Pass the water please.

While many people have refrigerators that also act as water dispensers, we are still a Brita pitcher household. This means a couple of things; 1) the pitcher is convenient to have at the dinner table, but unattractive and 2) you have to remember to refill it. Well, #1 sort of annoys me and with regard to #2, I’m admittedly the drink-the-last-drop-and-leave-the-Brita-empty culprit in our house. So, I decided to turn my last screw-top bottle of white wine into a quick and cute bottle for serving water at the dinner table.

Incredibly, ridiculously simple. But, I think it adds a bit of charm to the table. First thing, find a bottle shape that you like.

Remove the cap, and cut off any material around the neck of the bottle.

Remove the labels. I did this by gently scraping the paper off with the side of a pair of scissors and then using Goo Gone for the last bit of sticky adhesive. Then, a completely optional step, I painted the cap silver. I have a sort of stainless steel thing going on, so I wanted to stick with it. But, I didn’t want the paint to be completely smooth. For one thing, I wanted semi-rustic look and I worried that if it had a super smooth finish, it would be only a matter of time before the cap got scuffed and scratched. With it already looking a bit weathered, those inevitable scratches won’t bother me a bit.

To give the top that rustic look, I applied silver gilding liquid with a sponge brush. Then, all that’s left to do is wait for it to dry and fill your clean bottle with filtered water. You’re finished!

I’m keeping an eye out for brightly colored bottles so we can distinguish between still, seltzer and sparkling at the dinner table. And, I’m thinking it may be nice to have bottles ready for the guest rooms up at the family cabin, which can be seen here. In any case, at least I’ll have a water reserve for when I inevitably leave the pitcher empty.