Creating a Vintage Inspired Front Door Basket Wreath

This article provides a tutorial on creating a vintage inspired front door basket wreath using a thrifted find and some paint. This is an easy project requiring only basic supplies.

If you are new to this blog: Welcome! My name is Anna and I share information on collecting antique/vintage items, refurbishing furniture and making small crafts/projects. The purpose of this blog is to show you how to use creativity and antiques to make your home beautiful. In addition to information on the blog, you can also follow me on the following social media accounts Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.

Backstory

I have to give you the back story for this project. My friend Rachel at The Antiqued Journey was kind enough to reach out to me and suggest we both write a post on decorating our front doors for spring. If you haven’t seen Rachel’s website, you might want to spend some time checking it out. She also loves vintage and antique items, hence the name of her website. She has some fabulous ideas and we both (obviously) have a fondness for old things.

Here is a preview of Rachel’s Floral Vintage Decor Basket that she shares on her blog. I love the little birds in her basket.

After agreeing to create some sort of spring decor for my front door  – I was stumped. I hit a the “lack of creativity wall”. To distract myself, I decided to go thrifting. When out and about I stumbled upon a plain but well made basket that could be used to hang on a front door. I almost passed it up and then I thought: “Oh! Wait! This could be used for the spring front door decor project.”

Of course . . . the basket needed to be painted.  To create a vintage inspired look, I used milk paint. Unlike other paints, milk paint creates a time worn appearance and imparts character to items.  

Let me show you how I took this thrifted find and turned it into a vintage inspired door basket wreath.

Creating a Vintage Inspired Door Basket Wreath

The basket I found needed some character. The wood has that slightly orange undertone that was popular in the 1990s. However, the basket is in exceptionally good condition and it was priced at less than $10. I figured, heck, I can make something out of this for the spring decor front door project. I took it home and it sat in my office for another week while I waited for some inspiration.

For your convenience, I have linked some similar baskets that I found on Etsy. Having said that, I definitely encourage you to get out there and go thrifting. There are good deals to be found.

Supplies 

As with any project, the first thing we need to do is gather our supplies.  With the exception of the milk paint, most of these supplies can be found at any craft store such as hobby lobby or Michaels. I provided links to online sources where possible. The Spanish moss and floral foam are available at the dollar store.

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• 1 flat back basket to hang on your door 
• Milk paint in any color you choose
• Clear milk wax
• Small wax brush
• 3-4 Q-tips
• A small container and stir stick to mix the milk paint.
• 6-8 dried hydrangeas or faux flowers
• A package of green Spanish moss or floral foam
• Hair spray (optional)
• Door hook 

About Milk Paint

Unlike regular paint, milk paint has all-natural ingredients, including milk protein.  The biodegradable formula  makes it a favorite for environmentally conscious homeowners and painting professionals. Milk paint also has matte finish perfect for achieving a vintage or antique appearance.  Additionally, it is available in a wide array of  colors.  People have used it for thousands of years to get rich, vibrant color with a beautifully aged look on porous surfaces. Unlike modern paints, milk paint is sold as a powder that you subsequently mix with water using a 1:1 ratio.   Given the character the it imparts and the all natural ingredients, there is an extra cost for the paint. 

​Here is a more comprehensive article I wrote describing when to use milk paint.

Martha Stewart published an great article on the eco- friendly benefits of using milk paint.

Step 1: Paint the Basket

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I love milk paint and that I love painting all sorts of items, especially antique furniture, with milk paint. You also know that my go-to brand for milk paint is MMS Milk Paint. I find this brand consistently performs better than other milk paints AND it creates a texture, patina and character that latex paints do not. As mentioned above, I also like this paint because it is nontoxic and all natural.

For this project, I painted the basket using milk paint in the color Linen. The basket definitely needed some vintage inspired character and those orange undertones had to go!

The photo above shows the supplies used to paint the basket.

Creating a Worn Texture

I knew that I wanted the basket to look old and worn. So, I used a Q – Tip to gently and sparsely apply milk wax to select areas of the basket.

I covered the end of the Q-tip with milk wax and carefully applied it to areas of the basket where paint would naturally flake away or be worn away. Applying the wax creates a “resist” – which is the same thing as saying it prevents the paint from adhering to the wood. I focused on applying the wax near the bottom and on the corners of the basket – which are the areas that normally get the most use.

Apply the Paint

After I had applied the wax to create a resist, I mixed up 1/2 cup of milk paint in the color linen.

In about 40 minutes, I painted the basket inside and out.

When the first coat of paint was dry, I applied another coat to ensure there was good coverage. Then I waited for the second coat of paint to completely dry. This took about 30 minutes.

Then, something magical started to happen. Can you see the crazing and cracks in the paint in the photo above? This is what milk paint looks like, after it dries but just before it starts to flake off. Using a butter knife, I gently scraped all the areas with the cracking and removed any loose paint.

The photo above shows what the basket looked like after I scraped off the loose paint. Now the basket had the vintage inspired appearance and texture I love. To protect the painted basket and to retain the textured appearance, I sealed the outside of the basket using clear wax. This is the same product I used to create the “resist”.

Step 2: Add a Floral Arrangement

Truth be told, I have a basement full of hydrangeas that I dried late last summer. Here is a post I wrote on how to dry hydrangeas. In New York, we won’t have any flowers blooming outside until the end of May. Since I wanted to use this basket on my front door as a wreath, I used the dried hydrangeas to create the floral arrangement. You could also use faux flowers for your floral arrangement.

The first thing I did was stuff green Spanish moss inside of the basket. I filled the entire basket with the moss and even had a little extra that flowed over the edges of the basket. The moss acts as an anchor for the dried flowers and prevents them from falling out of the basket.

If you don’t have Spanish moss, you could also use floral foam. Trim the foam to size so it fits inside the basket.

Here is a TIP if you are creating a floral arrangement in any container. Your goal is to “break the line” which means you want the flowers or greenery to spill over the edge of the container. If you want the arrangement to look full and inviting, you don’t want to see the rim of your container.

Finally, here is one more TIP. People often say they don’t like to use dried hydrangeas because the flowers shed. Every time the front door closes – some dried hydrangea petals flutter down.

My solution to this problem – cover your dried hydrangeas with mega hold hair spray. In fact, you might want to spray them with a couple of coats of hair spray. It works like a charm. You can also use adhesive spray – which has a stronger hold but requires more drying time.

Step 3: Enjoy your Door Basket Wreath

All in all it took me about an hour to make this DIY front door basket-wreath. Here are some photos of the final result. Feel free to pin them for future reference. If you pin a photo to one of your Pinterest boards, you can visit this article at a future date.

If you hover over the photo in the upper left corner, a little red Pinterest icon will appear.

It was raining outside when I completed the project so I took some photos inside.

When it finally stopped raining, I dashed outside and took a few quick photos.

Summary

This door basket can be used year-round. Simply fill it with dried foliage or faux foliage to reflect the season. It’s a great way to welcome guests to your home and add a pop of color to your front door. I hope you are able to hop on over to see Rachel’s vintage floral basket!