Upcycle Your Old Paint Bucket Into Trendy Home Decor

Instagram upcycler, Sarah Teresinski, has a stylish idea for reusing a five-gallon paint bucket to create stealthy storage. Of course, you can buy a new bucket (and lid), if you don't have one on hand or if you used your last bucket to make a portable potty. Teresinski covers the bucket and the lid with an old throw blanket and ends up with what looks, on casual inspection, like a store-bought storage basket or round bin with a lid.

Making the basket is about as easy as a DIY project gets. After removing the bucket's handle, Teresinski cuts the throw roughly to size and carefully hot glues it to the outside of the bucket, wrapping it so that a few inches of cloth fold inside the paint bucket. The care comes into play as she's using a striped material with multiple rows of fringe, so they need to be consistently horizontal when attached. With a different pattern, less attention would be necessary. She caps the little ottoman off by hot gluing another scrap of the same fabric to the lid. She spray-paints a corrugated cardboard disc from a frozen pizza and glues it on the bottom to cover up the fabric's loose ends. She notes in the comments that one use for such a trendy storage vessel is hiding away toys in the living room. Yes, please.

Tresinski's idea to use this throw, which she would have otherwise discarded, was a good move. The deeper texture contributes to the illusion that this is a piece of furniture. The fringe-y throw has a lot of body and calls to mind the corded, ribbed, and sometimes even shaggy ottomans, covered with everything from boucle to faux fur, that have been popular for years. Ultimately, you can choose any fabric that works with your decor. Bonus points if you bought it for your living space and you haven't redecorated; it will fit in. A less dimensional weave will work just fine, and there's no reason you can't add some poly fiber padding if you're concerned that it will turn out looking like a cloth-covered paint bucket. Use your imagination; ottomans with playful fabrics are enjoying a fashionable moment.

You don't have to use the same fabric on the lid. Choosing a different pattern or texture will call attention to the fact that this piece is for storage. Still, unless your fabric choice is as quirky as Teresenski's, that might be obvious anyway. It's intuitive to find something similar for the lid, but don't be afraid to play with contrasting colors and textures. And if you're more interested in dressing up the bucket than disguising it, you can skip the lid entirely and craft toy buckets for a child's room. They're fun and useful, and you can keep the handle.