Wine Bottle Lamps

Wine Bottle Lamps
The First Projects - Nov 2012

Your classic Wine Bottle Lamp.

This project was more of an experience. Not the wine guy here, so it took me a while to acquire two bottles.

Followed the instructions online about removing the labels - put the bottles in the oven for some minutes and wait for the label glue to 'cook', very simple. Honestly, I wasn't very happy with the process. It might be something specific to those glues, as the labels were removed, but some of the glue stayed. Don't expect magic from this method. I did not look further for instructions about removing the rest of it, but I have seen plenty of glue removers out there, and I wasn't planning on spending a couple more bucks on it.

You can see how the light is fuzzy through the glue:

The fun part was drilling a whole on the glass. (also shown above) It is a slow process that requires some patience. You will need a special diamond drill for glass (not expensive - got mine at Home Depot), and it will take a few minutes for the drill to slowly consume the glass away.

Be really careful about the debris, and the possibility about cracking/breaking the bottle. Always have safety glasses for cutting/drilling projects. I did hold them using a thick towel, leaving only the space for the drill.

Got the "Christmas lights" at Goodwill. It took me a while to find them, as they usually just pull their holiday material around the dates, and the Christmas lights weren't coming up. Honestly, it is really hard to put them inside the bottle the way you want. As there were plenty of them, and two bottle, I used one set of lights on both bottles. Here is the final resut!

I have also tried some glow in the dark paint on some glass cups from Goodwill, but the result was far from the expected. Here is a picture too.

Wine Crate Table

Vintage Wine Crate Coffee Table
The First Projects - July 2012

This coffee table was a project from Pinterest.
The original details here:
http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-wine-crate-coffee-table.html



In my version, the center was filled with pebbles from a trip to Washington state.

The crates were purchased at Michael's, with coupons, obviously. Initially, I started staining the crates with the tea/rusted iron mixture. It indeed stained the wood, but not as much as I expected/wanted.

In any case, I started assembling the table, which might have been a mistake - It is much harder to flip the table around once you have it all nailed.

The bottom had the extra boards, to hold the wheels.

Eventually purchased a Expresso Satin stain, to give this great look to the coffee table. The last step would be to put the corks/pebbles in the middle.

Playing around, by mistake, I made a different set up for the middle.

Now the final result,  with the glass on top and the pebbles inside. Bought the glass at Home Depot, along with the cheapest glass cutter. Read the instructions carefully! It isn't that hard to cut glass, but might be pretty dangerous.

Gallery Wall

Frame Ideas
The First Projects - July 2012

A simple frame collage. The initial idea was to keep everything in black and white, and photoshop a few pictures into a B&W with a splash of color. The second part never happened...

Goodwill in CO had a lot of products from Target. Found that cool trio of framed mirrors (Target) at Goodwill, as well as the nice Eiffel Tower frame, the 4-piece frame (Target), and both black and white San Francisco posters in the second picture. The Schnauzer and the other frames and posters were purchased new.

Platform Bed

Platform Bed
The First Projects - July 2012

Not exactly a DIY project itself, I found this bed on Craigslist for $80, disassembled it at the person's house, and put it back in my new apartment. I would say it is a pretty good bed frame, since it sustained two more  apartments with a lot of unscrewing and screwing the boards back together.

Scarf Shelf

Scarf Shelf
The First Projects - Jun 2012
Heading back to 2012, to my first Bachelor Pad in Lakewood, CO, we will start this blog with the first creation. The idea was to set up a display/shelf for some of my many shemagh/keffiyeh I had acquired through the year.

This is the project and room setup, with a first shelf.

Bought another shelf, already painted in black, and drew a few holes on it, making sure to keep a correct pattern.

 

Finished detailing with some sanding, as well as painting the cut out holes.

 This is the final product. Pretty neat!