10 Ways to Reuse Wine Bottles

by Julie Schwietert Nov 9, 2009

Photo: jsgphoto

Matador Nights editor Kate Sedgwick tells you how to open a wine bottle if you find yourself without a corkscrew.

And once the bottle is open, you know what to do.

Once you’re finished, you can recycle the bottle or get creative. Here are 10 ways to reuse wine bottles:

1. Turn it into a candle holder.
Every cheesy Italian restaurant you’ve ever visited has the red and white checked oilcloth, topped with a Chianti bottle that’s living its second life as a candle holder. This DIY project requires zero skills: buy a taper candle, shove it in the bottle. There, that was easy.

2. Use it as a flower vase.
This one falls into the super-easy category, too. Scrape off the label (soak in warm, soapy water first) and voila, you have a ready made vase, perfect for a single long-stemmed flower, like a Gerber daisy.

3. Make a dish soap dispenser.
All you need to do for this project is buy a pour spout and pop it into the bottle’s mouth. You can buy a pour stop at any kitchen supply store.

4. Store olive oil, vinegar, simple syrup, or salad dressing.
If you buy a couple of those pour spouts, you can reuse your wine bottles for all sorts of kitchen purposes.

5. Create a garden path.
If you’ve got lots of old wine bottles, you can turn them upside down and “plant” them in the dirt to turn them into a pretty garden path.

Photo: Francisco Collazo

6. Make some windchimes.
Wine bottles can be melted and flattened into wind chimes. The Flat Bottle Company can take your bottles and flatten them, giving the bottles new life.

7. Let it water plants.
Fill the bottle, tip it upside down, and stick it into your potted plants at an angle. The slow drop will keep your plants hydrated.

8. Channel your creative side.
Turn a bunch of bottles into a folk art piece, like this curious bottle tree, found in a garden in Mississippi.

9. Make a lamp.
Using the wine bottle as a base, buy a lamp kit and turn the bottle into a DIY light source.

10. And don’t throw out the corks!
You can make bulletin boards and photo holders out of the corks.

Community Connection:

Reduce, reuse, recycle. What about upcycling? Learn all about it here.

Discover Matador