette of boho-inspired or African baskets seems like a simple idea for an empty space, but it can be surprisingly expensive. So recently I helped my daughter-in-law Lilly come up with an affordable solution for building a cute boho basket wall. Wait. Did I say cute? Let’s make that stunning. Just take a look at the transformation of a ho-hum wall in her traditional living room into a powerful focal point.

Now that you’re wowed, let me show you how we did it.

step 1 – strategize

The first step is to measure the space you want to fill with baskets. Once you determine the approximate number of baskets you’ll need, begin collecting them. We found several medium sized baskets at Hobby Lobby (photo below right) at affordable prices, but because our wall space was so big, we knew we needed to splurge on at least one large statement basket. Then we found the perfect one from World Market (photo below left).

Next, we taped the wall measurements off on the floor and began playing with the baskets in different arrangements.

A useful design rule to keep in mind when arranging items is to create a triangle. Designate 3 main points (thus creating a triangle) then work around them. You can see how we did this with our final arrangement.

step 2 – inexpensive fill-ins

You will most likely discover that you need more baskets than you originally thought to make a strong impact. An inexpensive method we used was to buy $2 straw placemats and to spray paint them. We simply taped plastic over the part of the placemats we did not want painted then sprayed the rest.

step 3 – non-basket options

Still need more fillers? Think outside of the box! There are plenty of non-basket options out there to work nicely into your vignette. We immediately thought a small macrame wall hanging would be adorable. We didn’t want it to out-shine the basket vibe, so we purposely kept it simple. You can see the full tutorial in this post.

step 4 – let’s not forget the fireplace

Although I’ve covered the basic steps for creating a boho basket wall, I failed to mention that we took this design project one step further and painted the fireplace and mantle black. Actually, we painted it black a few months ago, when we first had the vision for the basket wall. But it wasn’t until we added the black and natural baskets that Lilly’s husband finally understood that we indeed knew what we were doing. The vision unfolded beautifully. My point? If your vision includes something as bold as painting a fireplace all black, go for it. Trust your instincts. The results might astound you.

The biggest compliment is a little share – pin the photo below!