diy project: mail basket

Spontaneous piles seem to form around my house. Mail is probably the most often piled culprit. Why worry about opening mail and filing it when you can stack it up for a week? If you feel the same but are looking for a way to appease the neat freaks in your life, why not make a cool-looking basket for it? — Matt

See the full how-to after the jump!

Materials

• 5/8″ wide hardwood dowel
• 1 x 2 hardwood board
• leather straps
• heavy waxed thread
• tacks

 

Tools

• saw
• drill press
• pocket screw jig
• drill
• tack hammer
• leather hole punch or awl
• heavy waxed thread
• leather needle

 

Instructions

1. Cut your wood pieces first. Grab the 1 x 2 and cut a 12″ piece and two 6″ pieces. Cut a dowel piece to 12 1/2″.

2. Time to drill holes: Measure the centers and 3/4″ from the front end of the 6″ pieces, and drill a 5/8″ wide hole that’s 1/2″ deep to accept the dowel. Drill your pocket holes on the ends of the 12″ back piece.

3. Cut your leather strap piece to 11″ lengths. I used six pieces. On one end, punch four holes — two close to the end, and two about 2″ in. You can wrap a piece around your dowel and judge how close you want to punch your holes. After punching holes, I ran some waxed thread though three or four times, tied it toward the back with a square knot and cut the ends.

4. After sewing up all your straps, assemble them to the dowel piece, spacing them evenly, and then you can tack them to the back board. Lay them nice-side down and nail some tacks to the top edge. Make sure to nail them near the top so you can lift them up to screw the frame to the wall and so your screws will be hidden underneath.

5. Lastly, we’re ready to assemble the frame. Attach one side piece using pocket screws in the pocket holes you drilled earlier. Insert the dowel to the attached side, then screw together the other side piece. You might need to tap the dowel with a mallet and ensure that it’s squared with the back piece. After assembly, you can attach it to the wall simply by drilling through the back — the screws will be hidden if you center them under a couple straps.