Body Spray to Floating Vase

Within in the past several years, our family has become an avid recycling family.  Reading statistics relating to plastic waste plus facts on rates of decomposition plus knowing our kids will inherit our waste as a nation and world have made moved us to try our best to not contribute to the throw-away society we’ve created.  We recycle every single piece of plastic (paper and everything else…) we possibly can after we use them and, when I remember, I try to use reusable shopping bags.  Every little bit helps, right?  :)

So, when I came up with a solution to fill that little piece of empty wall space above our security system keypad and next to the new, framed picture of Christ that involved recycling something used and that was FREE (in that I didn’t have to go out and buy anything), I counted myself in.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated quite a few bottles of body spray from here and there. 

After I emptied one recently, I realized it had a ton of decor potential…more than it had just sitting in our recycling bin.

Drumroll please…

A floating wall vase!

And I’m in love with it.  So in love that I might make 1000 more.  Can you imagine a whole wall filled with these?  Well, maybe not a whole wall but a cluster on a wall? 

It’s simple and pretty.  And, since we can’t do anything about where our security system keypad and light switch are located, it’s nice to have something balance them out and more importantly, take attention off of them.

Wanna know how you can make your very own?  Of course you do.  :)

There might be a few exceptions but I’m going to say that just about any plastic bottle will work for this project.  If you like the shape of it, then by all means, use it!

First, peel off any labels.  It’s slowly but surely for this part.  A good soak in some soapy water or Goo-Gone* might come in handy too.  Thankfully, mine came off without a fight.

Now, use a hack saw* or even a serated kitchen knife to saw off the top of the bottle.

Then, grab a drill and bit (I used a 1/4”) and drill a hole somewhere in the upper half of the cut bottle.
Depending on how thick/sturdy your plastic bottle is, you might have to be pretty gentle when you’re drilling.  My bottle wasn’t too thick so I really just barely rested the bit on the bottle as I drilled and let it do its thing.  I didn’t really press much at all because I didn’t want to crack the plastic.  I also slightly squeezed the sides of the bottle while I drilled to create a little more pressure at the point of the drill. 

I didn’t get a picture of this part, but next, to smooth out the top edge of your new vase, just go over it quick with a piece of sandpaper.  If you’re short on sandpaper and don’t mind sharing your nail file with a bottle, you could go that route too.

Now all you have to do is figure out exactly where you want your new vase to hang, fill it with some H2O and clippings from your yard, stick a nail in the wall, and thread that nail into the hole you created with your drill. 

Boom.  A five-minute project with five-times the impact.

I made this vase about two weeks ago and found out two days ago that someone dubbed this month #plasticfreejuly and it caught on.  I know this doesn’t really qualify as “plastic-free” but I think anything you can do to keep plastic out of landfills is good.  And, in my mind, when that something is related to home decor, that’s a win-win.  :)  Speaking of being plastic-free,  we’re pretty far from living that way but I’d love to get there!  What are your favorite plastic substitutes?

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