I had a little bit too much fun making a decorative waste paper basket for my husbands home office. I chose a quite grand (maybe a little over the top) design, but he is my King after all. You can choose any design that you like and paint it in any colours that you wish.

There are also so many different types of embellishments that you can add to your decorative waste paper basket to make it even more decorative.

First, start by finding a template for the design that you would like to put on your waste paper bin and cut it out of paper. Make sure that you choose a design with a couple of layers to it. Then draw your design four times or as many times as you need on either thick corrugated cardboard or foamcore.

Then carefully cut your design out using a craft knife and cutting mat. Then stick your design onto all four sides of your wastepaper basket. You can then cut the piping cord to go around the edges of your design, and tie a bow at the bottom if desired.

I recommend using a hot glue gun to stick everything down securely. Then paint the whole thing, both inside and outside using acrylic gesso.

Next, paint a piece of thin card using acrylic gesso and let it dry thoroughly. Once dry, draw around the next part of your template four times, or more if desired. Mix your acrylic paints to get any colours that you like for your design, and paint the first layer of your design. Use a large paintbrush in random sweeping motions.

Then apply patches of the black and brown shoe polishes mixed with the neutral shoe polish. Do this with the gesso coating of the basket, the cord and the top layer of the design. Wipe using kitchen paper as you go, and apply layers until you get your desired antiqued effect.

It's fun making a decorative waste paper basket.

Now, cut out the top part of your design. Apply a layer of gold size, then run on some gold leaf. You can add as much or as little of this as you wish. Then glue the top layer of your design in place. Then finally coat the whole thing in a layer of polyurethane varnish.