Make your own bottle-based decorations!

Does this situation sound familiar? It’s the evening after. You’ve hosted a small party, and there are empty bottles lying around everywhere. The bottle bank feels as if it’s two continents away, and getting rid of all the bottles in one go is impossible anyway. So what now? Ever thought of recycling them?

Glass bottles, plastic bottles, wine bottles, perfume bottles …. All kinds of bottles are ideally suited for giving your home environment a uniquely personalised touch – and you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on it. What’s called “upcycling”, widely recommended on Pinterest and Instagram, has currently become a veritable interior decorating trend, and is continually inspiring new ideas.

So here’s a suggestion! Instead of moaning about how many bottles have to be disposed of yet again, you would perhaps do better to start conjuring up some individualised bottle-based decorations for your home. I’ve gathered together here for you the best ideas I’ve come across.

Vases

Bottles are ideally suited as vases. No matter whether it’s genuine or artificial, every kind of plant looks great in an attractive glass bottle. Remove the label with warm water and decorate the bottle to your taste: now you’ve got a personalised vase (more or less) free of charge. What about a red rose in a black bottle vase, for example? Or you wrap a coloured cord band round the bottle. Whether it’s glittering or matt colours, sequins or fairy lights, you can give totally free rein to your creativity here!

Advent wreath

On we go! In the run-up to Christmas, everyone is busy decorating. So how about an Advent wreath with a difference? Sounds good? Well, it is! Here, too, you don’t need to spend a lot of money. All you need is some paint, some attractive cords, four candles, and bottles of course. Paint them in the colour you want. The simplest way to do it is to dab paint onto the bottles with the aid of an old sponge. After a few hours, when the paint has dried, you can tie the cord around the neck of the bottles with tags numbered from one to four. Now all you need are the candles, which you mount on the bottles to finish up with. Et voilà, there’s your modern-day Advent wreath.

Shelf

Finally, my absolute highlight! Decorations based on bottles are not bad at all. Whether it’s a vase or a candle-holder, with the right bottles it all looks very original. But have you ever heard of a multi-storey shelf unit made of bottles? It’s quite simple, really. The bottles here form the load-bearing element between the individual shelf boards, so that you no longer need a wooden frame. For a three-storey shelf unit, you need four boards and eight bottles. Here a DIY hobbyist has provided a pretty detailed description in words and pictures of how he crafted one of these shelf units – and it’s not only his wife who likes the result 😉

These were just a few of innumerable upcycling ideas. I hope that very soon the first of you will be starting to handcraft your own creations! After all, to be perfectly honest, home-made decorations are anyway much nicer than their shop-bought counterparts. Wouldn’t you agree?