Thrifty Thursdays: Old Gingham in a Basket

A couple weeks back, I had a chance to run into the Salvation Army store for a quick visit (this was before garage sale season began!). While there, I walked several times by this old basket with handles, that may at one time have been a picnic basket. It had obviously seen its better days and was in decent but not great shape, but that raggedy red gingham lining had me. I brought the basket home and it sat here awhile until I figured out just where it should live.

Finally its destiny was determined, the front porch should be its new home, with its cheerful red gingham, it was perfect. I'm using it to hold magazines. It was cheap enough that if Mr. Squirrel decides one day that it should become lunch, that's fine. If it gets rained on, that's fine, too. It was only eighty cents and if it lasts all summer, it was a bargain. If it makes it through summer no worse off than it is now, a can of spray paint can be used to remake it, and I can take the liner apart and use that for a pattern to make a new gingham liner and re-use it elsewhere for the winter.

I've always been a sucker for containers, old boxes, tins, and baskets: they are something I can rarely refuse...can you see why? What are you drawn to?