I think I originally saw and coveted a wicker basket with wheels on the Ballard website, but I can’t find it now. I do remember the price was higher than I was willing to pay. I found another one on CS Post’s website. Yikes, a $200+ price tag calls for a little DIY instead. So, I started looking around for a wicker basket to which I could add wheels myself.

I wanted a good-sized basket that would hold blankets and a few throw pillows, but they tend to be pricey even without the wheels. I finally found one at a local antique mall for $25. I considered whitewashing it but wasn’t sure if I would like the look, so I started on the bottom.

I liked the natural warm look of the wicker better, so I stopped right there. Pricing wheels kept me at a standstill also, until I found these rubber casters on D Lawless Hardware’s site. Their price for a set of four is about the same as individual castors anywhere else. When I contacted them, they graciously offered me a set to review.

Honestly, when I saw what a heavy-duty set of castors this was, I was a wee bit reluctant to use them on my wicker basket. Richard thought I should save them for something like a kitchen island, but gee, I don’t have a kitchen island to roll around. Next project…?

Anyway, let’s move along and show you just how I attached these lovely wheels to my lovely basket. I could have just added a block to the inside four corners, but the basket isn’t the sturdiest thing, so I decided to add a 5/8” piece of plywood to the inside bottom to reinforce it a bit.

Mr. Engineer said I should measure and cut the plywood, but I told him to let me do it my girly way. I used a piece of newspaper to make a pattern, then cut the plywood with my rotozip. Good thing, too, because the basket is not perfectly symmetrical or square. Huh. And my excellent roto zipping skills would have negated any measuring perfection anyway.

Ok, time to show you MY engineering skills. Or maybe I should say, acrobatic skills. In order to hold the plywood in place while I screwed the wheels to the bottom, I placed a five-gallon bucket inside the basket, pushed against it with my knee while holding the wheel in place with one hand, and using the other hand to screw it in place with the drill. (The bucket wasn’t quite tall enough to suspend the basket on top.) Sorry, no picture of the actual maneuver. That’s a lie, I’m not sorry there are no pictures.

I love it! I don’t know why the wheels make me smile, but they do.