Ballard Design File Storage Basket for Less!

My Mom introduced me to the fabulousness that is Ballard's Design about a year ago. Perfect timing since that was right around when we officially became homeowners! That is until I looked a little more closely at my Ballard wishlist selections - specifically the prices. While I can't bring myself to purchase a lot of the furniture and even accessories from BD due to their hefty pricetags, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the BD catalog as design inspiration, right?!

I am particularly inspired by how Ballard Designs can make home offices look gorgeous while at the same time being practical.  The office swivel chair below is gorgeous and looks pretty comfy, too. However, it's listed for $839 on sale for $699. I want to be comfortable when I'm working - but I'm definitely not comfortable shelling out 700 smackers for this chair, beautiful as she may be. 

Ballard Designs

BD can even take something as small and simple as a corkboard and recreate it as a vintage beauty. 

Ballard Designs

These range from $99 up to $299, depending on the size of the board. Yes, you just read $300 for a bulletin board. Crazy, huh. Wait it gets better. The bulletin board below is sporting a $500 pricetag.

Ballard Designs

I have noticed on my favorite DIY blogs that many folks out there are recreating this look on the cheap. I jumped on that bandwagon awhile ago, too, and have created not one, but two bulletin boards similar to the BD versions....along with a chalkboard for around 20 bucks a pop. I will post about these DIY projects in the near future.

Good ole Ballard D can even make a file system into a thing of art. And wouldn't you know it, my husband has mentioned that we should get some additional file storage, now that he's doing some occasional work from home. Currently we have four plastic storage bins (filled with my teaching files) that look like this:

Plastic Storage Drawers

And we also have one of these (which we use to share our important documents):

Hub Pages

While they're doing the job storage-wise, they are both kept outta sight for obvious reasons in a guest bedroom closet. We also have various stacks of papers inside coffee tables, end tables and desk drawers - all just waiting to be organized. Clearly we were due for more file storage. Before running out and buying more of the boring plastic bins, I knew that somewhere out there existed the perfect solution for our file storage needs that is functional and wouldn't require banishment to a spare closet.

So, of course, the first thing I did was pull out my latest Ballard catalogue and I opened up to the home office section to get ideas. I fell hard for these ottomans:

Ballard Designs

There are so many things I love about this. I love that it's not only a decent-sized file storage system, it's also an ottoman! That means it could be proudly displayed in virtually any room of the house and provide additional (pretty!!) seating! I also love that it has wheels so it can easily be moved and that it's relatively small in size. Finally I love that you can customize the fabric based on many different colors and patterns. Prices for this ottoman range from $299-527 based on your fabric selection. The specific ottoman above would set me back $419. While this piece is multi-functional and attractive....I still felt $419 was too much to spend - especially since I was planning to purchase several file systems. That could add up really quick.

My most recent BD catalogue features a woven basket file storage system for $60, pictured in the far right corner below.



$60 is actually a pretty fair price (at least compared to the ottoman)...but I knew I would need at least 3 of these puppies which would bring me up to almost $200. I also knew I could recreate this for much less...which is exactly what I did!

Here's how I made Ballard-inspired file baskets for $20 a pop:

I purchased three baskets from Michael's for $14.99 each (these were on sale from originally $29.99). Michael's has pretty good sales, especially on baskets and picture frames so I knew this was the place for me to check out first.

I also purchased a file frame kit (letter size) from Office Max for around $15.00. This kit comes with a set of 4 file frames, so I only needed to buy 1 kit and I still have 1 file frame leftover. This set is very similar.

The great thing about these kits is that you can customize the size of your file storage by cutting the poles to your desired size. There are 2 easy ways to do this:

 #1) If you have a larger storage basket (large enough to match the minimum size listed on your file frame kit - mine was a range between 22-36"), the first thing you should do is measure the inside of your basket to determine exactly how long you want your file frame to be. If you would like your file frame to be a size that is in between the range provided with the file frame kit you can easily just use pliers to snap off your desired size with pre-grooved notches and assemble the frame following the directions on the box.

  Then place the frame inside of the box and voila, you're done! If you want a file basket size outside of the range of your file frame kit, move on to #2.

 #2) If you're like me and using a smaller-than 22" basket (because you excitedly bought baskets that were on sale for a great price without actually measuring), you can also easily cut the poles to a customized size. It took less than 10 minutes to cut all 3 file frame poles for my baskets. Just like #1 above, the absolute first thing you should do is measure the inside of your basket to determine how long you want your file frame to be. Next, I snapped the poles down to the shortest notch of 22" (see #1 for more info on this). I wanted my poles to be 11" long to fit in my basket, so I hubs simply used a ruler to measure and mark off 11".

Next, my hubs used a small saw to make the cuts. It didn't look too hard to do and if my husband didn't enjoy using his tools so much than I would have done it myself. But I didn't want to take that fun away from him. :-)

Once the poles were cut to 11", I assembled the frames following the easy-peasy directions on the box. Took maybe another 10 minutes, if that.

 Finally, I placed the file frame inside the basket.

  

Success! It looks just like the Ballard Design version (except my baskets have cool side handles for easy transport)! My baskets are also the same size as the BD version - yet cost a whopping $20 total per basket....or $60 for all three baskets. Essentially I was able to recreate 3 BD file baskets for Ballard's price of 1 basket!!! Goooooo, me!

The *best* thing about these file storage kits is that you can customize the size. If you already own a large basket, you could make a larger storage system than my version - even Ballard's! I myself wanted a smaller basket so that it would fit on our office bookshelves. To each his own. You can also use these file frames virtually anywhere they'll fit - desk drawers, dresser drawers, etc.

Has anyone else come up with a creative way to store files??!!! Do tell!

I am linking this how-to up with the following link parties:

Monday: The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Front Porch, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, House in Roses, Making the World Cuter, Keeping it Simple, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Twice Remembered, Super Stinky Boys, Mad in Crafts, and Creating Really Awesome Free Things.

Tuesday: Coastal Charm, Hope Studios, New Nostalgia, The Lettered Cottage, Trendy Treehouse, All Things Related, The Herber Family, Tip Junkie, The Gypsy Corner, and Creating a House of Grace.

Wednesday: Someday Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Faded Charm Cottage, Fireflies and Jellybeans, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, and Night Owl Crafting.

Thursday: Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Tales from Bloggaritaville, House of Hepworths, Not So Crafty Crafts, The Virginia House and Allie Makes.

Friday: Chic on a Shoestring, Romantic Home, Finding Fabulous, Common Ground, It’s a Hodge Podge Life, French Country Cottage, A La Carte, Just a Girl, Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Tatertots and Jello and Stuff and Nonsense.