DIY: RUSTIC FARMSTYLE TWINE BOTTLES

Earlier this year I posted a how to make your own Beachy Bottles. By simply re-purposing some recycled wine bottle with a little white washed paint inside and a starfish at the top, the soon to be discarded bottles became a summer decor element in our Florida townhome. Then during the Fall, just after I made the No Template Gallery Wall, and I was prepping our home to sell, I had just removed the starfish and clustered the bottles together on our dining room table with a simple over-sized branch I had found. Now, it's not only wintertime and we're in a new location, but it's also holiday - and I was able to transform the bottles one more time - with just a little twine, and now they are more rustic - farmstyle...

 

To me, the bottles just look aged and old. 

Placing a single branch was almost working, but not enough...

 

Since our dining table is now so close to the kitchen, I find myself using it more. To help protect it from scratches and the hot glue, I used one of my leather placematts.

 

I started at the bottom, by securing the first strand of twine...

 

Then spun my way up the bottle, in an un-even non--pattern way, and adding a few glue spots along the way to secure the twine to the bottle. But I still wanted some of the shine of the glass to come through.

 

To add a simple but festive holiday touch, 

I wired a single bell to a separate piece of twine.

 

Just the right mix of rough & smooth finishes...

 

And the single gold and single silver bells tie into the other 

silver and gold details I reused from last year...

 

 

While I had the twine out (that I thankfully already had in the garage), I thought maybe I could use it on a few other items to also give them a touch of rustic charm - which is so appropriate for our new area. But rather than hot glue twine to everything, I just simply gathered a cluster of strands together...

 

And tied them to an everyday glass candle holder. To add a touch of nature, I just replaced white pillar candles for my birch covered candles I like to use every winter...

 

 

They gave a smaller dose of shine & balance to the simple winter coffee table setting. I had originally grouped together more silver and glass items, but it didn't feel like the right thing to do in our new location (the bling-thing is more Miami - Rustic and Farmstyle is more Arizona). The coffee table we've had since the condo (pre-FL townhome we bought at Pier One) but I had placed it in another room for a while.  For us, even with the scratches, it looks new again in our new setting. The horseshoe I had found during a trip we took in Georgia to a farm... 

 

Too much shine before... but mirror did work great as a tray - I just added felt pads to the back corners to prevent any more scratches...

 

The pedestal bowl has been relocated to the kitchen island, 

and actually looks better there... and I relocated the mirror to the wall unit...

 

New living room getting set for Christmas...

 

Holiday Home Prep

I liked the look I did last year in Florida for our holiday home - Simple Comfort & Joy, but it just needed a few tweaks for it to fit in to our new location. Good old JOY got a little tweaking and revamp to transform too...

 

But I'll share that transformation tomorrow...

 

I guess it all just proves the saying to be true: You've got to live in your space. When you live in it, you get to know what works and feels right. I guess this house and I are still getting to know each other - especially since we've only been here one month lol... 

But so far... so good. We're getting along just fine :)

It's been a BUSY past month: packing, moving, unpacking, getting organized, getting  settled, making this house into our new home, plus learning my way around in a TOTALLY new area. It's been especially challenging to be doing this during the holidays (and a HUGE change in weather - it's FREEZING!! lol but I love it!), 

but with a little organization, it CAN be done.

Stop back by tomorrow to see the updated version for this years JOY, I've been using now for the past four years (Remember the mirrored JOY I posted on HGTV's RateMySpace (which they lost the post) - way back in 2007 ?!?!). But that's what's special about Christmas time ... Not everything needs to all be store bought, on trend, and for the moment. It's nice to use the same things (I think that's called TRADITION), just maybe in some new ways...

 

Hope you're enJOYing this holiday season!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

LINKING POST TO:

 

Home Stories A2Z - Tutorials & Tips

Centsational Girl - Holiday Craft Party