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Cleaning really dirty wicker baskets?


Darbla

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A friend offered me a couple of baskets to see if I could salvage anything useful out of them. One looks like a small version of those large wicker laundry baskets; it's rather large but not nearly as big as those laundry baskets. I could see piling this one up with longleaf pine cones, greenery, and Christmas lights. The other one is a cute medium sized country basket, white, tall handle, with an apple decoration on front.

The problem is how dingy these are, and I'm wondering if there's any mold growing on them from being in a dark, dank storage area. I googled how to clean wicker baskets but most of what I read was more how to get the dust off when these need a THOROUGH cleaning. So is there a way to thoroughly clean these without ruining them?

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Wicker baskets are pretty indestructible. If it were me, I would take them outside and spray them with a hose and then let them dry in bright sunshine. If you can use them dirty, what do you have to lose? I get baskets at yardsales all the time and that's how I clean them.

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A friend offered me a couple of baskets to see if I could salvage anything useful out of them. One looks like a small version of those large wicker laundry baskets; it's rather large but not nearly as big as those laundry baskets. I could see piling this one up with longleaf pine cones, greenery, and Christmas lights. The other one is a cute medium sized country basket, white, tall handle, with an apple decoration on front.

The problem is how dingy these are, and I'm wondering if there's any mold growing on them from being in a dark, dank storage area. I googled how to clean wicker baskets but most of what I read was more how to get the dust off when these need a THOROUGH cleaning. So is there a way to thoroughly clean these without ruining them?

I have them in assorted sizes/shapes hanging on the soffit thing in the kitchen. A couple times a year I take them down, put them in a tub filled with soap water. Let them soak several hours, rinse with shower head and run them outside to dry.

With the possibility of mold, I wonder if you could put a little bleach in there? I've not tried it but I'm thinking a little shouldn't discolor and may be enough to kill it.

HTH

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  • 5 weeks later...
I spray mine with oxy clean and give them a shower.. Drying outside in the sun takes very little time.

One of my friends has a wicker love seat, chair and coffeetable. She has a LONG kitchen and had them sitting in front of her bay window. She got tired of it so put them out on their deck...small part of it is under roof. Anyway...this is how her husband cleans them at the end of summer.

Edited by Maggie
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