Wicker Bathroom Storage BasketsDecorative Amish Bathroom Baskets

A bathroom is the smallest room in the house and the one with the most small things in it. Spare rolls, tissue boxes, cotton rounds and the wastebasket all need a home, and there is rarely a cabinet to spare. These baskets are woven for those jobs rather than adapted to them: a tall basket that holds four rolls upright under a wood lid, a long basket sized for the toilet tank, covers that hide a tissue box on a counter, and three sizes of round waste basket. Each one is rattan reed woven over hardwood posts on a solid wood bottom, so it stays where you put it and keeps its shape.

Plastic cracks at the edges and discolors; a woven basket keeps its shape and looks better with age. The toilet paper basket is 7 inches across and 20 1/2 inches tall, 19 by 6 inches inside, and rolls stack one above the other, which is what lets it take standard rolls and the mega rolls that will not go in an older holder. Its solid wood lid lifts off by a hand-cut leather strap riveted to the lid, and the strap snaps to the side of the basket. The snap is firm the first several times it is opened and closed, then it breaks in, so a tight snap on a new basket is normal rather than a fault.

If the floor beside the toilet is free, the toilet paper basket takes the spare rolls and hides them. If there is no floor to spare, the tank basket uses the top of the tank: 16 inches long, 7 inches wide, holding two large rolls and a square tissue box. On a counter or a shelf, a tissue cover replaces the cardboard box. For the bin, three round sizes: 13 inches across, 11 inches, and 9 inches for the gap beside a vanity or a pedestal sink. Every measurement on this page is the outside at the widest point, and the inside runs about an inch smaller.

Every basket here is handwoven in the home of an Old Order Amish family along the Iowa-Missouri border, not in a factory, and the families depend on this work to support their homes and farms. The family member who weaves your basket signs their name on it, and if the weaver is under eighteen their age appears beside the signature. Each basket arrives with a letter from the family. An engraved solid brass plate is optional on every piece if the basket is a gift.

The same materials and the same weave run through everything the families make, so a bathroom basket sits comfortably beside a laundry hamper, a living room basket or a bread box from the same hands. Nothing has to be matched deliberately. If you need a size that is not woven here, the custom basket pages cover rectangle, square, corner, triangle and round baskets woven to the size you choose, in whole inches, with the same materials.

A bathroom counts as damp use, which is different from the rest of the house. Keep the basket out of standing water and off a wet floor, and wipe it with a dry cloth if it picks up steam from the shower. If the room runs humid, seal the wood first with a light coat of clear satin polyurethane spray and refresh it about once a year; that is the same advice we give for a porch or anywhere a basket meets moisture regularly. Dust it with a soft cloth otherwise. A cloth liner washes in cold water and air dries.

Four standard rolls stack in it comfortably, and the inside measures 19 inches tall and 6 inches across, which is room for the Extra-Large and Mega rolls sold today. Rolls sit one above the other rather than side by side, so you take the top one and the stack stays upright. If you buy the very largest rolls on the shelf and want to be certain before you order, send us the roll diameter through our contact page and we will tell you plainly.

The lid is solid wood and lifts straight off. A hand-cut leather strap is riveted to the lid and snaps to the side of the basket, and that strap is also the handle you lift it by. Unsnap the strap, lift, and set the lid aside. The snap is meant to be firm at first: after several openings it breaks in and works easily. If you would rather have a wooden knob on the lid instead of the strap, or no leather on the basket at all, write it in the order notes at checkout.

The square cover, 6 1/2 inches square and 6 inches tall, is for a standard cube box. The rectangular cover, 10 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches and 4 1/2 inches tall, is for the flat box that measures about 9 by 5 by 3 3/4 inches, with about 3 5/8 inches of height inside. Both are woven for the everyday box rather than the tall boutique box, which will not let the lid close. When someone only buys the tall box, lifting the tissues out of the cardboard and setting them straight into the basket works well. A cover woven an inch or two taller is a special order: write it in the order notes.

Measure the flat part of your tank lid first. The basket is 16 inches long and 7 inches wide, so it needs about that much flat surface; a tank with a short flat span or a raised edge along the back can leave it perched. The lid of the basket lifts straight off and has an oval opening so a square tissue box can be used through it, and underneath the basket there is nothing fixed on, so stick-on felt glides from a hardware store are a good idea on porcelain. Protective feet are optional on the page.

Both are optional on every one of them and neither is included. The liner is hand sewn from pre-shrunk cotton in cream, wine, blue or green and slips over the rim on its own elastic, and it washes in cold water. The lid is solid wood, cut half an inch wider than the basket so it rests on the rim and lifts off. Either can be ordered later on its own page if you decide you want one after the basket arrives.

Many people do, and a standard small bag hangs over the rim, but nothing about the basket holds a bag in place: the weave is tight and there is no frame or insert for one. The cloth liner is what the families make for the job, and it is what most owners use instead of a bag. There is no plastic or metal liner for these baskets and none is planned.

A few changes are a matter of writing them in the order notes at checkout: a wooden knob instead of the leather strap on the toilet paper lid, no leather at all, a solid tank lid with no tissue opening, or a tissue cover woven taller. Those are woven to order and take a little longer than a basket that is ready in the Shipping Barn. What cannot be changed is the shape or a size outside the ones listed, because each one is woven on its own form; the custom basket pages cover rectangle, square, corner, triangle and round baskets in the size you choose.

Yes, with the same care any wood furniture in a bathroom wants. The reed and the wood bottom handle the steam of a normal shower, and getting damp does them no harm as long as they dry. What they should not do is sit in water or stay wet. In a bathroom without a window or a fan, a clear satin polyurethane spray before the first use seals the wood and keeps it looking new, and one light coat about once a year keeps it that way.

The 9 inch basket, 9 1/2 inches tall, is the one that fits a half bath, the gap beside a vanity or a pedestal sink. The 11 inch, 11 1/2 inches tall, is the everyday bathroom and bedroom size. The 13 inch, 13 1/2 inches tall, is the one for a kitchen, an office or anywhere a bag of trash builds up quickly. All three are the same round basket in three sizes, and each has its own liner and its own lid.