Admire the label art, open the bottle, drink the wine, put a stopper in, then consume the rest later … and then what? While a true collector might still keep the empty glass around, most of us then dispose of the leftover container and move on. Here are some illuminating reasons to think twice before recycling wine bottles right away. (Instructions for the above DIY outdoor wine bottle wooden-wall torch at Design Sponge).

More than decor, candles can add nice mood lighting to a space – particularly when filtered through dark greens and browns of a glass wine bottle. Probably for safety reasons you do not find many home bottle cutter kits these days unless they are vintage/used ones – but find one and you can make any kind of customized, personalized, faux-engraved gift you want as the pictures above illustrate. Cutting, heating and/or sandblasting can open the bottle wide enough to place a votive (or more) inside – though watch for sharp edges.

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Lamps are an obvious choice for useful and display purposes, and by preserving the full bottle intact they can also let the labels remain (or add your own drawing or image) if you prefer to have a bit more decor than a simple colored glass object. Of the set, this is probably the easiest one to execute – simple plans, generic materials and no specialized abilities or tools required.

Wine bottle lights like these are also quite attractive hanging from the ceiling, providing soft lighting like an antique chandelier – just be sure to attach them tightly as they would also surely hurt (and possibly shatter) were they to drop. Brackets, wires and lot of work go even to this kind of simple-looking do-it-yourself wine bottle project.

These sound a bit complex, right? Make it simple on yourself if you want and simply stuff wine bottles full of seasonal holiday lights for a bit of fast-but-bright decor that doubles as semi-functional space illumination that shines right through the label images.