Upcycle An Old Glass Jar Into A Stunning Illuminating Decor Piece For Your Patio

A useful and welcoming outdoor living space always needs the right mix of elements to make time spent there enjoyable. Lighting is one of the most important aspects of patio design, especially if you use your outdoor space more at night and for entertaining. While there are endless options for adding illumination, both accent and task lighting, they can be pricey for more luxe and decorative-looking options. TikTok user @redeux_style recently unveiled how she turned a bamboo bath mat from a discount store and a thrifted glass jar into a beautiful outdoor lighting fixture. The result is an ingenious tropical-vibe candle holder that would be perfect for lighting up your nights. 

Using upcycled and repurposed materials to maximize your outdoor living space is a great way to get stunning custom and budget-friendly decor that perfectly fits your outdoor aesthetic. This DIY creates a much more expensive-looking candle holder for real candles or you can outfit it with LED candles or battery-operated lights. If you are using a flame, just make sure that the flame and heat are confined to the glass interior and away from the wrapping for safety. Use your creation as a centerpiece on your outdoor table, accent lighting near the pool, or light up your yard at night with several around the perimeter of the space.

To create this cool candle holder lantern to light up your backyard patio, roll the bamboo mat into a cylinder around the surface of the jar. Affix it with a liberal coating of spray adhesive between the glass and the bamboo. @redeux_style uses Gorilla Glue, but depending on the hardiness of your material and surface, other fixatives like hot glue and E6000 may work equally as well. You can leave the bamboo mat in its original size, allowing the end to extend above the top of the jar to create a taller fixture, or cut it down to size to fit your needs. You may also want to vary the size of your jar. Cut up a mat into smaller pieces to use smaller jars as glass votive holders. Taller cylindrical glass containers from the thrift store or Dollar Tree also work great for this DIY. Look for glass pieces that have completely straight sides for best results.  

Options for the cover are many, with other mats, like vinyl or straw placemats, also being great choices for wrapping. If you have a taller glass piece, you can also wrap it in fabric mats which benefit from the extra support underneath. Seek out materials that allow light to permeate through, either semi-transparent or with gaps between the weaving. You can also add other decorative accents like ribbon or burlap wound around the bottom or center for additional texture and interest.