I bought some large rope baskets from Costco for our laundry room but they didn’t stand up very good. I decided to make something that would help the baskets stand up on their own and would have a built in clothes rod, just like our previous laundry sorter I made.

This project only took me half a day to build and another half to sand and stain. It’s also inexpensive because it took just 3 2×4’s! I estimate that it would cost around $20 to buy the materials.

Because this project is customized for my baskets, you may be interested in changing up the measurements to fit whatever baskets you are using (or you could easily sew your own!). My baskets measure 27″ from the floor to the handle loop and they still rest on the ground when “hanging” on the knobs. They’re also 20″ wide.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

3 – 2x4x8′ long

1″ dowel

4 knobs

3/8″ wood plugs

2″ and 2-1/2″ screws

wood glue

wood stain or paint

TOOLS NEEDED:

drill + bits

3/8″ and 1″ forstner bits

small square

table saw + miter saw

sander + sandpaper

flush cut saw

pipe clamp

Cut your boards according to the above diagram. Two of the boards are cut into larger 1-1/2″ strips and the last board is cut into 1″ strips for the angle supports. If you have a jointer and planer you can true up the sides before cutting into strips.

You’ll end up with 2 – 73″ pieces for the tall back corners, 3 – 40″ pieces for the cross rails, a 25″ piece for the center bottom-back, 2 – 10″ pieces for the clothes rod “arms” and 5 – 12″ pieces for the basket “arms” and bottom “feet”.

For the 1″ strips, you’ll cut them at the end depending on how you want your angled supports to be.

Sand the pieces up to 180 grit before assembling.

Lay out your boards according to the picture above.

Use your pipe clamp to clamp boards while you pre-drill holes for your screws and screw in the screws. I drill out the 3/8″ holes first (to countersink the screws) about the depth of my plugs, then I pre-drill for my screws.

Cut your smaller strips for the angle supports on the bottom of the frame. I did this by simply holding up the strips to the “arms” on the frame and marking with a pencil where to cut. Before marking/cutting these supports first make sure your “arms” are square to the frame.

Because I put just one screw on each end of these angled boards I also glued them into place. It’s very difficult to clamp angled boards so you carefully hold it in place while you pre-drill and drill. I used 2″ screws for these boards and countersunk the holes to plug later.

Do the same thing for the corner supports on the top side.

For the dowel rod, I cut it 1/2″ longer than the opening it would sit into and countersunk 1″ holes on the “arms” of the frame for it to sit into (about 1/4″ deep). I glued and clamped it into place.

Once your frame is all screwed together you can glue in the plugs – use a mallet to set them in.

Use a flush cut saw to trim off the excess dowels once they’ve dried.

Do a final sanding up to 180 or 220 grit. Make sure to clean up any dried glue.

I’m fortunate enough to have a lathe so I made my own knobs. I made a 1/2″ tenon so I could drill out a 1/2″ hole in the “arms” of the frame to glue these into.

If you bought wooden knobs you can install them now. If they’re anything other than wood you’d want to install them after staining/painting.

Finish your wood with whatever product you please and you’re done! I used a cedar-colored deck stain because that’s what we had on hand.

If you made something like this I’d love to hear about it!