{decorating with style} Metallic Wine Bottle Vases for Fall

Are you a fan of the gold trend? I am still more of a silver girl at heart – and there is a lot of silver in my home – but I am trying to embrace the gold trend by incorporating some gold here and there. Both gold and copper make me think of autumn, so I’ve been having fun mixing metals in some of my fall decor projects, including these shiny, happy wine bottle vases.

I recently purchased some peacock feathers and some cotton branches that I wanted to incorporate in to my fall decor, but when I tried arranging them in any of the many vases in my kitchen cupboard it just didn’t work. I needed something with a very narrow opening, and even the smallest of my existing vases was too wide.

I knew that wine bottles would work perfectly for my vases, but we don’t drink a lot of wine {despite what the wine rack console table in our kitchen might suggest}. I wanted to turn three wine bottles in to vases, but knew that we wouldn’t be drinking three bottles of wine any time soon. So instead I called one of the restaurants in our neighborhood, and they happily gave me a few of the wine bottles that they would otherwise be dumping in the recycling bin. I like that these bottles are not all the same shape of height – giving more of a collected look.

Since I planned to paint these vases, I first needed to remove the labels. This was the part I was dreading – but I found an super easy method that made it totally pain free! I boiled water in the microwave, then poured the water into the bottles to just above the level of the labels {I sat them in the sink to prevent any mess from accidental spillage}.

I waited just a couple of minutes, then {with the bottles still full of water} I slowly peeled the labels off. All six labels – the front and back of each bottle – came of with absolutely no tearing!

I had no use for these labels, so I just recycled the paper – but this method would also be perfect for any project where you are wanting to save the label!

It only took me a couple of minutes to remove all of the labels, then I used my favorite product to clean off the glue residue. I wish I could tell you to run out and buy a bottle of Thoro, because it is truly the best product I have ever used for removing anything sticky {even gum from hair!}, but sadly Thoro is no longer made. I have two bottles in one of the drawers under my sink and I treat them like liquid gold! It will be a sad, sad day when I eventually run out. All that said, Goo Gone or your adhesive remover of choice should do the trick.

With the labels and adhesive removed, I washed the outside of the bottles with a little dish soap to get them ready for paint.

I’ve had mixed results in the past spray painting glass without primer, so I decided to go ahead and prime the bottles to avoid any potential problems.

Once the primer was dry, I spray painted each bottle in a different metallic color – one silver, one gold, and one copper. I used three different kinds of metallic spray paint {because that’s what I already had on hand}.

Finally, it was time to turn these bottles in to vases. The cotton branches were a bit too tall, but I didn’t want to cut them down in case I want to use them in a taller vase in the future. Instead, I used a pair of pliers to bend the ends of the thick branches.

Since the necks of the wine bottles are so narrow, I was concerned that the bent ends of the branches would act like anchors, going in easily, but then catching on the neck when I tried to take the branches out later. To solve this problem, I simply wrapped a rubber band tightly around the bent up ends of the branches.

This grouping of metallic wine bottle vases will be a perfect addition to my modern kitchen for fall! I love the simple, minimalist look – but with a touch of bling!