#let's be real this is one whole big messed up poly arrangement

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I hate you so much. As per our conversation, you absolute heathen: Borgias Star Wars AU Cesare as Leia Lucrezia as Luke Micheletto as Han Fucking go. I hate you so much.

This is the first of two Star Wars AUs, this one is mostly because I profoundly wanted an AU where Cesare was literally a prince of an entire planet and also I wanted Lucrezia to have a lightsaber.  I am currently working on another one for @wildehacked in which everyone is in the much more obvious position of being Sith.

Cesare doesn’t expect a rescue, as he sits inhis cell, back to the wall and one leg stretched out in front of him with theother bent close to his body.  Theceremonial robes of Alderaan are heavy, uncomfortable at the best of times andthese…these are not the best of times. Deep red cloth rubs against his skin, raw and tender from a few roundswith a torture droid, and he ignores it. He told them nothing—he has no profound alliance to the Rebellion, butthe image of the great and terrible Darth Sixtus wading through the endlessdunes of Dantooine had amused him, and after their young general turned theirweapon on Alderaan…

Well. Cesare is (was) hardly beloved of his people, raised by the stern andaustere Viceroy of Alderaan, della Rovere, but that was his planet, and afterit was gone, he denied the Empire information out of sheer spite.  It had been worth it, to see the toweringdark figure of Sixtus storm out of the room in a rage.

Still, though.  His planet is gone, and they didn’t lovetheir distant prince, and the Rebellion trusts him only on the weight of hisadopted guardian, who was well known in the right circles for his totallyruthless devotion to the cause.  Cesaresent away the information he had been told to care for with the droid, a PA-L0unit more willful than was good for it. It might make it to the Sforza woman della Rovere had intended it for,or it might not—either way, it is out of his hands.  The Rebellion won’t expend the manpower tosend a rescue mission, and the Empire has a new planet-killer to play with.  He’s confident he won’t live long enough tofind out whether PA-L0 made it or not.

It’s something of a surprise, then, whenalarms go off and his cell door opens to admit the shortest Stormtrooper he’sever seen.  

Cesare silently arches an eyebrow.  Princes grow up in the public eye, especiallyon bustling Core worlds like Alderaan, and Cesare prides himself on the abilityto show no response to any disaster. He’d had to cultivate it, after the second time he was caught withsomeone who, perhaps, should have been off-limits.

“Are you lost?” he asks dryly, and theStormtrooper reaches up to wrestle off their helmet, and Cesare’s mouth snapsshut in surprise.

It’s not the hard-faced man he expected.  Instead it’s a woman, a girl, really, with ayouthful face and hair like sunlight pinned up in a knot, and she smiles athim, perfect tiny teeth a string of matched pearls behind her pink lips.  She looks about his own age, maybeyounger.  There’s a sharp tug, like acord anchored somewhere in Cesare’s spine is pulling him toward her, and he hasthe sudden inexplicable urge to brush her hair back, the wayward coils of spungold escaping around her face.

“I’m Lucrezia Borgia,” she says, dimpling athim, and he tries to assemble words to reply. “I found your Paolo unit.  I’mhere to rescue you.”

Cesare has made worse snap decisions in hislife than take a rescue wearing the face of an angel, he concludes in under asecond.  They run.

They find another false Stormtrooper, andthis one is far more like what Cesare expected, a man with eyes like stone anda dispassionate expression under the smudged blood on his cheek.  Lucrezia calls him Micheletto, and Cesaresnatches a blaster off a dead Stormtrooper to toss at him.

“My lord,” Micheletto says with a slightincline of his head.

“This is Cesare della Rovere,” Lucrezia says,as if Micheletto doesn’t know who he is. “He gives your orders now.  Takeus back to the Condottiere, and we’llfind Caterina on the way.”

They do find Caterina.  Just in time to watch Sixtus cut herdown.  

“I knew her brother,” Lucrezia says coolly asthey crowd into the cockpit of Micheletto’s ship, the Condottiere.  It’s a bit of awreck, but he pilots it like a master, as skillfully as he had cut down anyStormtrooper in their path.  “He was anunpleasant man, to say the least.”  Shefingers the silver hilt at her hip—a lightsaber, she tells Cesare quietly, apparentlyonce the possession of her father.  “You’llforgive me if I don’t shed any tears over her corpse.”

“Of course,” Cesare says, and she smiles athim, and he takes it like a blaster bolt to the heart.

Some other highlights…

Lucrezia brings down the Death Star, her eyesclosed and her X-Wing guided by something at the center of her chest, somethingcold and bright as a Tatooine moon.  Whenshe lands, laughing and giddy with triumph, Cesare snatches her up around thewaist and spins her around, and he smiles at her, and she thinks idly aboutkissing it off his lips.  Michelettosmiles his faint smile and kisses her cheek like she’s a lady of status.  Lucrezia gets an award.  Micheletto, a killer and a criminal and abloody hand for hire, insists that he should not, and Cesare does not arguewith him.

Cesare finds the leader of the Rebellion, anex-Senator named Machiavelli, very much to his liking.  It is common knowledge that Machiavelli hassomething of an affection for the ex-Prince of Alderaan (it’s something Cesareasks himself often—is he still a prince at all, if he has no planet?), andCesare is not above leveraging this to his purposes.

Lucrezia kisses Cesare on Hoth, after shealmost dies in the cold, her skin still flushed from the incredibly hot showershe just took, and he clutches her to him like she’s as ethereal assunlight.  Her golden hair hangs aroundthem like a curtain, in her quarters, and the red lines her nails trace over hisshoulders and chest sting bright and clean, and Cesare thinks that he has neverloved someone like he loves this woman.

Cesare kisses Micheletto in an asteroidfield, during an argument, and again on Cloud City, where an old acquaintanceturns them over to Sixtus, and it’s harsh and bloodied and hungry.  They fuck in dark corners, still half-dressedand breathless, and Micheletto swears allegiance like he’s praying to a god,like Cesare is a force of nature, like Cesare is the Force.  Cesare leaves bruises shaped likefinger-lengths and the curve of his lips, and they’re still there whenMicheletto is frozen in carbonite by Darth Sixtus.

Lucrezia spends all of thirty secondstraining with a withered old Jedi named Orsini before she rushes away again,not even pausing at his warnings as she takes flight for Cloud City.  When she arrives, there are terriblerevelations about her family—Darth Sixtus, once Rodrigo Borgia, a power-hungrygeneral from the Clone Wars.  On the Condottiere, she cries into Cesare’sshoulder, her severed hand aching, and he kisses her tears away, her sunlight curls spilling over themboth.

Cesare saves Micheletto.  He does not care to be asked why he takessuch a risk for a man he professes to be a simple instrument.

Lucrezia, with a new silver hand like a piece of art, discovers that there is anotherBorgia—there was a third, an elder brother gone missing as a small child,before the Death Star was destroyed, but the young general died with his weaponand now there is only one.  Her twinbrother, Cesare Borgia, Prince of ex-Alderaan.

Cesare does not care.

[franklyshipping]

The First Time ~ A Markiplier Ego Fanfic

HERE WE HAVE ANOTHER AWESOME ANON PROMPT FEATURING THE BEST POLY IN THE ENTIRE EGOSPHERE! LET'S DO THIS!

TAGGING: @thehostofleetrature @yandere-ipli-ler and @silvlee-shepherd

New relationships take time to develop, and that’s honestly what makes them so exciting and enticing, because you get to spend so much time exploring so many things with the person, or people, that you love. I feel like cuddling is a main activity that gets explored. Now, in two-person couples it’s a pretty simple process, there’s a big spoon and a little spoon and that’s it….but with a polyamory there is so much frickin physics involved! Who are on the outside and who is in the middle? Is the middle person being sandwiched or is it a spooning train? When is the right time for there to be a swapping of positions? It’s a whole process, but it’s a process that one particularly polyamory managed to sort out quite early on in their relationship.

The Host, Yandere and Silver Shepherd adored cuddling. Yandere loved providing and receiving any kind of love, Silver adored being snuggled and playfully squished, and the Host loved being surrounded by warmth and feeling safe. Thus, on this occasion, the arrangements were as follows: The Host was lying on his back in the middle, with Silver on his right curled up into his torso whilst the Host had an arm securely around him, meanwhile Yandere was at his left and laying on their side with one of their legs splayed over his body whilst they used his bicep as a pillow. It was pretty beautiful and adorable and precious….but of course with these three, a relaxing atmosphere never did last long.

‘Are you okay Host? Your tummy seheems to be shaking….’

Silver couldn’t keep the giggle out of his voice as the Host let out a low growl. His tummy was indeed trembling, due to the fact that Silver was lightly tickling it with his fingertips, because he loved seeing the stoic Host so squirmy and embarrassed. Yandere let out a giggle at the whole thing as they crooned.

'You are such a cheeky little villain sometimes….’

Silver’s cheeks went a cute pink at their words, but he’d gotten to the point where he was actually able to reply unlike very early on the relationship where he used to just break down into stammers.

‘Yeheeaahh, but you still looove me!’

He replied giddily, making Yandere roll their eyes fondly, before they cast their gaze to the Host as they purred.

‘Is Silvy being a nuisance darling? Do you wanna swap out sweetheart?’

The Host initially smiled, because Yandere’s endless use of pet names honestly warmed him right to the core. Then, his smile shifted into a light smirk. Yan and Silver both gasped. Whenever the Host smirked, it meant something really fun and possibly quite flustering was about to go down. He sat up, and cocked his head to Yan as he replied.

‘That’s quite alright my dear…but if you would pin Silver down for me so I can take my revenge, that would be most helpful.’

Silver’s eyes widened as he let out a fearful squeak, and he tried to scramble out of bed, but Yan and Host were too fast for him. Host hooked an arm around his waist and yanked him so that Silver was the one in the middle, before Yan grabbed his arms and lay on his chest so that the Host could wiggle his fingers into Silver’s belly.

‘EEP! N-Noho no lemme go lemme go this isn’t fahahair! HOHOOOOST!’

Silver burst into hysterical giggles as he struggled beneath Yan, but he was well and truly stuck as the Host chuckled and happily scratched over Silver’s trembling, ticklish tummy.

‘To be fair dear, you started it.’

Silver let out a whine amidst his laughter, but he couldn’t argue because there was no lie in the Host’s words. Silver was a pink cheeked giggly mess at this point, and as the Host enjoyed playing with Silver’s tummy, Yandere was just becoming encapsulated by Silver’s scrunched up pink face. So they decided to have a little fun with Silver too.

‘NAHAHAH YAHANNY NUHUH KIHIHISSES!!’

Silver squealed, making Yandere giggle as they deposited fluttery, tickly kisses all over both of Silver’s cheeks, which were also ticklish by the way. Yandere crooned as they continued pecking their smooches everywhere they could reach on his face.

‘Awww but I thought you liked my kisses honeypie?’

Silver’s cheeks were seriously red now, both from his blushing and from Yan’s residual lipstick. The hero wiggled and bucked, tugging at his arms as much as he could. In his mind this was just so unfair, he ALWAYS got ganged up on with tickles! I mean, he didn’t hate it per say, but he wanted to get Yanny and Hosty with tickles too! Damn his insane ticklishness.

‘BUHUHUT THEHEY TIHIHICKLE!!’

Yandere giggled, and was about to upgrade from kisses to nuzzles to show Silver how tickly they could be….when suddenly, they felt deft fingers wiggle into their sides. They jumped with a squeal, releasing Silver’s arms so they could hold their sides as they gazed wide eyed behind them to where the Host was grinning. You see, he’d picked up on Silver’s little thought of wanting either Host or Yan being ganged up on instead of him….so the Host was making sure it was Yan who got the tickly limelight.

‘H-Hosty! What w-was that for?’

The Host grinned, especially as he saw Silver start to sit up with an eager gleam in his eyes.

‘Out of the three of us…..who is the one who has yet to receive even the slightest tickle today?’

Yandere’s eyes widened as they gulped…..then squealed as Silver suddenly pushed them down onto the bed, forcing their arms above their head as the Host chuckled and pulled Yan’s ankles closer to him. Needless to say, the fiery ego was struggling wildly. They weren’t on the receiving end nearly as often as their two boys, they said it was because they had a fierce reputation to maintain….but really it was because they were far more ticklish than they liked to admit.

‘Y-Yohou let me g-go! I will get you b-both for this I swe-EEK! H-Hohohosty n-nohohot my feheet nohot my fehehEEEET!!’

Yandere threw their head back and squealed, scrunching up they bare feet as the Host dragged his blunt nails up and down their soles leisurely. Meanwhile, Silver grinned with giddy satisfaction, having Yan on the receiving end was beyond satisfying. As the hero pinned Yan’s wrists with one of his, he wiggled the fingers of his free hand teasingly over one of their armpits.

‘Are you ready for the ticklies Yanny? They’re coming to geeet yooou!’

Yandere squealed and shook their head, eyes wide as they giggled and squeaked frantically, they couldn’t believe they’d let this happen!

‘Sihihilvy dohohon’t yohou dahare-AAAHH! NAHAHA IHIHIT TIHICKLES IHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLES!!’

Silver giggled as he happily scratched all inside Yan’s sensitive hollow, adoring how Yan thrashed and let out mini-shrieks from all the tickling. Silver loved being in this relationship. Not only was he lucky enough to see the Host’s soft, loving personality behind his stoic third-person mask, but he also got to see the innocent sweetness behind Yandere’s defensive front. He felt so lucky to be in so much love with them both, especially since they ended up doing things like this (Silver made a mental reminder to make a note that today was their first true tickle fight between the three of them).

‘Ahaaawww coochie coochie coo Yannyboo!’

Yandere let out a cute wail at the teasing, which made the Host chuckle down at Yan’s feet as he scratched at their inner arches evilly.

‘Ohoho, methinks our dear Yandere likes those coochie coos-‘

‘IHIHIHI DOHOHO NAHAHAT!!’

The Host and Silver both giggled and chuckled at their indignant exclamation, and the resident superhero switched the scratch Yandere’s un-tickled armpit as he crooned.

‘Oh yes you do oh yes you dooooo!’

Yandere let out a desperate wail, throwing their head back as their high pitched laughter flew from them, it was unstoppable and beautiful. They let out protest after protest, but the tickles kept on coming….until Yandere said one particular thing, that really caught Silver’s attention….and it would be the Host’s downfall.

‘HOHOHOSTY WAHAHASN’T EHEVEN PROHOPERLY TIHICKLED TOHODAAAAY!!’

Silver gasped at Yan’s words, because they were just so true. Silver had barely been grazing the Host’s skin, barely even teasing him, and then he just went and launched a full tickle assault against fricking BOTH of them! Silver had mercy on Yan, and Yan took the opportunity to gasp and catch their breath….because the Host had stopped too. He’d stopped, because he too had heard Yan’s exclamation….and it made him realise that he was well and truly screwed. Before he knew it, four hands had pulled him into a lying position on the bed, and Silver and Yandere were looming over him with twitching fingers and playful smiles.

‘N-Now…l-let’s not be too hasty-‘

‘Oh I think it’s a little late for that sweetheart. First you attack poor Silver, tickling him FAR more than he tickled you….and then you had the gall to start on me….’

Yandere purred through slightly gritted teeth, but the Host felt only giddiness because he knew it was all in fun. The seer gulped as Silver then chipped in.

‘So it’s only fair that you get some real tickle treatment….some real torture…’

The Host whimpered as he felt his arms being pinned above his head by Silver, whilst Yandere’s fingers ventured under his shirt smoothly. They were both smirking as the Host smiled nervously, shaking his head as he already started giggling.

‘P-Pleheeease…I-Ihi c-c-can’t….’

The Host gasped. It had begun. His personal torture….might surprise you. When it comes to tickling, there is one mode, one technique that gets to him above everything else. Gentleness. Gentle, teasy tickling was his absolute weakness, because it made him diminish into a flustered, babbling, broken little mess. It was adorable to witness. Yandere grinned as they let their fingernails trace and stroke carefully in his armpits, tickling through his armpit hairs and grazing the skin only slightly.

'Tickle….tickle….tickle….’

Yandere’s whispered words just made it all so much worse, giving the Host goose-bumps as he twitched and giggled, squirming helplessly as he stuttered.

‘P-Plehehease I-I-Ihi’m sohoho sohohorry….’

Silver and Yandere grinned fondly, and the hero leant down to peck a kiss on the Host’s cheek as he crooned.

‘Oh not yet you’re not, but you will be….’

The Host let out a nervous whine….then squeaked and sucked his tummy in when he saw what Silver was starting to do. As Yandere kept up the treatment at his armpits, Silver used a single finger to trace light circles around the Host’s hyper-sensitive bellybutton.

‘N-Nohohot thehehere oho p-plehease nohot thehehere….’

Silver giggled, he always love how the Host reacted when his bellybutton was played with. He remembered when he and Yan had discovered how sensitive the Host’s bellybutton was, it was the first time they’d ever seen the Host’s blush travel right down his neck….just as it was doing now.

‘Oh but it’s impossible to resist! You’re just sooo ticklish here, I can’t not play with your cute wittle button!’

The Host bit his lip as he whined, his whole body trembling now as he gasped and squeaked at the armpit tickles, whilst trying in vain to suck his tummy in and away from Silver’s teasy touch. But it was all no use, he was subject to the whims of Yandere and Silver….truly, it was the most loving tickle torture ever.

‘Kitchy kitchy coooo Hosty, who’s a ticklish naughty booooy?’

The Host giggled and whined at Yandere’s coos, but nevertheless meekly replied.

‘M-Mehehe….’

Yandere and Silver grinned, they loved when the Host played along, he was so darn cute.

‘And are you truly, truly sorry for launching unprovoked tickle attacks on us, your loved ones?’

Silver purred, whilst tapping his finger against Host’s navel to make him jump and yip as he replied frantically and squeakily.

‘Y-Yehehehes yehes I-Ihi’m sohohorry!’

Host let out a little cry as his entire body tensed….but then, as hands and fingers retracted, he was able to relax. Suddenly they were two sets of arms wrapped around him as two heads nestled into his chest, and the Host let out a shaky, happy gasp when he heard Silver mumble.

‘We forgive you Hosty….’

‘Mhmm….plus, it was kinda fun…’

Yandere giggled, whilst made Silver and the Host grin as they hugged each other closer. Bodies over bodies, limbs over limbs, hearts against hearts. Love is love people, whether it be lover and lover….or lover, and lover, and lover.

WOOOOOO HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS FIC LEMME KNOW IF YA DO WOOOO LUV YOUS XX

[neckromantics]

Poly Relationship Headcanons:

The Chocobros–

(Pt. ½)

This request is an absolute dream honestly.

SFW. All the boys… All the time…. (To clarify you are ALL together. Like boys are gonna kiss in this and I am not sorry about it at all.)

Aren’t our boyfriends adorable.

Believe me when I say that this whole poly thing came out of nowhere.

It’s not like you were planning to date all four of them at once or anything. Hell, you weren’t even planning on dating one of them.

You were all great friends, and content with staying just great friends. Well, you thought you were content, and they most certainly weren’t aware that you held any feelings other than friendship for them.

Not to mention the whole mess of drooling that all of them had going for each other. Like, c'mon you guys… how clueless can you be?

Apparently very clueless.

You’d been traveling with them for some time, and in between all of the long, cramped car rides, the awkward, cramped sleeping arrangements, and the life threateningly cramped battles in cave systems that you never knew existed, the five of you got close.

Mega close, as it turns out.

So close that the lines between friendship and something else were becoming a little more blurred with each day that passed. Not that anyone was aware at the time, but looking back on it now it all makes sense.

You all clung to each other for warmth and comfort, slept together in a giant mass of snores and twitchy limbs, and shared food or drinks without even thinking twice about it.

(Like seriously, no one complained about backwash even once. There are five of you.)

Even bathed together at one point because someone Prompto was too creeped out about standing in the lake, alone, at night after he remembered a horror movie he watched two years ago.

“Guys, you can’t just leave me out there! I’m all vulnerable, and edible, and everyone knows that lake monsters love blondes!”

It was the funniest thing ever bc everyone was facing away from each other like they’d turn to stone if they caught even the slightest glimpse of someone else’s skin.

Which was a little ridiculous bc you were all still wearing your underclothes.

Even Gladio was blushing. Gladio. Blushing.

So, after an insane amount of time where you all were dancing around the ceorl in the room, said ceorl was finally let out of the bag by your big, dumb mouth.

It was a rather quiet night at camp– everyone was exhausted from a long day of hunting, and fishing, and running from an army– which resulted in all of you piling together after dinner and talking nonsense at the roof of the tent.

At some point, Gladio told this stupid, vulgar joke that led to Noct’s snorting laughter (loud and… directly in your ear). You’d been able to hold in your own giggles until the very second you saw Ignis trying (and failing) to keep his disappointed gaze from breaking as a rather smug Gladiolus nudged his shoulder.

“Ehhh? Iggy? You know what I mean?”

You started shaking so hard that Noct’s head fell off of your shoulder, and the loud thud followed by a “Shit, Y/N, my nose!” only made matters worse for poor Prompto, who was neon pink in the corner and squeaking like a set of windshield wipers.

In that moment, it just seemed natural for your lips to part, breath wavering as you try to work through another round of chuckles. “Gods, I’m so in love with you guys”.

Hoo boy, did that shut them up real quick. Cue cricket noises. Cue Prompto’s mouth dropping open. Cue Gladio almost choking on the celebratory ‘I made a funny’ candy he’d just popped into his mouth moments before.

Hey, it was embarrassing but at least they all felt the same way. That’s all that matters, right?

Right?

Each of the guys took their own time to get into it and you were totally okay with that bc to be honest you were kind of freaking out, too. The first time someone calls you a pet name you have to sit down on a boulder and think about life for a hot second.

“Watch your step.” Gladio’s warning comes with a firm grip on your shoulders that pulls you away from a rock you would have definitely tripped over. “Stop staring at Iggy and pay attention to where you’re walking, babe.”

Your knees clicked together rather audibly and everyone heard it. Wouldn’t stop making fun of you for weeks.

Okay now onto our boys. Individually bc there’s a lot to get through.

Noct was way more hesitant than anyone for a long, long list of reasons. And it showed.

Wrote Luna almost immediately like “Hey there’s this new thing? Is this okay?” To which she replied with a simple, “Finally.”

One night, in Galdin Quay, after everyone else had fallen asleep, he made some half-assed excuse about how he’d like some company for a fishing trip. You’d followed him to the dock and sat down beside of him, shoulder to shoulder and knees bumping with each swing of your legs above the cool, darkened waters. You didn’t call him out when he grasped at your hand instead of casting out a line, only listened and waited patiently until his steady breathing turned into words.

And boy, were there a lot of them. His eyes were focused on his lap, hidden behind a mess of bed head that he didn’t bother with after the nap he took earlier in the afternoon, and with each new breath came another worry or doubt that spilled past his lips and into the space between you.

You’d never seen him so vulnerable, never heard his voice waver until it cut sentences into fragments, or felt such a weak, fragile grip on your hand before.

It made you jump at the chance to snatch each and every worry from the air and crumple them like paper– to point and shoot away all of the doubts until there was nothing left for him to be so scared about.

It might have been minutes, but you could swear that the two of you sat there for hours, huddled up together and just talking it all out.

The first touch of his lips to yours was so hesitant that you could barely feel it, but somehow you knew exactly what he really wanted to say to you. Thank you.

The talk seemed to help. Bc the next morning when he awoke, he planted a giant, wet kiss on Prompto’s cheek just to see the look on the guy’s face.

Is very bold in some ways, yet shy at the same time? Will kiss your face or reach for your hand out of the blue without blinking, but if you so much as think about reciprocating he becomes a giant mess.

He stares. All of the time. At everyone. Usually bc he wants someone’s attention and is too embarrassed to admit it.

As you can see, he’s not the greatest at showing or receiving affection, but gets better at it as time goes on.

If any of you give into his puppy dog gaze, good luck. He’s going to lay directly on top of you and not move for hours. (Ignis is the only one who doesn’t complain about his arms falling asleep or the drool on his shirt.)

Also, just so you know, now that everyone is dating, no one can keep up with their possessions. It was a month in when you began to notice. Noct steals (“It’s not really stealing–” he insists, “if I am looking you in the eyes when I take it.”) everyone’s things. Food, bedding, your heart…. It’s all his now.

Oh and clothes.

Can’t find your warmest jacket? Ask Noct. Prompto doesn’t know where his favorite t-shirt went? Check with the prince. Ignis is continuously complaining about having no socks to wear? Better check them royal feet.

You haven’t lived until you witness how teenie and adorable Noct looks in Gladio’s clothes tho sorry.

Speaking of teenie and adorable, Prompto was super on board from the get go. Kind of overly enthusiastic about everything to the point where Gladio had to tell him to reel it in several times.

Not so much in the touchy feely way tho. At first, just looking at him for too long made him sputter and ran his train of thought right off its rails. No, this boy was just SO EXCITED. ALL OF THE TIME.

BC HE NEVER THOUGHT HE’D GET TO DATE ANYONE, REALLY, AND NOW HE’S DATING HIS MOST FAVORITE PEOPLE EVER? nEAT!

Prompto was so genuinely excited all of the time that the day he started moping around, everyone noticed pretty much immediately. And at the end of the day, when he didn’t come around to show everyone the photos he’d taken (bc he was too upset to take photos, something was wrong.), you and Noctis were practically vibrating with worry.

Which resulted in the two of you cornering him on the roof of a motel (which consisted of the two of you finding him up there and sitting directly on top of him) and asking him what the heck was going on.

It took a bit of patience and a lot of head petting to get him to open up, but once he did everything started to make sense.

Freckles didn’t feel like he was good enough for you guys, or that he couldn’t do enough to keep the four of you happy with him. Which blew your mind a little? This sweet, sunshine boy– this beautiful and gentle angel felt like he wasn’t enough? For the four of you?

Noct heard the words “I don’t deserve you.” and you could see the look of determination in his eyes as it sparked to life. You sat beside of them and listened patiently as they talked it out, knowing that if anyone could help Prom with something like this, it’d be his best and most trusted friend.

Fingers still combing through soft, honeycomb hair to let Prom know that you were there and you cared.

Prompto kissed Noct for the first time that night, and Noct kissed back. Just the softest, sweetest, and slowest smooch– right in front of you, and the moon, and the couple staring at the three of you in utter confusion from the parking lot below.

And when they pulled away from one another, you got ahold of those cute, freckled cheeks and kissed him until he had no air left in his lungs. Told him that he was wrong. That he was more than enough, and that you were estatic with him.

You loved him.

Noct loved him.

And, he loved you guys more than you could ever know.

So handsy y'all wtf Prom is definitely the most grabby out of the four.

Wants to be connected to someone at all times, and has grabbed hands in the middle of battle like it’s not the worst possible time to be cute.

Has never been afraid to stick close to people if he’s scared (like in caves and such), and that has only escalated into getting piggy back rides from Gladio or Iggy when he’s particularly creeped out. He bribes them.

Wants to be directly in the middle of the cuddle pile, and no one’s really complaining.

Is intimidated by the older bros at first. He really didn’t know where to even begin with them, and the first time he got to hold Iggy’s hand, he kept turning around to look at you with an expression that screamed, “ARE YOU SEEING THIS!?”

Hums all cute and out of tune whenever he’s really bored.

(One time it prompted Gladio to jokingly start singing along with lyrics that made no sense. Noct provided a sick beat even though he can’t beatbox to save his life. You and Iggy pulled out some sick ballroom dancing skills right there in the middle of the diner.)

((You got kicked out.))

Is the softest, loveliest boy ever, but would low-key shoot anyone who threatened his significant others, point blank and with little regret.

Now, we move onto the older two Chocobros, so please hold onto your seats.

____

Continue to Part 2.

____

[secretradiobrooklyn]

SECRET RADIO | Sept.5.20

“Crosscountry Rabbithole” curated in the van on a drive between Brooklyn and the countryside of Illinois on Labor Day Weekend 2020 (Hear it here.)

As there’s still very much a pandemic going on, we really didn't want to stop overnight if we didn’t have to on our drive from New York to Illinois, so after we exhausted the fantastic Saturday NPR lineup we figured a great way to stay awake was compiling the second issue of WBFF. You’ll hear a lot of the African and tropical vibe from last week, plus more French yé-yé and Europe in general. Here’s the track list, and of course, detailed notes below: 

WBFF, édition 2,  5.SEP.20

1. Michel Polnareff - La lezione del capellone

Le Beatnik is one of Paige’s all-time favorite songs — the guitar is just such a rad riff, and it was a real debate on which version to put on, the French version of the Italian, and we figured we didn’t have much Italian yet… plus check out how he rolls his Rs! That’s one thing about the major hitters of French pop in the ‘60s — they all sing in different languages. (Keep an ear out for France Gall later!)

2. Antoine Dougbé - Honton Soukpo Gnos

Dougbé just hit us like a ton of bricks — these arrangements are completely perfect to our ears. So detailed, and with super funk and super Velvet Underground tones at the same time (check out the freakin guitar solo, and guitar outro), plus of course a Beninese pulse that is just unstoppable. This one was produced, uncredited, by Melomé Clement, and Dougbé isn’t the singer, he’s the composer.

3. The Velvet Underground - Cool It Down

The guitar tones here come so naturally out of the T.P. Orchestre sound. There’s plenty of stuff he’s saying that I don’t understand, and he’s saying it in English.  

4.  Ranil - Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Licenciado

This is another Analog Africa release, with a fantastic album cover. Paige dove into it and soon found that she was checking every day to see if the vinyl was out, cos it was under 300 copies and falling. It’s got a parrot on the cover that looks like the Greenwood parakeets. This song is how she learned that she loves cumbia music.

5. T.P. Orchestre Poly Rythmo - Trop Parler C’est Maladie

The guitar launches into these endless patterns that wind around an unknown number of percussionists. Everyone feels so fluid together. “Trop parler c’est maladie”: “Too much talking is bad,” literally, which Paige imagines as essentially meaning, “Let’s stop talking and make out.” But we don’t really know.

    The way the voices layer together when they’re singing, and then the guitar rises into the spaces between them, twisting and winding and droning and melodizing, is just completely mesmerizing. This incredible guitarist is Papillon, and he died in 1982. What a huge loss — he plays so eloquently and so conversationally.

6. Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang - Somebody

I learned about Janka Nabay by hearing that he had just died. Listening to KDHX, the DJ (Caron House?) said she was sorry to hear about his passing and put on this song and I had to stop driving so I could just listen to all of the patterns crossing. I sure would have loved to see this band perform live — I feel like this is a specific reason we want to be in NYC, to meet people with capabilities I hadn’t previously known existed and work together.

7. Anna Karina - Roller Girl

Our friends Phil and Archie are an intercontinental love affair. When Phil tries to express an American accent, it’s always dripping with RRRRRs. This song feels like that, a French singer dramatically unrolling her Rs like she’s messing with her English teacher.

8. Wells Fargo - Watch Out

We believe we first heard about Wells Fargo from a Snap Judgment episode. It’s really great, starting with how they picked the name from the side of a stagecoach in a Western movie as a completely random phrase.

9. Patrick Coutin - J’aime regarder les filles

This song — this pretty freakin radical recording — became a huge hit in France in 1981 and apparently served as the soundtrack of that period. It was his big hit.

That main phrase he keeps repeating translates to “I like to watch girls on the beach,” which gets weirder and sometimes creepier with each pass.

10. Jacques Dutronc - Les cactus

Credit to Pandora for bringing us Jacques Dutronc! He sounds like Bob Dylan on a lot of songs, but he doesn’t seem to be the Dylan of France — that would be more like Serge Gainsbourg. But we could be wrong about that too. He’s also longtime partners with Francoise Hardy, which made them two of the hottest and hippest and most talented musicians of the ’60s.  

Clip from Diablo Menthe 

This is the clip of the schoolkids that we told you about, singing the Sylvie Vartan song from last week.

11. El Rego - Zon Dede

One of our main appreciations now is how deeply and broadly and internationally James Brown hit the ’60s and ’70s. People seemed to be struck by him and his approach planetwide, and it shows up like a shockwave through the whole era. This is Benin’s El Rego (thanks to Analog Africa once more for pointing him out), and his whole character seems to be in conversation with James Brown, shouting at each other from opposite sides of the world.

12. T.P. Poly-Rythmo, Bentho Gustave - Iya Me Dji Ki Bi Ni

The level of simultaneous groove and drone happening here is just unstoppable. This song has a sound I feel like I’ve always been looking for, not to play but just to dance and freak out to. Bentho Gustave is T.P. Poly-Rythmo’s bassist. We just got his headlining album on vinyl, so amazing!

13. Cambodian Rocks 1 - Yol Aularong - Jeas Cyclo (Ride Cyclo)

It’s amazing to think about how many sudden collisions of American and Cambodian experiences there were in the ’60s — so many disastrous ones, but also whatever combination of factors lead to the existence of this music. It’s so incredibly skilled and smooth, and I want to know more about who made this and how.

14. Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

Don’t miss the videotape version of the live TV version via YouTube. Celentano is an Italian singer, but this is him tweaking Americans with a songful of non-English English.

15. France Gall - Der Computer Nr. 3

Another example of French pop multilingualism. One of Paige’s favorite voices, just throwing herself into the melodies all casual and easy breezy. We found out about this song because Paige was listening to a bunch of Quebecois radio, and they were talking about her, and they were playing a bunch of clips of her performing, including this one. It turned out that she had just passed on. We had to find it find this track.

16. Saigon Rock and Soul - Thành Mái - Tóc Mai Sợi Vắn Sợi Dài (Long, Uneven Hair)

What a vocal performance! Everything about the tones and melody of this recording — voice, organ, guitar — make it feel like a dream of hardcore hippie rock, minus even one shred of San Francisco. Every time I hear this song hit its crescendo I am completely in its thrall.

17. Ofege - It’s Not Easy

So these guys are from Lagos, Nigeria, and were in high school when they recorded this. Which is just freakin perfect. It sounds like enthusiasm and bad gear and good voices and that singular feeling of being sixteen and having a stone blast.

18. Avolonto Honore et l’Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Sètché Wêda

It took some time for us to find this song. This version is from an album we found online, but it also exists on an Analog Africa album. The hand drums locked in with the guitar lick for the verse get so deep when the other voices come in. And the cascading guitar riff creates a sudden electric waterfall, while the horns point straight over to jazz and western rock and soul.

19. Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical - Marlenita

Paige became completely smitten with this album, which we found after getting caught up in an album promising Peruvian chichidelica.

20. National Wake - Everybody Loves Freedom

When I started looking for African punk, I found this set of videos of National Wake and pretty much all of them are this good. They’re a Black and white band (the first?) from South Africa in apartheid ’70s and the rock and punk that they make overflows with feeling. There’s a documentary called Punk in Africa that clearly needs watching.

21. English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom

The live version of this song really amps up the energy from the studio version I’m used to. This song always makes me think of my friend Audrey, who made me a mixtape when I was just a wee twig, and this was one of the songs that broke through and made a lasting impression. I think of her every time.

22. Fela Kuti - Roforofo Fight

“Translation from the original English hrm hrm hrm”

This song structure is so very cool, where he’s kind of playing around, setting the stage, warming up his story, and then the horns crash in with a shocker part, which gives away to this cartoonish, endlessly repeating horn phrase, like a piece of early Disney footage on repeat. Also like loop-based recordings that were still more than a decade in the future. This is one of my favorite versions of Fela, where he’s exploding with a new self and a new mode of music.

23. Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos - Ololufe

Now some time travel - this is from a collection of earliest Fela Kuti, when he’s in a completely different mode, more in the high life and samba form. He and his band are playing in a crowd-pleasing style, and it’s really very beautiful, with gorgeous vocals and horn passages. But this is also all prelude to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a character we haven’t even glimpsed yet when this song was recorded.

24. William Onyeabor - Atomic Bomb

We really don’t know much about this song except that it seems to always show up at just the right time — or maybe its presence just makes the time right.

25. Assa Cica - Tinma Sa Le

We were down a different rabbithole when we saw this video appear that we couldn’t pass up. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpI09vbq_Q) It’s a long and winding song that was one of Assa Cica’s most notable hits in Benin.

I love the three slapped notes in the middle of the song that never come back — that’s the way to slap. The bass throughout this song, but especially in the choruses, is exceptional, telling its own separate story but staying in relation with the vocals. And Paige’s favorite part of the melody is the bridge.

We just learned that Assa Cica died on May 22 of this year. It feels so strange to fall hard for a person’s music just as they leave the stage for good. (See also Janka Nabay.) It also feels good to realize you’ve already become part of a musician’s music living and giving beyond their own lives.

——

…And now we are safely arrived in the woods of Illinois. Time for a whole bunch of screenprinting and music listening!

[endlessarchite]

DIY Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

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[sherlocklexa]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

from car2 http://ift.tt/2zUg50W via as shown a lot

[prokred]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

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The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Read more http://ift.tt/2zUg50W Areas served: Winston-Salem, High Point, Yadkinville, Mocksville, Advance, Clemmons, Kernersville, Greensboro, Walnut Cove, Statesville, NC, North Carolina Services: House painting, roofing, deck building, landscaping, Carpentry, Flooring, tile, hardwood, remodeling, home improvement, interior, exterior

[chocdono]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

from mix1 http://ift.tt/2zUg50W via with this info

[petraself]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

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The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/1kI9W8s

[lowmaticnews]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2hUI8pL

[endlessarchite]

DIY Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post DIY Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

DIY Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

DIY Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

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Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

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The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

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Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

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The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

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Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway!

This plywood art wine rack is the exact addition my dining room needed; it adds warmth, a contemporary feel, and function for lots of entertaining.

Today, I’m finally sharing something I’ve been working on a while: my new wine rack in the dining room!

The photo doesn’t really do this project justice, IMHO. Swoon.

This is a fun sponsored post with Edna Valley Vineyards. I love wine and they let me try theirs and there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up! Also, I just plain wanted to build a wine rack (and I think the effort really shows in this one). But as always, all words, pictures, and opinions — for better or worse — are my own.

The Need for Full Circle

For you longtime readers, you might be able to sympathize: a project like this was once a very distant future. Remodeling is kind of a humbling gig. The mess makes you both very aware of the unsightly imperfections around you and blind to it at the same time. You get used to not having people around. Used to the mess. And then, all of a sudden:

You can cook in your kitchen again (or in my case, for the first time? #adulting). You can have other people over without shoving tools under the coffee table (that you just built, coughcough). Find new interests that include less (or even more) sawdust. You get the chance to relax and take pride in what you’ve created. And sample the really good stuff that makes life richer.

Exhibit 1: The Good Stuff

While I may never be the person who doesn’t have power tools around (BFFs for life), being in a serious relationship again made me realize how much I shied away from opening my home to others during this whole remodeling process. I guess, in a way, it paralleled how I felt about myself in general.

Later, I realized that I would waste way too much time waiting for the house to be finished “enough”. To not be scared of the judgment of sharing my unfinished works to scrutiny. Will they see the potential like I do, or only the flaws? It was time to move on from that thinking.

Those of you eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a bottle of Edna Valley Vineyards back when I created a drink station earlier this fall…

But the fact of the matter was, I didn’t really have a good place to store nice wine for longer periods of time. And while I really enjoy wine, I usually indulge in it when I have company over (or bring it to a friend’s house for sharing). I’ve been reading up on how best to care for certain wines and keep the cork from drying out, so I narrowed in on a plan to add an art piece to the dining room that could do double-duty for dinner occasions.

Inspiration

The actual concept of plywood art, or wood art, is not really a spark of genius on my part. Love and Renovations did one inspired by Brepurposed who was inspired by All the Bells and Whistles. Vintage Revivals did one that was inspired from a restaurant she visited. My main inspiration though? Oddly enough, my new living room rug.

Where it started to where it is now, you can’t really see it. But that’s because my first draft of trying to create plans looked more like this:

See? The pattern looks a lot more like my rug! Alas, I was a little overambitious and didn’t think in the slightest about execution.

I started on turning it into a reality, and I realized that the angles were just way too difficult for my entry-level woodworking skills to keep it consistent and tight. Gaps are kind of a big problem on a project like this, so a slightly-off piece could ruin the whole thing. I needed a simpler design concept.

Not going to lie… this thing still takes a lot of very precise cuts, so I ran into many frustrating points even after simplifying. But square wooden dowels aren’t that scary as long as you have something sturdy to set them in as you cut. So, if you have an ample amount of time and patience to dedicate to such a thing, this is a pretty great project to take on. Especially during winter months when the needs of your summer to-do list aren’t weighing down on your shoulders. And you can sit in front of the fire, drinking wine. ;)

I’ve made a rudimentary supplies and tools list, but if you’re not comfortable winging it on your own with the actual placement of each dowel, you’re really going to need to download the plans for this one. I did my best though to focus on only 45-degree angles wherever possible so that it’s a lot easier to cut out with a miter box instead of needing more sophisticated tools.

Plywood Art Wine Rack

Materials Needed

15 (approx.) – 1/2″ wooden dowels

3/4″ sanded plywood

1 – 1x4x48″ poplar board

Wood glue – I just tried out this stuff for the first time; love it!

Wood stain and poly (optional) – I used American Walnut

Veneer edge banding

Wood screws

Heavy duty French cleat hanger

Affiliate links are used in this post to support this site at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting The Ugly Duckling House!

Tools Needed

Vise – I used an inexpensive one meant for a drill press / similar

Pull saw

Miter box

Sander and sandpaper

Iron

Drill and drill bits

Ruler (even though I didn’t use one for this, an angleizer might be even better)

Square

Table saw or circular saw

1 3/8″ Forstner bit – best if used with a drill press

Paint pyramids

Step 1: Cut plywood to size

The first step was cutting the plywood down to a manageable size. My board started out as leftovers from making my plywood counter in my laundry room, so I didn’t actually have a factory square edge to start with. Getting the backing nice and square is very important; the rest of the piece will look really out of wack if it isn’t and make measuring everything else that much harder.

Step 2: Cut dowels at 45-degree angles

A lot of the dowels require 45-degree cuts. While I didn’t cut all of them that way, I started by putting a few of them in the miter box and using the pull saw to cut 45s on about 10 of them.

Step 3: Cut each piece to size

I then used the plans as a visual guide to help create the first box an inch from each edge, then the next-longest pieces and so on. Starting from the outside in, longest to shortest, is the best way to keep waste to a minimum. Each discarded piece from the last cut can be reused for a smaller cut. The 45-degree angle is then already created for you on one side, too. There were a few places where an exact 90-degree cut was needed, which is also easy enough to do by hand on the miter box.

Also: you can add and subtract as much as you like! I wanted a good amount of empty space and ignored exact symmetry, but you can definitely get creative with the overall look. Here’s a quick diagram so you can see placement on mine:

Step 4: Cut wine rack pieces

The wine rack pieces were the most crucial to secure properly, so I did not glue anything down until I had those in first. These were made with 1×4 poplar, which happens to be the same wood species as the dowels that you get from the improvement store, so I knew that they would stain relatively the same color when finished.

Step 5: Drill holes for wine bottles

Drilling holes for the wine bottles proved one of the tougher parts, since I first tried by hand. It’s not impossible, but you do have to be a lot more careful with placement and keeping the wood steady (BE CAREFUL – securing it is very important or it will slip and you could injure your hand!). I made a real mess of the first one!

For this, you’ll need a Forstner bit. Reading online, the recommendations were between 1 3/16″ and 1 1/2″ in size for the neck of a wine bottle. I had neither, but I did have one at 1 3/8″. I did a quick eyeballing of a sample bottle and it seemed about right.

When I got frustrated with the lack of a cleanly-cut hole, I turned to setting up my dad’s old drill press (for the first time). Worked like a charm!

Step 6: Arrange pieces and glue

I glued down the wine rack pieces first, but before I did, I pre-drilled two screw holes into the plywood for each piece. That way, the back of the plywood would already have every mark I needed for the wood screws.

Then, the rest of the front was glued down. Even though the wood glue I used also picked up stain, it’s still not exactly the same as the bare wood, so if you get excess glue anywhere, it’s important to sand that out as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with light spots when staining.

Step 7: Secure wine holder pieces with wood screws

Unfortunately, despite all my pre-drilling, I was still unlucky with the little side arms of the wine glass holders. I planned to have use screws for every piece that served as support, to make sure that it was holding nice and steady. But as I did the first one…

I turned it over to feel my heart drop right into my stomach. The wood was too strained with the screws so close together and split. This learning process is for the birds, I tell ya.

I considered (briefly) to remove the piece and re-cut. But given how strong the bond of the wood glue was to the plywood, I decided my easiest solution was to unscrew the fastener that had caused the problem and use one screw for each of the small arms. The main pieces still all got two screws each.

I took wood glue and a tiny clamp and straightened the broken piece back out. Once it cured it was hardly noticeable. I got lucky that this was also the underside of the piece too!

Step 8: Add edge banding

Instead of framing, I added edge banding to the sides of the plywood. The iron-on process makes this a breeze.

Step 9: Sand and Stain

I wanted a warm stain color, so I chose Modern Walnut.

Notes on Sanding and Staining

You might have noticed that there are still pencil marks, unsanded areas, and the whole thing isn’t stained yet — even though it’s all assembled and screwed together. I debated the order on this myself. Often with difficult-to-reach areas, it’s a good idea to sand and stain (or paint) each piece just before assembly. That way, you can make sure everything gets a nice, even coat. I did the opposite here: secured everything down, then sanded and stained.

There’s nothing exactly wrong with doing these steps in a different order; but it also involves some compromises, and you need to decide which alternative you might hate more. If you cut everything, sand, stain, and then assemble, there’s a chance that something winds up 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch off; it’s just the nature of 1) trying this for the fist time and 2) trying to have cuts so precise that you can barely see the seam. If you secure everything first, there’s a good chance you will miss spots since all of the little nooks and crannies are harder to reach (or getting to all of them just takes longer, and that’s not always easy on your patience). I chose the latter because even when dry fitting, making sure every little piece stayed put was a frustrating process. So, I glued and then stained.

Don’t forget, you can re-use old clothing or buy t-shirt fabric for excellent staining rags!

If you go the route like I did, wear protective gloves so you can get down into each little nook and cranny of the piece as you stain, as well as a small craft paintbrush. It worked really well, but plan for taking a couple of hours to get it all covered… its’ easy to miss a side, so you need to double- and triple-check as you go. It also helps to use those little paint pyramids to help lift the work off the painting surface; that way, you can also stain all 4 sides of the edge in the same process.

And with that said, here she is: my new wood art that doubles as a wine rack!

Step 10: Mounting

To mount the piece on my dining room wall, I purchased a heavy-duty metal cleat system. About 3 inches down seemed like a good height from the top of the rack to keep the piece balanced.

I used that same measurement to determine placement of the wall cleat (determine the top of the wine rack on the wall, go about 3 inches down). The cleat system comes with wall anchors in case you don’t have studs where you’re trying to mount. I took no chances on having spilled wine all over the floor and screwed into at least one stud (wine deserves to be enjoyed, not spilled!).

The kit came with a little level to insert into the cleat. Since my walls are not perfectly square, I did a little adjusting so that the rack wouldn’t look crooked when compared to the ceiling or chair rail. But this made things much easier!

Step 11: Add wine and accessories

With the new wine rack secured on the wall, it was time to add the finishing touches. I inserted my favorite Edna Valley Vineyard wine (holds 6) and accompanying wine glasses (holds 4). Personally, I’m partial to the merlot — my favorite of all of the samples sent.

So, what do you think?

From where I typically sit at the table, I really like what it adds to the room. I chose a higher spot than the exact middle because I’m planning on later adding a small bar for buffet-style dinners (similar to how it looks on the other side of the same wall in the kitchen), so it needed to be placed in proportion to things that will be there in the future (including crown molding and perhaps some narrow mirrors on either side).

The warmth of the wood looks beautiful against my floors and carries some of the angles on the copper light fixture. Since I had enough accessories to match both, it made my Thanksgiving/holiday table setting a no-brainer. I don’t think my affection for copper is going away anytime soon!

You might have noticed a pair of familiar ears in that last shot. As always, my project supervisor is never too far away, inspecting my work.

Verdict (both hers and mine): the perfect addition for my next hosted dinner with family and friends. I’m both hosting family Christmas AND doing a New Years celebration here… many of you will know how BIG of a deal that is for me!

And if you got down to this part, here is the best part. I am making a second one. For one of you.

Wine Rack Giveaway!

This giveaway is a super personal one, from me to you — and Edna Valley is taking care of the shipping. The rules are just as straightforward as they always are, with entry via comment and using the widget below and no other hoops. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, I’m using a different giveaway system than I’ve used in the past (it asks for birth date – this is only to confirm that you’re over 21; I have no other reason for asking and will not be using this info in the future). I’m also limiting entries to subscribers because 1) this has woodworking plans that require you to be a subscriber to access the plans library and 2) dude, it was a COMPLEX thing to make; I don’t want to be putting in that kind of effort for some rando stumbling onto this post… I want it to be one of you guys who gets rewarded for following along with my crazy shenanigans! 

To enter: as I usually ask, leave a comment on this post and enter your info in the widget below to confirm your entry. If you’re seeing this in a reader but don’t see the widget, click over to my blog post URL directly here.

Rules: Must be 21 or over to enter; even though this isn’t giving away alcohol, I have to restrict for liability reasons. Continental U.S. only.

Ends: Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11:59 PM

Comment about: tell me something funny about the last time you and your friends/family got together. This has no bearing on who wins… it just makes it more fun for me to read as I approve entries.

Wood Art Wine Rack Giveaway!

Ready? Go! Good luck!

You'll Also Love

Dining Room Progress

Whack a Wall

Molding My Thoughts

In the Thick of It

.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Plywood Art Wine Rack and Giveaway! published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j