DIY Rustic Wine Rack

How awesome is that wine rack? My Hubby built it for me! I think my craftiness has rubbed off on him. He's definitely more crafty / handy with the tools than when I first started dating him. I guess he's learned a thing or two from me over these past few years, *brushes off shoulder* hehe! Well, inspiration struck the Kurtz household this past weekend and, boy did we both hit it out of the park! Recently, Justin has gotten into building stuff...he's pretty good at it, too! Because he was wanting to make something this past weekend, I asked him to make one of the things on his honey-do list...yes, I have a honey-do list for him, but mine is not the typical clean out the gutters, mow the yard kind of list, it's a crafty honey-do list! Things I want, but can't afford, that I think he can make. Yep, he nailed this one! It looks 10 times better than the picture I showed him and he made it with no plans, just eyeballed it...did I mention how great he is?

Materials
- 1 wood pallet

- 1 - 1x4x8 white wood
- 48 - 2 in wood screws (24 per rack)
- 80 grade sandpaper
- wood stains - light and dark (your preference)
- hand held jig saw
- reciprocating saw
- miter saw
- paint brush
- hammer
- 1/8 drill bit
- power drill
- clamps

- wood glue

This is a new type of project for The Kurt Corner, so I will do my best to be as detailed as possible, since we kind of forgot to take pictures along the way. It's really as simple as it looks, I promise!

(Note: all areas needing screws are pre-drilled with a 1/8 in bit and all cut areas should be stained with lighter stain)

For this project, you will need a pallet without blocks, this IS what you want...NOT this kind. Start by removing the frame boards with a reciprocating saw using a metal cutting blade to cut through the nails. Make sure to leave two frame boards on each end, this will create the beginning frame of your wine rack. We leave these boards to maintain the integrity and rustic look of the nails already in use.

This is what your base will look like.

Next, lay out the boards you just removed and beat the crap out of them with a hammer! Just kidding, but you do want to beat them up a little with a hammer...don't break them though! You just need to beat up one side of each board. this will be the side that faces you when assembled. Also, beat one side of the end pieces, as shown above. This will be the front facing base.

You will need two stains for this next step. One dark stain and one lighter stain. The dark stain will be used to emphasize the beat areas and then the lighter stain for the rest. Take a small paint brush and only paint the hammered areas with the dark stain. Don't worry about being perfect, we will sand this away later. Paint each hammered area, leave for 5 to 10 seconds (longer or shorter depending on the depth of the stain you want) and then wipe away with a cloth. Repeat on all boards in the hammered areas. Next, sand away the extra stain NOT in the grooves so that all that remains are the darkened dents. Once you are satisfied, apply the lighter stain to ALL sides of the boards and leave for 5 to 10 seconds and wipe away. Remember to test your stains on a practice board before completing these steps. You should also stain your 1x4x8 and two extra pallet boards at this point (don't beat these boards, if you did, no worries).

This next part I did not get a picture of...my bad. Take the pallet frame and cut down the center, parallel to the remaining two end boards that you did not remove. This will create two identical wine racks. 

Take two of your stained boards and space them out along the back side of the wine rack frame, half an inch apart, lining up with the three posts. This is a guide to show you where the top of the wine rack is. Mark where the top board hits your three posts with a pencil. Set aside your two boards and cut the three posts where you marked them. In this step, we used a miter saw, but you could also use a circular saw. Once cut, take your jig saw and create your own design in the three posts. We did a simple curve by using an extra piece of wood that was cut in to the desired shape and then traced on each of the three posts. You really can't go wrong here with the shape...unless of course you cut straight through the board, don't do that. After the shapes are cut, take your drill bit and drill two holes per post (six in total) and attach your two stained boards, beat side facing towards the front. Your basic shape is now complete, yay! You will need to stain the cut portion with the lighter stain at this time.

Take your stained 1x4 and make four cuts, creating four total pieces. These will be the bases on which the wine bottles sit. You will need to measure the open space where the wine bottles sit and cut your boards accordingly. Once cut, put in place with wood glue and clamp. Leave for one hour and then screw in from the back side for extra support, two screws per side (total of four screws).

Use remaining wood from the 1x4 scraps you just cut to create 1 3/4 in spacers that should be glued to the bottom of each three posts and let dry.

For the last part, you will need to cut the remaining two stained pallet boards for the wine glass holders. Hold up your board to the wine rack and mark the areas where the three posts are. You cannot place a wine glass in this section because of the spacers. Next, mark the areas where you want your wine glasses. We suggest four wine glass spaces per side (total of 8 per rack). The openings for the wine glass stems should be 1 1/4 in wide and the spaces between each opening should be 2 1/2 in so the glasses don't touch. Make your cuts and smooth out any areas with a jig saw/sandpaper if needed. Attach your cut wine glass holder to the bottom of the wine rack using the remaining six screws (two per post). Your wine rack is now complete!! 

***UPDATE***

After publishing this wine rack I made a second DIY Pallet Book Shelf and captured the steps on video and created a YouTube tutorial. While not exactly like this project, it is very similar. If you are interested in the video tutorial it can be found below. Enjoy!