sweet townhome: I Re-Upholstered a Hamper

Yup, you read that right, but let's start off with the obvious: Hampers are expensive. No joke.

I had no idea how much money a hamper could cost. I know we registered for one we didn't get (which is good because now it wouldn't have matched!) that was a $50. I thought it was a lot, but whatever. People were buying us fancy gifts, who was I to complain? Anyway, after we moved into our townhome, I shopped on and off for a hamper, but seriously? Who wants to spend $40 for a hamper? Not me.

I couldn't find a hamper for less than $35 that I liked. I came really close to a $35 at Tuesday Morning, but the top was broken. And honestly? $35 seemed way to much for a cheap-o like me. I mean, we had just been dropping our dirty clothes into a laundry basket. No big deal, considering that eventually we'd have to dump 'em into a basket anyway, it just doesn't look as pretty :-D.

Here's an older photo before we replaced the ceiling fan with a way more awesome one, but you can see our laundry basket on the right side. Clearly, we hadn't done laundry for a while. Oops.

Then something amazing happened! I didn't get a new hamper, but my mom did! I then asked her why she never upgraded hers in the past (because trust me, it was super ugly and didn't fit in with her style at all, and she's a person who likes everything to match) and she said because hampers were expensive. Huh. Go figure.

Anyway, my mom's old hamper was not glamorous. I mean seriously. It was covered in this tablecloth/vinyl/old material that had brown eagles and liberty bells on it. If the brown and poop orange wasn't bad enough for you, the eagle and bells were also made to look cross-stitched. I mean, as a hamper it did its job, but boy was it an eyesore.

Yup, that really is the fabric.

I asked mom where she got it, and she told me that she & my dad had received it as a wedding gift 30-some years ago. Well, it looked dated but it worked, so what did I decide to do? Update it, of course!

After pulling off the vinyl, it became super obvious that I could just re-upholster the sucker. Not bad. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, it was totally my mom's idea. My dad was going to toss it, and she thought it looked easy to re-do so she made him save it for me. I'm sure he grumbled about that, because he seems to think that I'm always collecting people's old stuff.

Also, how weird is it that the whole hamper shape was like made from thin cardboard/paperboard? So weird.

Remember the chair and ottoman I re-upholstered for our bedroom?

Luckily, I had no idea how much fabric to buy for that project, so I had just enough left for this one. Score. Of course, I was going to make a pillow with it, but we have more than enough pillows, and upgrading the hamper was way more cool.

Look at all that left over fabric!

I used the vinyl pieces as a template and simply cut fabric to match. Easy peasy. I used my staple gun to staple it on. Easiest project ever. And if you're wondering, that vinyl went straight to the trash. (I called mom to see if she wanted it back. She thought I was super funny.)

I did the lid first, after I removed it from the hamper. I didn't worry too much about what the underside looked like, because there was a small piece of paperboard that covered up the middle (You can see it in the top left corner of the second photo).

I'm still debating adding trim, like I did on my chair, but for now I'm super happy with it. Like all caps SUPER. That's how much happiness there is.

Oh and the best part? Besides, y'know, having a fancy, pretty hamper in my room? This product cost $0. That's right. No dollars at all. None. I just had to say it again so you know that you read that right. Makes me happy!