Upcycle Final Report: Wine Rack

Vision and Inspiration 

For my upcycle project, I decided to make a wine rack. My inspiration came form the Industrial aesthetic. I really liked how in the aesthetic, there were aspects of an unfinished look, neutral colors, weathered wood and steel. I then started exploring furniture/decorations within the industrial aesthetic. What stuck out to me was wine racks. There are so many ways to make them and so many types. And with an industrial aesthetic, there were lots of possibilities to incorporate aspects of the aesthetic into the wine rack.

Design Process

I really did not have a set design process that I followed, but I did know what material I wanted to start out with. A few months ago I wanted to redecorate my room and use an old wood palette as a headboard. I ended up not using it and keeping it in my backyard. The wood was weathered and dark, which I thought fit the aesthetic so I wanted to use that to make my rack. I created many sketches and came down to 2 different models. One was more complex, using multiple pieces of wood and incorporating steel pipes to let the bottles rest on the pipes. The other was using just one piece of wood and drilling holes in the wood so the tops of the bottles can fit. I knew that if I chose the more complex model I would have to get more supplies which I did not want to do so I chose the simple model (also I thought that looked cooler).

Creating It

After I decided what I was going to do, I just went right into it. I started out with the palette, cut different sizes until I liked the length, measured three holes and drilled them out. After that I was basically done. Then I had to decide whether I wanted to have it rest on the wall or have it mounted on the wall. It seemed to work better mounted on the wall so that’s what I decided to do. I then attached two pieces of wood to better support it into the wall.

Challenges

During the whole process, I doubted myself about whether if I went on a different route, the project would have turned out better but I stuck with my original plan and I’m happy at the way it turned out. Also another challenge was figuring out whether I wanted to mount it on the wall or rest it up against the wall. I thought both looked cool but I found that it worked out better on the wall.

Design Improvements

If there were improvements to be made, I would have liked to make multiple racks of the same size or make the rack longer in order to hold more bottles. I also could have incorporated steel pipes into the project for aesthetic purposes. Finding a better, more minimal way to mount would have been nice rather than having two pieces of wood on the rack.

Video Presentation: https://youtu.be/oNKS4nc5pBs

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11 Comments. Leave new

  • Nicole unfortunately I didn’t see your project in person however I like the aesthetic and functionality you created with the wood. I like your design process and your ability to create something truly upcycled. I hope the performance is consistent otherwise you may be cleaning the floors every now and then. Overall great project and I hope you continue creating more functional projects.

    Reply
  • I think your material choice fit in very nicely with your aesthetic. You mentioned maybe staining it to cover some of the spots but I think that would go against your industrial aesthetic. I think a big part of it is having imperfections and a weathered look that is hard to recreate.

    Reply
  • Joseph Coulombe
    February 18, 2019 8:20 am

    Great job creating something useful out of a pallet that you found a year prior. Pallets are constantly used and thrown away, but they have so much potential to be re-purposed into useful items.

    Reply
  • Nicole, nice job. Great that it is a truly upcycled project and that it matches with the industrial aesthetic you intended to work with. Additionally, it is a very useful product that could even have sales potential. I would suggest adding a 3M adhesive to stick it to a wall without screws.

    Reply
  • Ibrahim Alhajji
    February 11, 2019 2:27 pm

    your final result was aesthetic for sure. I really liked how it turned out. I really like the functionality of your design too. I just think you need to be careful when you hang it as the angle is important. Great work.

    Reply
  • I am not a wine drinker so I had a hard time understanding the use of wine rack. Isn’t this dangerous to hang it on the wall? If you are drinking wine, you will probably get drunk, do stupid things, trying to put the wine back to the rack, break the rack and bottle, and cut your finger by glasses. You have not considered a safety issue. jk

    Reply
  • Ambrogino Depolo
    February 11, 2019 1:39 pm

    I really liked the simplistic design and aesthetic that you chose to run with for this project. I agree with Tyler in saying that the older, more natural look of the wood worked really well with the overall aesthetic compared to a painted and decorated piece. Good presentation. Do you think that you will actually hang it on your wall? Do you trust the integrity of it after grabbing a random palette? Good job!

    Reply
  • Your final product looks very clean. I’m skeptical of the functionality, just because the angle doesn’t feel wide enough to support the imbalanced weight of a full wine bottle. Though, I haven’t tested it so I wouldn’t know, and if anything you couldn’t mount it a an angle that would allow it to work. Other than that, good job, and presentation. Small note, the text on your slides overlapped with the images, it seemed intentional, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea for the sake of legibility.

    Reply
  • Nicole, nice job identifying a material and working with it. You did a nice job staying true to your industrial aesthetic.

    Reply
  • Brittany Callin
    February 11, 2019 1:26 pm

    Nicole, I love how your project looks. You definitely achieved the aesthetic you were going for! I also love how your project is functional. I love functional things. I am worried that it can’t support full bottles of wine though. I would be very scared of my wine falling onto the ground if I used it. I also wonder how you would mount it on the wall. Would you use screws, nails, etc?

    Reply
  • Taylor Whittemore
    February 11, 2019 1:25 pm

    Nicole,

    I loved your wine rack! I would literally buy that in a store if it was there. I also created a wine themed project which I really liked. I would think that there may be an issue with the wine falling out a certain angles but it looks like you got it perfect to hold the wine in place. I also think that is so cool that you found that palette on the ground because it really is upcycled.

    Reply

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