Or perhaps I should say a case for baskets, so you don’t get the wrong idea!

Baskets are a great decorating tool for containing things that might not look as impressive standing alone.  Since I have a lot of unimpressive things requiring containment in my home, I tend to use baskets.  Plus, my sister used to be a Longaberger consultant, so I got some awesome baskets as gifts and she was also kind enough to extend her employee discount to me.

(If you’re not familiar with Longaberger, it’s a family-owned company here in Ohio that creates artisan-quality handmade baskets.  Longaberger is BIG in Ohio.  Their baskets are beautiful.  And expensive.  All of my basket buying was before the collapse of the world [and my personal] economy.  If you like the baskets, but they’re out of your price range, be sure to look for them on eBay…plenty of them for sale there!)

Anyway, on to the fun part…the pictures!

A fruit basket (perfect, since it has a plastic protector, so juicy fruits don’t ruin the basket).

Coasters are one of those things that never seem to have a home.  Hence, the coaster basket…

Who wants to look at icky vitamin bottles, especially when you take as many supplements as I do!  What better place to store them than in a basket!

Extra pillows for watching TV and a cozy blanket for when it gets chilly…all of it fits perfectly in this laundry basket, plus it looks cute next to the fireplace.

Those of you with gaming kids and/or husbands know there is always the ubiquitous video game paraphernalia, which never seems to want to stay in one place, until the arrival of the faux rattan video game basket.  (Got this from Target, and sadly they no longer carry them.)

Since we live just two doors down from my sister, we have a near-constant flow of stuff going back and forth between houses…forgotten jackets, magazines moving on to their next reader, outgrown kids’ clothes being handed down to the next kid on the list, dishware from already eaten leftovers, coupons, books to share, toys…I’m sure you get the idea.  Needless to say, my sister’s family really needs their own basket at my house or things would be haphazardly tossed all over the house…we call it “The Outbox.”  The Outbox is a vintage-look wire basket at the base of the stairs that’s close to the front door.  Then every now and then I’ll empty the basket and load up some kids with goodies to take home.

So, I guess it’s true…I am a basket case!  Are you one too?  I’d love to hear how you use baskets in your home.