Local Colour: Tobacco Baskets Bundle In Southeastern Style

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The tobacco industry does not normally conjure up the most positive images, but one byproduct is showing up in stunning home graphics: classic tobacco baskets. Once purely functional items used to haul java leaves to and from the market, these beautiful baskets have caught the attention of interior designers and homeowners all around the nation, as a result of their artistic shape, handiwork and feel. Following is a closer look at where and how these rustic baskets are all hanging.

Liz Williams Interiors

Interior designer Liz Williams was the first man to clue me in on the provenance of those crude baskets. One adds texture and depth over a seat here.

Watch the rest of this coastal home

Kelly Donovan

Primitive Tobacco Basket – $150

Local farmers would accumulate oak and cut it into splits, then market it to the tobacco basket factories for extra income. The mill workers soaked the wood in hot water to make the strips of timber pliable, then divides them to shape and fastened them with little nails. The mills in Yadkin County, North Carolina, produced thousands of baskets per year, which have been shipped to the places where tobacco was grown and delivered to market.

Tracery Interiors

Tobacco farm employees placed the tobacco leaves in a round arrangement on the baskets for market. The bigger openings around the borders were for hooks on the scales in the market and for carrying the baskets.

Heritage Restorations

Tucked at the summit of this barn, a tobacco basket fits right in with all the rough-hewn timbers and knotty planks. It’s also big enough to be observed from way across the room and down a degree, referencing a hayloft-style window from a space.

Heritage Restorations

Kelly Donovan

Large tobacco baskets are a nice match for big rooms and over long couches.

Community & Architecture Design, Union Studio

Witt Construction

If the scale of this basket isn’t large enough to your room, consider hanging a pair.

Frederick + Frederick Architects

They are also becoming a popular option within mantels.

Brookstone Builders

Terracotta Design Build

The baskets can add visual interest to a farmhouse-style kitchen.

Troy Rhone Garden Design

Many people use them as a framework or to create rustic assemblages, like this among classic gardening and farm resources.

Rethink Design Studio

The oak strips operate well with other wood furnishings, in addition to woven blinds and other textured elements, like jute or sea grass carpeting.

Palmetto Development Services I, LLC

The big loose weave of the baskets makes for an intriguing pairing with wicker or rattan furniture.

Succor Estate Sales

You do not need to hang your coffee basket; it can also function as an intriguing centerpiece or centerpiece.

Authentic classic cigarette baskets can frequently be found for a sneak in antiques shops in Tennessee and North Carolina, but the cost is rising online, so grab one when you see a good thing. If you’d like a cigarette basket for your home and do not have enough time to comb tobacco nation antiques markets, then there are plenty to be had online using a simple search. Prices range wildly based on age and condition; right now they seem to average around $100 on eBay, but I’ve also spied reproduction baskets on Etsy for below $50.

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