I just love fresh flowers about the place, especially when the weather is dreary. There are different types of flowers sprouting up in our garden throughout the year, so for my little DIY project I decided to make some painted bottles to pop them in. I’m not really one for DIY usually, but this turned out to be insanely easy.

Step one – Collect the bottles and jars

I picked up most of them really cheaply in op-shops, and the rest were old jars of pasta sauce and olives that I salvaged from the recycling bin. My favourites are the two different kinds of vintage soda stream bottles I found.

Step two – Deciding on colours.

I went to my local paint shop to buy some paint test pots. I’ve always loved paint charts. I don’t know what it is, but something about those neat little raised rectangles on white card just gets me really excited. Oh the possibilities of what you could do with all those colours! I was choosing from Dulux’s ‘Colours of New Zealand’ range. Every colour is named after the streets, rivers, towns, mountains and lakes of the country. After a prolonged deliberation I decided on ‘Te Awamutu’, a fetching peachy pink which is apt since the small North Island town is known for its rose gardens. And to complement it, another warm shade, ‘Green Island’ a ripe rockmelon orange.

Sitting at the kitchen table, I set up some newspaper to catch any drippage and away I went. I poured some paint into each bottle, slowly rotated and tilted until the inside was coated evenly, then poured the excess back into the paint pot. Leave upside down in a bucket or plastic tray to dry. So simple! Probably took less time than it did for me to choose the colours.

Step three – Pour a cup of paint into each bottle

Note: My affinity towards paint charts was my downfall. Though the Dulux house paint worked pretty well, it was a bit on the thin side. Google has informed me that I should have bought enamel paint for this, which would have given a more opaque and creamy finish.

Step four – Swirl the paint around evenly inside the bottles.

Step five – Pour any excess paint back into the pot of paint.

Step six – Allow to dry and voila! You’re done.

Some fresh stems look perfect in the bottles on a sunny windowsill and gives a bright injection of colour to the home.

This article first appeared on The Home Journal.