We are pretty good about recycling, but terrible at actually taking the bottles and boxes to the recycling center. Our recycling station is in the garage, out of sight out of mind. You know how that goes.
Last weekend, I was actually embarrassed by the amount of boxes we had accumulated and realized it was time to haul everything to town. As I stood there procrastinating, I noticed how pretty some of the liquor bottles were. They were all shapes and sizes, and I wondered if I could turn them into something.
I have a galvanized trough (it's majorly discounted right now on shopterrain.com) that I sometimes use as a centerpiece on my kitchen table, and decided it would be perfect to hold the bottles and some greenery. I marked the dimensions on the countertop and played around with the bottles to decide which ones would look the best. Once I had a game plan, I needed to clean up the bottles.
We rinse our containers before putting them in the bins, so they weren't in too bad of shape. My trick for removing labels from bottles is to soak them in a sink of hot water with about 2-3 cups of baking soda. Some of the labels slide right off, others are more stubborn and I have to use a magic eraser or lemon oil (it removes stickiness).
The last step was to rinse the bottles with hot water and swirl a little vinegar inside them. This helps them to be more crystal clear (we have hard water). Then I dried them with a microfiber cloth. Done.
My style is pretty basic, and I have a bunch of decor that I can mix and match around my house. It is kind of like a having a capsule wardrobe, only with household decor.
I borrowed some vase filler greens from other rooms around the house. I didn't have a table runner that worked, but I had some plaid cloth napkins that I layered to make a faux runner.
It would be really fun to add some floral stems like ranunculus or apple blossom stems to the centerpiece, but I don't have any laying around. Maybe next time! We do have a cherry tree in the back garden that will get pretty blooms next month... I might have to borrow a few!
Just to see how it looked, I tried moving our entryway bench into the dining room, but I decided to move it back for now. I also moved the jute rug that was under the table to a different room. It seems like we've had light snow off and on for the last month and my floors are nonstop filthy. I like the option of being able to mop without messing with a rug right now.
I love upcycling, repurposing and rearranging! Sometimes it works, sometimes it's not how I pictured and I change it up immediately. The trick is not being afraid to try!
Oh, and if you're wondering if I took the recycling to town (which was the whole point of this!), I didn't make it that day! I got side tracked and made a quick wreath for the front door instead.
Have a happy day, friends!
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