Let's Make...Wine Racks!

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend!  Hope if you have fireworks fearing four legged ones you survived unscathed.

Man, it was rough here.  Rescue Remedy for dogs* plus a Thundershirt,* plus shut windows, loud television, soothing pets, cheese, his fave peanut butter cookie (I really need to film a video of Finn when he gets one of these treats -- he dances and hops and excitedly jumps all around, then lays with it savoring the anticipation of eating it, it's hilarious)....we did not have oodles of fun.

We had an unnerving moment -- Finn at one point sort of passed out in a way, so overstressed he fell into a hard sleep, twitching in a freaky way, his heart slowed down and I could not wake him up.  Terrified, I totally panicked, had a horrifying flashback to last year, burst out crying and then somehow woke him up.  Wow.  Scary.  Mike was off at the Grateful Dead show; needless to say I was upset.

Yeah so anyway, I finally got a couple of DIY wine racks put together for the pantry!  Yay!

Mike had asked for something in there, stating "nothing fancy, ya know, eh just wine storage."  But I just can't not make things unfancy.  Or make plain and boring.  Nuh uh, cannot.

Mike's been ordering wines by the case as of late as it's far less expensive than the store plus it saves a stop, so bottles are backing up on the floor.

These racks are simple, and simple and quick to make, but they don't look boring and simple.  To me anyway.

So all it took was two six foot pine 1x6's, a hole saw, stain I had on hand and bam, custom wine racks for less than buying some!  Between the 1x's and the basic basic hole saw kit I bought on sale I spent about $12.

Prior to starting, I had a chat with Mike who spun off a spiffy sketch...

Yes, his idea of "decoration" is a Captain America shield. That's ok, he'll learn and I still love him.

...I did some cursory perusing of the Pinterests to get ideas but nothing struck me until I saw a bookcase.  That inspiration along with the sketch morphed into what I created.

Again, math was my enemy but once I got rolling, discovering my initial math was wonky of course duh what a shocker, I actually got in a good math groove.  That was a shocker!

Did some measuring of the wall area where Mike wanted the racks and planned my cuts.  For our purposes, two foot six was the height space available so, heh, that's how tall the racks are.  I cut four pieces of the 1x6.

Here's my original joint/assembly plan.

Next up, figuring out the holes.  Measuring the bottle top revealed that diameter to be 1 1/4", and since I wanted gravity to lend assist in the storing, I went with 1 1/2" diameter holes.  I used a hole saw rather than a paddle spade bit as the hole saw would be easier to control and would make for cleaner holes.

Until that happened, the plug getting stuck in the saw.  Doh.  I ended up drilling in halfway on one side then finishing on the other so I wouldn't have to spend 20 minutes unclogging each time.

I measured in from the sides 1 1/2" for vertical center, down 2 1/2" from the top on one side then 4 1/4" down for the other for horizontal centers.  What helped was having a coupla' empties on hand for figuring.  Previously emptied, thank you -- power tools and alcohol do not mix.

Using some scrap wood underneath to keep the backsides of the holes from getting blown out and to catch the drill bit, it was time to get zippin' and mess makin'.  Once the initial holes were done, using the empties again helped me figure the rest.  I measured 4 1/4" down from the centers and kept going.

That'd be holes!

In hindsight, I should have done more like 4 1/2" or 4 3/4" on center but alas, so it is.  Note for another day.

Using my spiffy rotary tool with a sanding drum,* I gave the holes a quick sanding.

Okey dokey, once all the holes were sanded it was assembly time.  My original plan was a regular butt joint (heh I said butt) but after goofin' a bit, I opted to put the drilled out piece on the face of the other and skootch it in.  Ya know, to make it interesting.

Ahh-sembly time folks.

So I measured 1 1/2" in from the edge as center of the perpendicular drilled piece, balanced it, pre-drilled 1/8" holes from the back and connected the pieces with 1 5/8" drywall screws, what I had on hand.

Oooh fancy photo of screws in wood.

I would have glued it but none of my bottles of glue either flow easily or have clog-less tops. Heh.

A special guest arrived, bringing me the brand spankin' new toy that he received that day because he's a good boy.  Got that at HomeGoods, aka Danger Danger Leave Your Wallet At Home Should You Dare Enter store.  Hence why I rarely drop in.

Yay, assembled!  And yes, I'm finally back to working on those annoying basement walls!

Yay, more assembled!

In finishing, my initial thought was to paint them white to blend in with the wall but figured my sweets would prefer otherwise.  My guestimation was correct, whew, though I personally think white would have been better.  Using the Watco Danish Oil* in Black Walnut, yes yet again (breathe, it's almost empty), I gave these puppies their color.

All it took the next day was a few wall anchors of the preferred screw in variety* and bam, up!  And they work too!  Big wipe of brow!  One is somehow minorly wibbly which Mike keenly pointed out so that may need a wee revisit. (edit:  fyi this is short term storage for us)

I discovered after installation one is different from the other, likely because there was a gap of time between making one then the other and changing my assembly plan after the holes were cut.  I could easily replace that one drilled out board if proves an issue but so far it's no biggie.

Yeah, the floor has yellowed more than I had hoped and wanted.  Super sad face.

"Oh wow babe these are so awesome, thank you!  You did such a great job!"  Grin.  Pat self on back.  Yay!

Not too too bad for a person who lacks math and carpentry skills, yeah?

It's the Week of Mike again already (how did that happen?!?!) -- Happy Birthday baby!  xoxo

*The Rescue Remedy, Thundershirt, sanding drums, Watco Danish Oil, and wall anchor links are all Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.