Refinished Wine Rack with DIY distressed wood top

I am *so* excited that I was finally able to do another furniture make-over!  I feel like it’s been SO long, and I miss it way too much!  While we’re able to save a lot of money (awesome!)  by living with my parents, we’re also very tight on space, and I just can’t take up precious space with unfinished thrifty finds.  But there was this “dead space” between our bathroom door & our kitchen’s open doorway, and I’ve been searching for MONTHS for something that could fill the space.  I needed something that wasn’t too deep (it would jut out too much) and something that was less than 2 feet wide, so it could fir the space between doorways.  After much searching, I found a wine rack at ReStore.  It is solid and was in pretty good condition – but it was missing a top (kind of important) and I wasn’t digging the veneer.

Here’s how it turned out:

 

Here were the two major problems:

Thankfully the uneven base didn’t make it less sturdy – it just made it weird.  I think this might have originally been part of a kitchen cabinet set, and it was just ripped apart and sold in pieces at ReStore.  This piece was priced at $30, and then I got 20% off so I paid $24 for it.

I started attacking the piece by figuring out what I was going to do with the top.  I got so excited when I read this post and I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do!  So I got some wood from Lowes and had them make the appropriate cuts.  While I was getting the wood for the top, I decided to get pieces for the bottom as well (to cover up that bizarre uneven bottom).

Then I followed the tutorial I found online, which uses tea bags, vinegar, and steel wool…to age the wood.  The lumber was not expensive ($6.50 total), so I figured if it didn’t work, I wouldn’t be too upset.  BUT I wasn’t upset at ALL, because it totally worked, and I am in love with the results!!

Once I had aged the wood, I had to decide on a paint color.  I like the look of a dark top contrasted with a lighter piece, so I decided to use some “oops” paint I got from Lowes a few months ago, but had never used.  Of course I primed it first (spray primer for inside edges & wine rack, brushed primer for the flat surfaces).

The next part nearly killed me.  If you look closely, you can see that I needed to get through THREE layers so I could reach the back piece behind those wine rack “grids”.  I did this all by hand, and my arm was covered in paint, and it felt like it was ready to fall off of my arm.  I am SO glad that part of this project is over!

Once I painted the wine rack part, the rest was easy!  I gave it 2-3 coats in certain spots, let it dry, and then rubbed over some edges with sandpaper to scuff it up a little bit.

Once the paint was dry, I pulled out the wood I had aged.  I used liquid nails to secure the boards to the top of my piece (you can view the “fun” I had with my caulk gun in my Instagram picture )  Since I wanted the look of old barn wood, but I didn’t really need nails to secure the wood to the top of this piece, I opted for wood tacks (super cheap at Lowes).  It must have taken me less than a minute to tack them into the wood – it was so quick and simple!  I didn’t care if they were in straight…I actually didn’t want them to look close to perfect, so I just did it quick, and called it a day!

I didn’t take pictures of this process, but I did also use liquid nails again to secure aged wood to the bottom of this piece – it actually “floats” above the ground slightly, so it does nothing to support the piece, but it just helps to hide that weird uneven base.

I was finally finished, and could sit back and admire everything that came together!

I have really poor lighting in my house – so it makes for poor pictures   BUT I wanted to show you how I am going to “style” it for right now…

YES – I know I need to get some more wine bottles (like I needed an excuse?! )

I got the basket at Michaels ($12, but then I used a 40% off coupon).

The bottle & vase were thrifted a few years ago, and the flower votive holder was on clearance at Michaels.

This wood top is by FAR my favorite part of this project:

I’m so happy this project fills the space, and is functional at the same time.  I imagine we’ll be using this as a “drop-off” area for purses, etc. since it’s near our door too!

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Beneath My Heart

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