The wine rack project

The other week, what with Sigfreid's diffficulty and other goings-on, I didn't get to post about non-writing projects that keep me from reading innocent submissions in a timely fasion. Woodworking and related home improvement projects is one thing I've found to be relaxing, as an entirely different part of my brain is engaged than is when I'm writing and editing. In the past year or so, Lisa and I have been exploring the world of wines and finding a few varieties we like. When we bought the new house, the open bar space between the kitchen and living room practically begged for a wine rack. Nothing commercially available was suitable for the space, so I decided to build one. The measuring, sanding, sawing and drilling are lost to posterity, but Calista used her new camera to take pics of my installing the slats in the rack in the first photo (screwed in from the sides and glued) and the application of the final layer of wood stain/sanding sealer in the second:



Once the whole shebang dried, I hand-sanded the whole thing over with 200 grit paper. It's quite smooth and glossy now. And then fastened it above the bar with wood screws, which proved to be easier in theory than in actual practice. But it fit. And doesn't seem prone to collapsing, even with the weight of wine bottles in it. This is a good thing. The third picture shows the wine rack from the living room, and the fourth captures me placing my Bee Rider mead in the rack for aging.



The puttied screw holes aren't quite invisible beneath the stain, and the entire rack turned out several shades darker than expected. But overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out (and yes, I know that wine is supposed to be kept in climate controlled cellars away from light. We’re interested in wine, not obsessed over it). In addition to the mead, it now holds a bottle of Messina Hof white zinfandel simply because it was cheap and not at all bad as far as white zins go, and Dry Comal Creek's red wine III, which I've been wanting to try for a while now. Pretty pathetic selection, actually.

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