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The Easiest DIY Wood Wine Rack Plans

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Hi, I'm Zoe

My mission is to teach you to confidently build magazine-worthy DIYs. I used to be terrified of power tools, which is why I'm a firm believer that ANYONE can DIY.

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by
July 2, 2021
Zoe Hunt

Price

$25-$50

Time

1 Day

Difficulty

Easy

This post was sponsored by Minwax. All opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I may earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read our full disclosure.

There’s nothing more thoughtful than a handmade gift, but sometimes they get a bad rap for looking a little too homemade…

But not this one! This beautiful wine bottle holder is pretty simple to make, but looks like something you’d buy at the store.

DIY wood wine rack hanging on wall with wine bottles displayed

So whether you need the perfect housewarming gift, gift for mom, or gift for any occasion, make this beautiful DIY wine rack! It doesn’t take up much room, it’s quick to make, and the beautiful wood makes it look like a million bucks.

To complete your perfect gift, don’t forget to include a bottle or two of wine😉

Alright, let’s start DIYing! 

Tools

What You’ll Need

How to Make a DIY Wine Bottle Holder

New to DIY? Download our free 5 Steps to Getting Start with DIY guide!

how to build a wine rack for $30 text overlay on image of wood wine rack

STEP 1: CUT

Cut your boards down to size using the cut list below.

Note: you could also make this wine rack using 1x8s and 1x6s. In that case, you could use a miter saw instead of a circular saw.

For What?QuantitySize (Inches)
Back114.5×28
Small Shelves45.5×9
Long Shelves25.5X14.5

In addition to these cuts, you can also cut your dowel down to 16 – 2″ pieces and cut two scrap pieces to use as guides.

The first guide should measure 14.5″ wide. The height doesn’t matter as long as it’s at least 3.25″.

The second guide should measure just a hair short of 4″ tall. This will be used to guide our spacing between the shelves. The width doesn’t matter.

If your scrap pile allows for it, you can also just make one guide that 14.5″ wide and just a hair short of 4″ tall.

STEP 2: APPLY EDGE BANDING

If you’re using plywood, take a few moments to apply edge banding to all of the edges of the back of your wine rack and the front and sides of your shelves.

The edge banding will help your project look more complete and like you used solid oak boards instead of plywood.

STEP 3: DRILL POCKET HOLES

Drill 2 pocket holes in the bottom of each of the shelves using the 3/4″ settings. The pocket holes should be facing towards the back of the shelves (aka the side without edge banding).

drill pocket holes in plywood

STEP 4: MAKE YOUR GUIDE

Grab your scrap piece that’s 14.5″ long and drill 3/8″ holes all the way through the board at 2″, 7″, and 11.75″ from the left side. These three holes should all be 1″ in from the bottom of the board.

Finally, drill a 3/8″ hole through the board that’s 2.75″ from the bottom of the board and 1″ from the right side.

showing where to drill holes in wine rack

Not only will the guide give us consistent spacing without measuring, it’ll also prevent tearout when drilling into your shelves.

Free download wood sizing cheatsheet

STEP 5: DRILL YOUR HOLES

Start with your 14.5″ shelves. Line your guide up with the sides and front of your first shelf.

Mark your 3/8″ drill bit at 1.25″, so that you only drill a 1/2″ into the plywood shelves. We don’t want to drill all the way through!

For the 9″ shelves, you’ll just drill two holes into each board. Line the guide up with the front and left side of your shelves.

using guide to drill holes in plywood

STEP 6: PREP FOR STAIN

Now that all of our holes are drilled, let’s get this wine bottle holder ready to stain!

We’ll start by sanding everything down using 120, 180, and 220 grit sandpaper. Then we’ll wipe the surface with tack cloth to remove any lingering dust.

Next, let’s apply some Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. It’s extremely simple to apply: just wipe it on (I used a rag, but you can also use a brush), wait 5 minutes, and then wipe the excess off with a clean rag.

applying pre-stain wood conditioner to plywood using a rag

The Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner will help your stain absorb as evenly as possible and helps prevent blotches and streaks.

Now our wood is ready to stain!

STEP 7: STAIN

I generally like to stain my project before assembly so that I don’t have to work around nooks and crannies, but you can stain now or later.

For the dowels, I’ll apply Minwax Wood Finish Oil-Penetrating Stain in True Black. I wiped it on with a cloth, waited 5 minutes, and then wiped them again to remove any excess stain.

applying black wood stain to dowels with a rag

For the shelves and back of the wine rack, I used Minwax Wood Finish Oil-Penetrating Stain in Rustic Beige. It’s a newer color and I can’t get enough of it! It’s light, but not too light, and it has a cooler undertone without looking gray. When you open the can it’ll look very gray, but when you wipe it off, you’ll reveal the perfect cool beige that can go with anything.

applying Rustic Beige wood stain with a rag

I wiped it on with a rag, waiting 5 minutes, and then wiped off any excess using a clean rag. We let the stain dry for 4 hours before moving onto the next step.

For both the True Black and Rustic Beige stains, I barely made a dent in my stain cans, so I have plenty to use on future projects going forward.

STEP 8: INSERT DOWELS

Insert your dowels into the 3/8″ holes that you drilled earlier. You might need a rubber mallet for this! As you’re hitting them in, make sure to keep them straight.

hitting dowels into plywood

STEP 9: ATTACH SHELVES

To attach the shelves, we’ll use glue and 1.25″ screws. Start by lining the ~4″ guide you cut earlier up with the top left-hand corner of your plywood back.

Line a 9″ shelf up with the guide and the left side of the back and attach.

Remove the guide and place it underneath the shelf you just installed. Repeat this process until you install all of your shelves. (The pattern from top to bottom is: short, short, long, short, short, long).

installing wine rack shelves with pocket holes

The bottom shelf should line up with the bottom of the plywood back.

Once your shelves are installed, be sure to wipe up any wood glue that seeped out using a damp paper towel.

STEP 10: FINISH

To finish and protect this project, I’m going to apply Minwax Design Series Soft Touch Finishing Wax. It’s incredibly easy to apply and will leave your wood feeling like velvet!

apply Minwax soft touch finishing wax with rag

Buff the wax on, wait 5 minutes, and then buff off any excess wax. Again, I used a clean cloth for this.

To wax the entire project, I used less than a 1/4 of a can of the wax, which means I have plenty to use on future projects as well!

close up of Minwax wood stain and finishing wax on wine rack

There you have it! Now you know how to build a beautiful wood wine bottle holder.

Hanging it up is simple: just use a french cleat. Not only will it keep everything stable and in place, but a french cleat can hold up a lot of weight so you don’t need to worry about wine bottles crashing down.

The real question is…are you going to keep this for yourself or give it as a gift? I think I’ll have to make an extra so I can do both!

Looking for more wine rack inspiration? Check out our roundup of the best DIY wine rack plans on the internet!

wood wine rack hanging on dining room wall
Wood wine rack sitting on table
wood wine bottle holder hanging on wall with wine bottles
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  1. Michael Glick says:

    These plans were great, thank you!

    One suggestion: Specify dimensions for the guide piece, since this is used to space out the shelves on the backboard at the end (at the end of the instructions it says it should be ~4 inches, but that’s long after the guide was created).

    • Zoe Hunt says:

      Hi Michael! The guide piece heights are already specified in step 1 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the build!!

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