Keep Calm and Decorate: Vintage Soap Dispenser

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Soap Dispensers

I can't believe this is my 100th post! Wow, it has almost been 3 years since I started my blog journey. I didn't blog much in 2011 and 2012 and kind of wish I did. I have met so many people during my three years as a blogger and really appreciate all of the support and sweet comments. So here I go writing my 100th post. I wish I had some special giveaway to shower all of you with but I don't it's just more of me babbling.

Do you all remember my Coke bottle soap dispenser? It is Keep Calm and Decorate's most popular search and pin on Pinterest. I don't know about you but I like for the basic things I use everyday to be pretty and organized. It really isn't expensive or hard to make your things look prettier. I thought about ways I could make my basic things look better. I hate the look of my shampoo and conditioner bottles in my shower. I saw some pretty bottles at Anthropologie this past weekend, but they are glass. Glass does not work for this mom of an almost two year old or for somebody who has butter fingers and drops everything (that would be me)! I needed something that was made of plastic. So, I came up with this idea!

Here is what you will need to make the soap dispensers:

* 2 - clear, plastic soap bottles (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)

* Vinyl sheets

* A die cut machine such as a Cricut

NOTE: You can buy vinyl lettering at any home improvement store (I would recommend the letters you use on your mailbox). It has to be something water proof.

*A cute metal basket

TUTORIAL

Here are the two soap bottles I picked up at the Dollar Tree.

Next, you can peel the labels off. For some reason, the green bottle gave me a little attitude when trying to get the label off. You can use a little Googone or acetone nail polish remover to remove the sticky left behinds. I personally think the acetone nail polish remover works the best.

Next, I cut out the vinyl letters on my Cricut to go on the bottles. I used S for shampoo and C for Conditioner (I know brilliant, right). Hee hee! My letter size for the Cricut was 2 3/4". You can also buy vinyl letters if you don't have a die cut machine.

I then dumped out all of the liquid that was in the soap dispensers. I know it is wasteful, but I am sorry I didn't want the soap. The great thing is that the soap was really watered down so it didn't get too sudsy when I tried to clean out the bottle. I washed it out several times until I knew the old soap was gone. I then dumped the shampoo and conditioner into the empty bottles.

After I knew the bottles were dry I added the S and the C to the bottles and put the dispenser on.

I found this cute basket for $3.00 in the tricky dollar section at Target to put the soaps in.

Here are other soap dispensers I use around my house.

I use the Coke bottle for hand soap and the vintage lemonade bottle for dish soap.

How do you make your basic everyday things prettier?

I am linking to:

Under The Table and Dreaming

Love Of Family and Home

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Coke Bottle Soap Dispenser

Finally, I am able to sit down and post one of the many projects I have been working on. Do you guys remember these Coke bottles I had found a few weeks ago? I got to thinking about how I needed a cool yet classy hand soap dispenser by my kitchen sink. Here comes the fun part! I was getting ready to put away my shampoo bottle that I had just bought and noticed it had a salon pump (instant light bulb went off). I thought to myself I wonder if this would fit on top of those coke bottles I just bought. So I took the pump off the shampoo bottle and put it on top of the Coke bottle and it was a perfect fit. I thought to myself "oh my gosh" this is too cool. Here are the steps on how you can make your very own:

1). Find a vintage Coke bottle (I used a smaller one, it looks like it is approx. 8" tall or so)

2). Use a salon pump from a Suave shampoo or lotion bottle. I haven't tried any other brand, but I prefer the silver pump.

3). I bought this 3 piece funnel set from Dollar Tree for $1.00. I used a funnel that would fit into the bottle and then I poured my soap into the bottle.

4). I cut the tube on the pump to fit the bottle. I didn't measure it exactly on much I needed to cut. I just held it up to the bottle and measured. After I cut the tube I screwed the pump onto the bottle. I did not use any glue or anything it just screwed right on.

It was a fairly easy project and it only cost $2.00 ($1.00 for the bottle and $1.00 for the funnels). I already had the shampoo bottle and the hand soap. I am just so please with how it turned out!

I am linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick: Before and After Party