apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Shelf supports: here and here
[Ugly] furniture
Drinking glasses

I once saw in a magazine where someone took really colorful blue and green glass bottles & put them on an upside down wire wreath form, tied them together, and made a chandelier out of that. I wish I could find the photo, but they just put a light kit in the center, and beautiful colors streamed over everything!

For the plastic ones: We used to use plastic gallon jugs as seed starter "greenhouses" in school. Cut the top third or so off (around the bottom of the handle if there is one) and knock a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Fill about half way with soil and plant your seeds or cuttings. Put the top back on (I think we cut some slits so that it sat better.) You can control the moisture by taking the cap on and off, or propping the top part up. Careful of direct sunlight, it gets hot inside fast.

I grew up around the coast, and the fisherman used gallon jugs as floats. (Put the cap on tight and tie a line to the handle.) Bleach and detergent bottles were favorites, since the plastic is thicker and the caps screw on, but water/milk ones would probably work if you used some glue/sealant on the caps to keep the air in. We always had a few cut into scoops for bailing the dinghies out, too.

There is a lot of potential in cutting the sides out, too. You end up with flat-ish sheets of semi-transparent plastic--great starter material for all sorts of projects. I've used them for stencils.

Why not make your own beer or ginger ale, and reuse the bottles that way? Or get someone to tumble the broken bottle pieces (like rock hounds do) for glass "mulch"?

But homemade glasses, etc. out of old beer bottles always look so ehhh.

For the plastic ones:use 'em to organize your house!

For the glass ones,this and this are at least inspirational!

One of the coolest things I've seen is people taking old glass bottles and using them in adobe walls like in some of the Earthships. For example:
http://www.taosearthships.com/80750.htm
I just love the stained glass effect.

Jack Astor's in Toronto make these cool bottle light fixtures. They might be big for your place but hopefully it'll inspire you.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1308/1252213056_1866299f06.jpg?v=0

If you live on the island of St. John you might be able to take your bottles to Maho Bay Camps. There Trash to Treasure Art Center has resident artist who create crafts and interesting pieces from bottles recycled by guest. They might take your stuff too. They also teach classes and do demonstrations!

Someone I know had a tiny little feature in ReadyMade magazine about a project she did using beer bottles. Don't know what your living situation is, but it could be cool. She turned all the used bottles into a path in the garden.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q9_XWpnPbDHvqLoKWN4nvA?feat=directlink

Another image I found: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/nova45/The%20New%20Garden/Project6-7.png I like the density of this one better, but I don't know how just putting them in sand would hold up long term. Of course, it's easier to remove later if you wanted too. :)

We have the same problem here in East Texas... no place to recycle glass without driving it 2 1/2 hours to Houston. I like what the Art Guys did with glass bottles.

not very practical, but fun:

http://ugly-christmas-trees.com/trees/beer-bottle/

...

advisory: The garden path made of beer bottle bottoms could be rather slippery when wet.

Get a bottle cutter kit and make drink glasses for all your friends and family or sell them!
http://www.glassmart.com/bottle_cutter.asp

RePlayground sells kits to turn bottles into lamps: http://replayground.com/pages/shop/re-lamp.asp

Why not start your own bar?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/temple-built-from-beer-bottles.php

Or build an outdoor gazebo/patio for the one you already work at

think big, baby:

http://bisean.blogspot.com/2009/02/temple-of-million-bottles.html

ah, to be a buddhist monk.

ahh i like the tree at night when the lights are onit is very nice.. And you don't have to be a monk to build your temple/home/ many cool things get a bottle cutter Maj

I just checked the playground site that The Green Cat sent check it out They have a page on what they need or if you have a lot they may want it but there was a place in The Virgin Ilse to recycle /sell

I have also heard of building walls using bottles and some sort of mortar, but this is also an interesting idea:
http://www.gilabooks.com/200606/200606_wall_bottles.html

Fill your yard with them, then invite the news outlets over and make a case for creating a recycling program.

There's a chocolate shop here in Amsterdam that has chandeliers made out of milk bottles. I found a picture of it on Flickr -- they look a bit strange here, but are beautiful in real life: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yankeediva/3284962422/