Today’s project is 100% inspired by Adrienne from Chic California (which is a FANTASTIC blog by the way.)   She transformed some Dollar Store plastic tubs into adorable locker bins and I IMMEDIATELY knew I was going to copy her follow in her footsteps..  In fact, I even went to the dollar store and bought the SAME BINS.  But then I also discovered these pink numbers: 
Whoa Baby!  That is the stuff Barbie’s dreams are made of.

But as they say in the real estate business.. “Look past the decor.. it has good bones.”   That is completely true. If you look only at it’s shape, it looks like it could be a flat metal wire basket.  These ones from Ballard Designs are a good example of a commercially available inspiration version:
But $35 a pop is tad steep for el cheap-o frugal me.



So instead, I whipped out the spray primer.  Using primer instead of regular spray paint (especially on this cheap shiny plastic) will give you better adhesion, and the matte grey color is already a pretty great imitation of galvanized Zinc:

Next (and the reason for yesterday’s post) I added the DIY locker tags.

If you didn’t have an excuse to make a couple of sheet metal locker tags.. now you do:The final project cost less than $2 and unlike real wire baskets, there is no chance of snagging or poking or scratching. 
I added them to the built in shelves int he living room and unless you get up REEEEEALY close, you wouldn’t guess they were plastic.


I haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to put in them yet.  I may find some old paperbacks, like the Ballard staging.. but for now I’m just enjoying looking at them empty!