Longaberger Basket

I haven’t had a thrift store shopping trip in awhile so, I thought I would do a blog including a Longaberger Basket find.

Longaberger Basket, Vegetable Keeper

The first item I want to talk about is the below photograph of the woven Longaberger Basket. This small basket is a little pricy at $7.50, but I know the quality of Longaberger handwoven baskets. Online I saw a similar basket priced from $17 to $25.

Longaberger Basket, Holiday Sled

Longaberger baskets were made in Dresden, Ohio. This small basket is, also, known as a sled basket, book keeper or vegetable basket.

I’m going to use it to hold my potatoes, so I’m calling it a vegetable basket. If you look online, you will see the company offered a sled form. The basket then became a mini sled to fill with holiday ornaments.

Brief History of Lonaberger Baskets

The Longaberger Basket company was known for its finely crafted maple wood woven baskets.

I remember buying my first Longaberger Basket in a home sales party. At the height of their popularity in 2000, the company made one billon dollars. Then in 2018, the 45-year-old company went out of business.

The iconic Longaberger Baskets’ headquarters building in Ohio is shaped like a giant Medium Market Basket. This building cost $30 million dollars to build, is seven-stories high and 180,000 square feet in area.

It took 18 months alone to construct the 75-ton basket handles. They are also specially heated so that winter ice doesn’t form on the handles causing roof problems.

Back in 2017, it was announced the Longaberger Basket building would be turned into a luxury hotel in 2020. However, that was before the COVID virus came about. Plans changed and now the building is back on the market for $6.5 million dollars.

Longaberger Basket designs will apparently live on and will be put back into production by Dresden & Company.

Hopefully, who ever buys the Longaberger Basket HQ Building will not change its neat basket design.

Pottery Barn Table Runner

Also, on my thrift store shopping trip, I found this like-new Pottery Barn table runner on a half-price sale for only $7.

It has a nice yellow and maroon flower design with a yellow border on each end. The table runner is 16 x 90 inches long and made of 100% cotton.

Be sure to check back with our blog to see how we will use it for our fall decorating or table settings.

Glass Vase Fillers

A while back, I got some professional design help with my living room. It was noted that my living room and fireplace lacked some natural greenery. So, I added some plastic greenery to my silk flowers table arrangement and now things looks much better.

I’m still working on updating my fireplace.

I found, however, the vase was heaver than before, so I purchased some glass vase fillers from the thrift store. This keeps my top-heavy vase weighted down to prevent it from falling over.

I found a package of glass vase fillers for $2 so I picked them up knowing this was something I could use for this project.

Brand New Spiced Hot Pad

This new spiced hot pad is still in the original wrapping paper and the rooster design is quite nice.

It looks interesting and smells a little like cinnamon so I purchased it for only $2. Online price is about $13.50, so what a great thrift store purchase.

This item needs to be hand washed. That might be an issue for me since I tend to be a little sloppy when serving meals.

Welsh Lovespoon

My last thrift store purchase is a wooden Welsh Lovespoon with a Cross and Heart design on it. It is approximately 6-inches long.

History of Lovespoons

Making and giving lovespoons is a custom that began in Wales in the 17th century.

The spoon were carved by men to show their carving talents. The spoons were then given to a special girl to show their love. Different symbols carved into the spoons mean certain things.

Lovespoons are also given on special occasions such as weddings, engagements, anniversaries, christenings and births.

Sometimes dates or names were inscribed on the spoons.

Update on Longaberger Basket Use: 9-4-2021

After giving it some thought, my Longaberger Basket became a soap storage bin. It looks nice in my linen closet and fits nicely between towels.

I don’t want any rotting potatoes spoiling my clean Longaberger basket.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my thrift store purchases. As always, I love to support the secondhand charity shops in the area plus get fabulous merchandise at great prices.

Happy Shopping!