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5 Clever Ways to Repurpose Empty Wine Bottles

Jun 2, 2015 04:54 PM

I've always had an affinity for pretty wine bottles. When I was younger, my parents and my siblings would give me their empty wine bottles so I could collect them, and I loved every single one.

Of course, once I reached a certain age, I realized that I loved what resided in the bottles more than the bottles themselves, but to this day I still adore wine bottles. Half of the time my wine selection is based on the label design. My favorite bottles are in my windowsill, and I can't help but glance over at them with some regularity.

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Thankfully, wine bottles are the perfect receptacle for repurposing. You can do a myriad of different things with empty wine bottles, but here are my five favorite uses for them.

1. Watering Can

I love traditional watering cans, but I live in a studio apartment. A real watering can is too big for my living space, and let's be honest: watering cans look weird when they're inside. They're meant for the outdoors. Instead, I use a wine bottle, which works just as well, and looks chic and artsy in my apartment.

If you want to get creative with it, you can use a straw and a wine bottle to create a self-pouring watering can for when you're away!

2. Angel Food Cake Stand

I was shocked the first time I made an angel food cake. I got to the end of the recipe, and there it was: "balance the cake upside down on a wine bottle until it cools."

Indeed, there's no better way to hold an angel food cake—which needs to be elevated and upside-down while it cools—than with a wine bottle, which has the perfect neck size for an angel food cake pan. It looks a little silly, but it works like a charm.

3. Drinking Glass

Even if you aren't a fan of wine bottles, you should make a drinking glass out of one just because of how fun it is. All you need to do is soak a piece of string in acetone, tie it around the bottle (beer bottles work, too), light it on fire, and then dunk it in ice water. The bottle will break instantly and cleanly, and after a quick sanding it will be good to drink out of!

4. Fancy Water Carafe

This is my all-time favorite trick for making a dinner at home feel upscale. A chilled wine bottle filled with water instantly makes a home meal feel fancy, classy, and romantic.

5. Candle Holder

An empty wine bottle is a readymade candle holder. All you need to do is place a skinny candle in the empty bottle and you're good to go. Or, if you want to make your candle really pretty, you can cut the bottle using #3 above and fill it with larger candles. What could be prettier than that?