Weekend Project: Bottle Painting = Vases

Picture 3Photo credit: Angus McRitchie (L'express Bistro) for Canadian House & Home
Ironically I came across the same project in two separate magazines this week, one from April's Canadian House & Home by Design Editor, Stephanie White and the other from the March issue of Australia's Real Living. The project is super easy and we can hardly wait to try it out. Perfect for a warm spring day out on the deck. The project instructions basically tells you to clean and dry the bottles (soak to remove labels) and then by pouring a dollop of paint into the bottle gradually rotate/swirl the paint inside until the paint coats the entire interior. Some may need two coats. Dry on a damp or plastic dropsheet. And voila!

Update: Watch a video how-to by Stephanie White on House and Home's TV.

A HUGE thank you to Elissa for a copy of Real Living!

IMG_2184project styling - marie nichols; writer - alex ward; photography - chris warnes; styling assistant - claire carroll for Real Living Magazine

Jan Halvarson

32 comments:

K.Nelson said...

What a fantastic idea, I can't wait to try it and I'm emailing this to my sister right now. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

its so simple and so sweet! Thanks for posting this!

L.G. said...

wow , what a great idea , I'm going to try that ! so simple :)

melissa said...

I've seen this around lately. It looks great.

I wish I had some bottles lying around to try it out.

Tigerlilly Quinn said...

Oh i saw this in bbc home living mag the other day! was just thinking about it this morning such a great idea right? www.tigerlillyquinn.blogspot.com xoxo

Kirsten Krason said...

So smart. I love it.

Pixie said...

Oh, I love that! I don't have any empty bottles right now because I just put everything out for recycling but I can't wait to finish up something so I can have the glass!

Jacaranda Designs Jewelry said...

So simple yet really effective. I definitely going to have to give this a try. Hopefully they'll turn out as well as the ones pictured!

Luttrell Studio said...

They look fabulous! I may have to see what's past it expiry date in the fridge and try it out!! ;-)

Valerie said...

What a lovely and rather simple idea. Very pretty pictures!

Unknown said...

What kind of paint should you use?

Anonymous said...

excellent! i have so many paint samples of similar shades from painting my daughter's room - now i know what to do with at least some of them!

Jan Halvarson said...

Hi Bobbi - i assumed it was regular interior latex paint (but they don't exactly specify). the h&h article says a sample-size can of paint will coat the inside of larger containers - so that to me would mean interior laytex paint.

LaineDesign said...

Genius!

sMacThoughts said...

Oh the peppermint blue is SO lovely. What a great idea to do with light and 'pretty' colors (eons ago, I used to make mini bottles similarly, but in very drab and dark colors...)

Jan Halvarson said...

sMacThoughts - oh that's cool - i like the idea of these in mini-bottles.

Donna Rosser said...

Just how darn cool is this and why hadn't I thought of it already???? (can you tell I have a collection of jars -- and paint -- just waiting for a nice day now!)

Thanks!

Unknown said...

thanks Jan!

lisa solomon said...

sometimes the simple ideas are the best. i love how different they look with different tones of paint!

Recaptured Charm said...

I love this idea. I actually have been saving up a few jars here and there. Time to give it try! These look awesome.

Leslie @ everygoodandperfect said...

I love painting bottles! A line of colored bottles is an absolutely perfect way to display Gerber daisies, one in each. I currently have a stash of bottles under my desk waiting for a paint brush, lol. Loved these images - so great!

Unknown said...

Love the idea! I'll be trying this out soon. Thanks for the post.

Allison Rae said...

This is a super idea – I especially love that collection of dreamy seafoam tones in the top pic! Now I'm also curious to give it a try with some colored glass bottles (green Pellegrino ones maybe) with a few slightly different paint colors.

jdavissquared said...

I've seen these before, and I've always wanted to try to make some. I love this look!

Nadine said...

How do they fair with water inside??
Excited to try xx

Crystal Allen said...

I love this! I'm in the process of setting up my sewing studio and can't wait to do this with aqua and chocolate paints to store pens, pencils, rulers and other goodies in!

Dahlila said...

Love the idea. Latex or oil based paint? They need to hold water still. Please share.
dahlila :-)

Martina said...

So nice and easy - will give it a try!

cori said...

oh nice! i remember seeing this in martha stewart living magazine a few years ago: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/best-bottle-beauty
they recommend using dishwasher safe enamel paint. very cute!

Louise (Table Tonic) said...

Wowee - always such a popular one! I did a post on another gorggeous incarnation of the painted vase on my blog a while back - you can view it here:

http://tabletonic.blogspot.com/2010/01/worlds-easiest-diy-coloured-vases.html

Anonymous said...

This is pure genius! I'm doing it this weekend for sure! Thanks for sharing! xo

Honeylushy said...

I saw this in an old martha stewart magazine...i've been saving my cool looking bottles to do it because its so cute!