6 Wine Storage Solutions You Can DIY | Architectural Digest

One of the easiest ways to make a wine rack is from existing materials. This simple DIY wine rack utilizes a wooden pallet. Shannon Arner, one half of the blogger couple Arner Adventures in Beaufort, North Carolina, helped make this wine storage in an effort to live the simple life. “As a couple who has downsized and live a budget-friendly lifestyle, during our No-Buy Year of 2021, we made our own wine rack out of a wooden pallet,” she says. “It is quite adorable, somewhat rustic, but fits nicely in our small coastal bungalow.”

To make this wine rack, you’ll need:

Step 1: Take apart the wooden pallet

Though perhaps the first step is finding one. “You can often find these behind businesses, or at construction sites,” Arner says. But once found, take apart into individual wood pieces that will be used to build the wine rack. “A hammer or pry bar can be used to lift the boards off the base,” she says. “We recommend wearing safety glasses as some shards of wood can pop up toward your face.”

Step 2: Cut the wood and sand

With a saw of your choice, saw eight pieces of wood, each measuring 16 inches in length. Using sandpaper, sand down the rough parts that may cause splinters. “Sanding also makes the painting much easier,” Arner recommends. “Don’t worry about it being perfect. This is a rustic wine rack, so flaws are good.”

Step 3: Set up the back of the rack

Lay three pieces of the wood in a row on a flat surface with a little bit of space in between the second and third pieces, about an inch and a half. These three pieces will be the back of your wine rack, but the space between the second and third boards is a nice accent. 

Step 4: Position the sides

Take two more wood pieces and lay them on each side of the three wood pieces used for the back. At this point, you can leave the wood straight or use a saw to make a concave design, as Arner and her husband have done. Once everything is lined up, flip upside down and nail the back pieces to the two edges.

Step 5: Create the wood wall holding the bottles

Turn the wine storage rack back over, placing the back on the flat surface. Leaving ¾ inch open at the bottom, nail one of the 16-inch pieces of wood horizontally to the bottom of the base. You can leave it with one piece that will secure your wine bottles, or you can apply two pieces. “We took one of the 16-inch pieces that was splitting and made a smaller second piece for the front,” Arner says.

Step 6: Make the top and bottom and add wine glass holders

Take two of the wood boards and nail each to the top and bottom of your wine rack. Measure about three inches on the side that is holding the wine bottles and make a mark. Do this three more times moving across the piece of wood. These will be your wine glass notches. Use a handsaw to cut ½-inch slits to hold the wine glass stems upside down. Sand to make smooth notches.

Step 7: Paint the wine rack

Once all the pieces are securely nailed in place, paint the wine rack white. Arner wiped the paint while it was still wet for a rustic, shabby-chic look. As a final step, attach two small hooks to the back of the wine rack so it sits snugly on the wall.