I bought a wastebasket that caught my eye at The Container Store while I was there for bamboo drawer organizers. I took a picture of it while I was in the parking lot.
I knew I would need to use bags with it, but when I got home and put a bag in it, I felt it looked like ass. I wanted to hide the bag inside, and also hide the bag flap around the rim. So I lined the inside with some scrap 1/4″ oak plywood I had on hand, and made a drop-on collar out of solid oak to hold the bag in place and hide the flap.
The recess was intentional, so I could create a lid. I wanted a flat lid so that the wastebasket could be used as a tiny table (say for holding a book or my iPad when I doze off on the new window seat). I went with solid 3/4″ oak I had on hand (leftovers from one of the rolling drawer cabinets). I used finger holes instead of a handle, to keep it flat.
After stain and polyurethane, I wound up with this.
In hindsight, I could’ve just built the whole thing from oak scraps I have. But the store-bought wastebasket was the inspiration, and I’m very happy with the result.