Eat, Drink & Be Merry! Bottle Opener Valentine's How To

When I set out this week to start one of my V-Day gifts and subsequent tutorials, I thought, gosh this wall-mounted bottle opener is going to be way too easy to make a full tutorial. Lies! Prepare to set aside at least an hour and a half, but it’s well worth your time, I adore the finished project!

So, what you will need, is about 6-12 inches of wood, I used a foot long cut of 2x4, however this would be the perfect project to utilize any piece of found wood of that approximate size. I just happened to have this scrap from when my roommate made me our dining room table! (You’ll see from the photo that it has a splotch of stain on it). You’ll also need a bottle opener, I found mine at Bed Bath and Beyond for $4.99, though I’m sure you can pick them up just about anywhere, you’ll also need a screwdriver or drill. Now this is where this project becomes completely customizable. I chose to use a brown paint that I have been using on quite a few pieces of my furniture, just to unite the pieces in my open concept kitchen. However, I also considered using chalkboard paint, for fun messages, (or keeping a tally on how many you've opened). But you could go with any color, or stain that you like to temper the finished result to your personal preference.

After laying out a drop cloth, I painted the wood with two coats of the brown paint and let it dry completely. And then using the screwdriver and some help from my roommates muscles (those screws were really long!), I attached the opener to the top half of the wood. Using a pencil, I sketched out the wording I wanted on the bottom of the plank.

I grabbed a small bottle of white acrylic paint and bordered the plank on the top and bottom just to give it a sense of unity, and then using a fine tipped brush, I wrote out my quote – a little homage to one of our favorite Dave Matthews Band songs (‘Tripping Billies’).

One or two coats later, I had my finished product!

If you do give this one a shot, I’d love to see how you decided to customize your piece. I think my roommate loves it, despite tightening the screws for me; I think he’ll love the final piece when he acts totally surprised to see it on Valentine’s Day. Now the real question…where the heck to hang it….