Kit Davey, Interior Designer
18 Years in business - Over 2,600 homes transformed!
Tips From Kit - July 2007
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Wastebaskets
By Kit Davey
I have carefully scanned page after glossy page of my design magazines and have yet to find one. I must admit I dislike viewing them, but I still wonder, where have they hidden them?
We're talking about the lowly wastebasket. I know I need mine, but something about the sight of them makes me cringe (I have a problem with dish washing liquid bottles, tissue boxes and paper towel dispensers, too).
What can the squeamish home decorator do with his/her trash receptacle?
Don't use one.
Some rooms, like a guest room or living room, really don't need one. (How much refuse can you create in your dining room or bedroom, for that matter?). Because I dislike the sight of a plastic-bag-lined can so intensely, I have limited the use of cans to my bathroom, kitchen and office. Any refuse created in the rest of the house gets carried out and deposited into a container in trash-receiving rooms.
Hide it.
If the room must have a can, conceal it. I have placed cans under my kitchen sink and my bathroom vanity on roll-out shelves (available at most hardware stores). Try hiding your baskets behind furniture, under a desk, in a corner or in a closet.
Make it blend in.
If you can't live without your basket, do your best to make it meld with the surrounding space. In an all white kitchen, use a clean white container with a foot-pedal controlled lid: in a sweet, frilly little girl's room, add lace or ribbons to its brim, in a rustic or natural bedroom use a rattan or wicker basket.
Make it a focal point.
If you don't have a complex about your wastebaskets, and in fact, want to draw attention to them, do so with gusto.
- Eschew the typical boring bin and try an off beat container such as an antique bucket or watering can, a drum (with one side removed), a wooden box, a pickling crock, an umbrella stand, a large vase or an oatmeal cereal container.
- Use a contrasting color: in an all blue room, place a red can in the corner---your guests won't be able to take their eyes off it.
- Create a masterpiece. Paint or stencil it with polka dots, stars, dogs, stripes or flowers. Decoupage it with wallpaper, fabric, magazine photos, wine labels, newspaper clippings, stamps, foreign money, maps, old postcards, wrapping paper or tissue paper.
My brother, bless him, doesn't know my honest feelings about wastebaskets. For my birthday he sent me a can he had lovingly covered with carefully selected family pictures, trimmed in blue brocade. It must be my karma.
Kit Davey, Allied Member, A.S.I.D., is an interior designer specializing in room re-design, design consulting, staging and professional organizing. Call her at (650)367-7370 or write her KitDavey@aol.com You can visit her website at www.AFreshLook.net.
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