Chevron Delight - a laundry basket makeover

When I first bought my laundry basket I did so out of necessity and chose the least ugly of a vast selection of very ugly baskets.  I had told myself that I would redo the cushion and make it match the bathroom.  That was five years ago.

I guess it takes me five years of ugliness before I get to my limit because this week I'd finally had enough of the chartreuse, purple and poo-brown stripes and dismounted the lid from the basket for its makeover.

I know the chevron trend is almost over but I really like the look and never managed to get around to making anything with the style... So here goes.

The cushion was made from what seemed like a cotton canvas and wasn't really easily re-upholstered so I decided to paint it as if it were a normal canvas and hope for the best in regards to wear and tear. I used 3 coats of acrylic gesso to cover the horrible stripes and proceeded to tape out my chevron patten with normal masking tape.  I then repainted white over the tape to help it stick down and to not let it bleed too much. I wasn't worried about having perfect borders because I was going for a messier look so I wasn't too concerned with how much the tape stuck down or how neat the points of the zigs and zags were.

It was hard to choose a colour for the stripes, but in the end I decided on a grey that would match the bathmat we recently purchased. I found it a bit softer than the typical black on white chevrons.  When the white coat was dry I used a stripling motion with a quite dry brush to get the effect you see on the final basket.  I then waited a little while longer and peeled off the tape before the paint was completely dry.

I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to paint the actual basket itself, but since it matches the floor of the bathroom I feel like for the moment it stands out a bit less with its original brown.  I suppose It could be a project for another day.