Salvage Seattle

FINALLLLYYYYY! Here is my next DIY instructional post!

Boy, did I run into some problems with this one. But now that it’s finished, I absolutely love the way this decorative piece turned out. Even though, I had to jump through some hoops along the way.

Let’s get this DIY started!

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You might notice in this “BEFORE” picture, I have a lot more bottles/vases ready for use. I’ll explain this issue soon…

I got all these glass pieces from a thrift store for a total of $15. Which I actually thought was too much for empty bottles. And yes, I was irritated about it. But they were all some of the cutest bottles for what I wanted to achieve.

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These are the paints I used for the inside of the glass vases/bottles. Make sure to use enamel paint, if you want it to last. And especially if you want to be able to put water and flowers in them later. The reason I painted the inside of the glasses is because I wanted them all to have an extreme shine, which seeing through the glass provides. The three of these paints came from a local craft store for a total of $6.

I painted two glasses white, two teal, and mixed a light teal for the middle two.

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Here is where I quickly ran into problems. I thought that I could simply squirt some paint in the bottom of each glass and swirl it around and let gravity paint the inside of each vase. WRONG! Apparently enamel paint is too thick for that. So, I quickly decided I would use a paintbrush that I had in the infamous junk drawer. Which also lead to another problem…

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Of courseeeeee….the paintbrush was too short. But taping some pencils to it seemed to work fabulously. With a longer tool to work with, I continued painting the inside of each glass. HOWEVER, some of the glasses I bought were literally impossible to paint. Since I didn’t think I was going to use a paintbrush, I hadn’t thought about the fact that the neck of the bottle needed to be wide enough to allow the brush to move. This lead to the elimination of three bottles. So, I’ll save them for another DIY project down the road.

Also…I learned that this paint will stick to a shellac manicure…So that’s cool.

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After you paint each glass, make sure to wipe the top edge. This will create a more finished look. And we like to look professional, right?

This can take many small wipes. Always fold the paper towel before each wipe.

I let the first coat dry for a full day before applying a second. And the paint bottle suggests waiting 27 days before getting the paint wet, to allow the paint to cure completely.

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As you can see, I finished the look by placing the corks back into the bottles that came with them, and added some burlap twine that I found in the garage. Hopefully its clean? This DIY project was pretty fun and rewarding, even though it presented some challenges here and there. I definitely recommend trying it out! And be sure to leave a comment below if you do!

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TOTAL COST: $21

Items SALVAGED From the Inevitable Seattle Trash Day:

• 9 bottles/vases (3 to be used later)
• Some burlap twine
• Enamel paint. ***Bought new***