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4.16.2013

Decor, All Bottled Up!

 when i say 'found' materials, people look at me funny.

 what i mean by that is stuff that you find in a field, or on a curb, 
or at a yard sale or thrift store, or in your own garage or barn.
stuff that most people don't even SEE.

i crawled under a table at a yard sale to reach for the tattered corner of a dirty cardboard box.
no one else had even given the box a glance.
i opened it to discover these cool old medicine bottles!

i didn't need to do much to them to use them as decor...
after a careful washing to preserve the original labels,
they were corralled on a round silver tray to show them off.
the two bottles that didn't have lids are serving a flower vases, holding happy daisies.

this is a collection of miscellaneous old bottles that i found in thrift shops.
some were very detailed, and some were rather plain.

i embellished them 
using my stash of vintage trims, jewelry, and papers.
the jewelry hung on them, but some of it could also be removed to wear.





 [some of these photos were featured in 
Romantic Homes Magazine, February, 2013
in the mention of homewardFOUND on page 12
]

i took the embellished bottles to a show, and some of them sold. some didn't.
which is fine, it just gave me the chance to do something ELSE with them:

so i painted them.
with white gloss enamel appliance spray paint.
and then i popped a few daisies & chamomile into them
and sat them on a silver tray.

i paid one dollar for that dirty box of brown medicine bottles.
and between one and three dollars for each of the clear bottles.
the silver trays cost me five bucks each.

i sold the first set for $35, and the second set for $45 
at the BarnHouse antique show. in the first hour.

here's the moral of this story:

these items were basically discards, with no inherent value to anyone.
all it took was an eye for using them in a new way
for them to have value and worth. 
THAT is what 'found' decor is all about. smile.
it doesn't take OLD stuff, either...
what about a six-pack of empty glass Coca Cola bottles for a patio table?
or maybe old glass baby bottles for a shower?
little glass yogurt containers for a brunch?
paint 'em. put 'em on a tray. fill 'em with posies.

you'll have some fresh spring decor all bottled up!

1 comment:

  1. You have a great "eye" , Debi, for finding things that others don't see any potential in. I love your bottle collection...so interesting. I would have love to have found that box of brown bottles...it's great!

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