Wine rack on the cheap

Since my mother does interiors for a living, I have always been conscious of my interior spaces: trying different arrangements, painting when possible, making curtains and throw pillows, etc. I've finally reached a point where I've started actually having a plan to my attack where I go and buy things to fit what I want my place to look like, but unfortunately my plans and my budget do not necessarily coincide. So, I generally use my ingenuity to engineer something closely resembling some fab idea I saw in a magazine. Such was the case with my new wine rack.

Several months ago I spied a wall rack in a popular furnishing catalog that would fit perfectly with my wall of glasses and solve the problem of my wine bottles collecting dust on the floor. It was somewhat unique, the right size and style, and also $80. My heart said I wanted it, but my brain said I could make it.

So, I took myself to a local home store and looked at every hook possible. The problem is that I wanted to be sure to have hooks that were deep enough to accommodate any bottle (which rules out every cabinet, jacket, and towel hook) but still incorporated some sense of style (negating most garage-type utility hooks). I had basically given up when I wandered into the garden department to buy some flowers. Eureeka! Hanging basket hooks were the perfect solution. Relatively cheap ($20 for all six), beautifully designed, sturdy, and more than deep enough, I was on my way to the perfect wine rack.

I chose two different hooks for each bottle, a 7" for the body and a similar 5" version for the neck, but mostly only because there weren't enough of the 7" hooks to have them all be the same. I arranged them in an alternating, vertically linear pattern, but the genius of having several free hooks as opposed to the mounted ones of the store-bought rack is that they can be arranged in any configuration that would work for the space. It was a pretty simple project, however, I would probably put the hooks a bit closer together next time (they are currently 10" apart, but I would recommend 8"). I do think I'll be going back to get one more set to add to the bottom, to make the arrangement more symmetric (and have room for more vino!)