Easy and inexpensive DIY media box cover using a basket

The ugly media box

I know I’m not the only one out there who has a difficult time decorating around the media box on my mantel. If you have a cable box, this project might be a little less convenient for you. A cable box uses a frequent signal, so you would have to move the cover while watching TV. I, however, am stuck in the 1990s, so we just have a DVD/VCR combo that’s adding ugly to our mantel. Netflix and Apple TV rule in our house, so we didn’t even have the DVD/VCR player set up until a couple of weeks ago. I was shamelessly hooked on Gone Girl and had to watch the movie 😉

I planned on unhooking everything and putting it away after I got my Gone Girl fix, but its been really convenient having it hooked up. My daughter rummaged through my old VHS tapes and found The Little Mermaid. I happily watched it with her, and oh my gosh, I forgot how good it is! It was so nice to just pop it in and not have to drag the box out and mess with all the cords. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the look.

The DIY wheels started turning. You know me, always looking for inexpensive! I was trying to think of something easy to conceal the media box, and I thought “basket”. I want to share with you how I made a couple of adjustments to a store-bought basket to make the mantel pretty again!

Here’s how

Measure the box you want to conceal
Find a basket that best fits your needed dimensions. It does not have to be a perfect fit, but it must me at least the size of you media box. Ideally, you will only have to trim the basket for depth, try to get the correct/close height and length.

Get your tin snips ready (purchase at any hardware store for around $10)

Get your muscles ready, because most of the baskets will have some wires to cut through.
Cut the basket to the desired depth

Place trimmed basket upside down over media box
Step back and enjoy your pretty mantel 🙂

Be creative with your saving. The basket I found was dented on one side.

I knew I would just be cutting that part off anyway, but I asked if I could get an additional discount since it was “damaged”. They knocked another $2.50 off. If the basket isn’t on sale, use an online coupon!