DIY Beer Bottle Soap Dispenser

My husband and I often celebrate the end of the workweek with a little TGIF craft beer tasting. Like the full on nerdy thing about recognizing, talking about, and even recording tasting notes of the new beers and types we've tried.

After sampling an Innis & Gunn bottle, my husband commented on the unique look of the bottle and suggested/challenged me to do something cool with it.

Fortunately, I started dabbling in making liquid Castile soap in the slow cooker and I'm in need for a new liquid soap dispenser. (If you want to try it I suggest reading the books Making Natural Liquid Soaps and  Liquid Soapmaking because I'm still learning and it will be quite awhile before I feel confident in writing a tutorial for Condo Blues.) (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links to the supplies I used for your convenience.) 

It practilally a no brainer to to make a soap dispenser from a glass bottle that has a threaded screw cap like my DIY Chamboard bottle soap dispenser because you just screw a replacement liquid soap pump like this one onto the bottle and Bob's your uncle.

But can you make a soap dispenser from a recycled glass beverage bottle that does not have a screw thread top? Yes you can! Here's how!

How to Recycle a Glass Beverage Bottle into a Soap Dispenser

 

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DIY Chambord Liquor Bottle Soap Dispenser

A soap maker friend got me hooked and I love, love, love using her handmade soap! Learning how to make soap is something I’ve been interested in for a long time but the idea of making soap from scratch with lye seemed scary, easy to mess up, and wouldn’t allow me to use the variety of types and scents I like when I buy it from my friend’s shop because one batch of soap makes enough bars to last six months.

At her encouragement I dabbled in making super easy soap with melt and pour soap base like this kind a few bars at a time in the microwave oven. I got a feel for how add ins and scents work and was itching to do more. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

It wasn’t until my friend closed her brick and mortar store that I started looking into making real deal hot process soap in our spare slow cooker. (My Instant Pot has taken the big slow cooker’s place and can now be dedicated to soap making using this liquid soap making book. It’s the best!) 

 Getting my mad scientist on!

I made unscented liquid Castile soap because it is more versatile and requires less equipment than bar soap. My first batch turned out OK for a first timer. I like that I can add a little variety by scenting (or not) each dispenser full of soap with this Organic Aromas essential oil sampler I got last year for review that otherwise will sit largely unused. I love the oils and blends, it's just that I err on the super duper side of caution when it comes to diffusing essential oils around Lacey.


The only downside to eventually replacing all of my bar soap when it ran out with liquid soap is realizing  I don’t have enough liquid soap pump dispensers for every sink in the house. I need to fix that.

How to Recycle a Glass Bottle into a Soap Dispenser

How to Repair a Loose Cabinet Door Hinge

Recently,  I closed a lower kitchen cabinet door with a slightly more aggressive shove to push whatever dish was preventing the door from closing all of the way to slide back into the cupboard and allow the door to close all of the way. I’ve done this a million times before when I’ve been in a hurry. Maybe you have too.

This time the cupboard decided to revolt after I closed the door and did a nice lean to the right.
I broke the kitchen cupboard door hinge.

I popped the plastic hinge cups that are common on boats, campers, and builder grade kitchens back into the holes. There. Fixed!

Until the next time I opened and closed the cabinet door. Gentle close. Wonk. Door shift to the right.

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How to Repair a Plastic Concealed Door Hinge

Quick and Easy DIY Wood Shower Floor Tile

I absolutely adore high end teak in a bathroom, especially the trend of using it for a shower floor. It is warm, it has texture, and not to mention wood is more eco friendly than the vinyl shower pan that came with my house.

On the flip eco side, keeping the current shower floor during our bathroom remodel to be is uses less new resources than ripping it out and replacing it with a new shower pan and wood shower tile just for looks sake.

Fortunately the solution was a quick, easy, and split the eco friendly middle IKEA hack away – install removable outdoor wood deck tile over the current the shower floor.

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Mod Podge Wallpaper Update: How Does it Last?

Shortly after buying our condo, I used Mod Podge to wallpaper a bathroom with old book pages.
I frequently get email asking me how using Mod Podge as wallpaper glue holds up after the 10+ years I used it to remodel my bathroom.

I thought I’d give you an update.

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How to Find Bathroom Storage Space When You Think You Don’t Have It

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by MomSelect  At Home Stores. All opinions are 100% my own. @AtHomeStores #collegemovein  #athomestores

Husband and I need to temporally move into our guest bathroom while we remodel the master bath. The guest bathroom is half the size of the master. I eked out what storage space I could by building shelves  over the door and on the wall over the toilet.

I thought I already maxed out my small bathroom storage space.

Or have I?
 

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How to Install a Delta In2ition Showerhead with H2Okinetic Technology

Replacing the current showerhead with a hand shower shower head in the guest bathroom was always in the plan.   I like how the hand shower in our Delta Faucet Company In2ition showerhead makes it easy to clean the Master Bathroom the soap out of Lacey’s fur.

Being kind of a geek about showerhead and faucets, I wanted to know what the difference is between the Delta In2ition showerhead I have and like and the new Delta In2ition Showerhead with H2Okinetic Technology provided by Delta Faucet Company to facilitate this test and tutorial.

 

 Keep reading for a chance to win a Delta In2Ition Shower with H20kinetic Technology Showerhead sponsored by Delta Faucet Company!

 Each type of Delta In2ition showerhead is supposed to give you a different shower experience while saving enough water to earn the Watersense label -  using less than 2.0 gallons of water per minute (gpm.) Although truthfully after using both of these showerheads, you would never guess less water is coming out of either one. It feels like I'm taking a shower with more water not less!

How to Make and Hang Wood Fruit Crate Shelves

The new floor plan and stuff switcheroo for the guest room/craft room leaves me with two vintage wooden fruit crates that won't fit in the room with the new plan.

Yay!

I want a new place to stash this stuff and allow my linen closet to hold linens again. Crazy town, I know.

I have a big boring wall above the toilet in the guest bathroom...

I have two crates and three 2013 DIY Goals: create storage, use what I have first before buying materials, and add personality to the guest bathroom...

How to Make Air Freshener Spray the Natural Way!

I put new unlit soy candles in my bathroom to work as an air freshener. Once the smell of the essential oils in the candle fades, I burn them (attended) after dinner to remove cooking smells and for overall candle light goodness.

I’m sure you are aware of those times when a bathroom air freshener needs a little  immediate help to clear the room of…uh…um…odor.

I don’t like most commercial room sprays because they smell as a fake flower factory exploded in my bathroom. Moreover, that’s what they make those room sprays from – a fake synthetic chemical concoction. Boo. Hiss.

Does a room freshener exist without the synthetic ingredients?  It sure does if you make it yourself!

And at a fraction of the cost of a commercial air freshener spray to boot!

  

DIY Air Freshener Spray

How to Keep a Shower Curtain Rod from Falling

Scene: Night. The Condo residents are nestled all snug in their beds.

SFX:Silence except for Blitzkrieg, the 12 pound Pekingese who is snoring louder than a 300 pound man in desperate need of adenoid surgery.

“Klang!”

“Thumpa! Thumpa!”

“Bow-rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr- -rowr-!”

"Plink! Plink! Plink!”

Groggily I shuffle to the bathroom. The supposed stay up spring loaded shower curtain rod fell down. I raise my hands to the heavens and wonder how I pissed off the home improvement gods this time? Why must these things always happen in the middle of the night? Why can’t I get a good night’s sleep?

I though I took care of this problem months ago. Once I realized that the el cheapo nontension plastic shower curtain rod that came with the house was held up with nothing more than good intentions, I replaced it with a this exact metal tension shower curtain rod like this one with grippy rubber tips that are supposed to stay in place no matter what. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience. )

Apparently I was wrong about the long term stay uppidness. Time to break out the power tools.

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How I Made a Sturdy Stay Up Shower Curtain Rod