Let’s Get Some Elixers in this Apothecary

Okay, so we rebuilt the back. Now, let’s make it a bar!

I don’t drink, and Doug is a bourbon snob, and neither of us drinks wine. However, we host lots of dinner parties, and people bring wine, and other people drink wine, so I thought it would nice to have a little wine rack. Just four bottles – that seemed more than sufficient for someone who picks her wine based on how pretty the label is.

We made the sides, and stood it up without attaching it to make sure it looked okay.

Then we made the inside shelves.

And then glued and nailed everything together!

Ta da!!!

Next. we took it outside to make some face frames for it.

Since the wood of the rack was a plywood, we wanted to face it with edging. Doug made a simple veneer from some leftover strips of wood from the face frames of the Library bookshelves. In fact, this whole little project was all made from leftovers of the Library Bookshelves.

We even mitered the edges! We tried to make it look nice, but we also didn’t worry if some of it wasn’t perfect – it was going to be in the bottom of the cabinet, behind glass, and stained. So flaws wouldn’t be super obvious.

Here is the outside frame! Just some pieces for the fronts of the shelves, and we’ll be in business.

We also built a new shelf for the bottom. While the bracket system was in good shape, the bottoms shelf had some issues, including being completely spilt down the middle. So we replaced it, and kept the original shelves for the top cabinet.

With the wine rack in the bottom!

Next Up : Stain!

It’s funny – I pride myself on being a wood dye convert, and I played with several different tints, and couldn’t find the perfect one. But I DID find an old can of PolyShades in my stash (stain and poly in one) that matched perfectly. I mean – PERFECTLY. So, I went retro (for me) on this.

Bottom, done!

And then I did the top! You can also see on the side where there a color change. From sun fading? Something else? But that’s part of the history and I like it, so I’m keeping it.

Seriously that color match is so good. Also, it looks much redder compared to the other wood in pictures. It IS redder, but the contrast isn’t QUITE so drastic in real life.

Look how PERFECTLY it goes here!

 

Here it is! All filled up (well, mostly filled up) and pretty!

We added some LED lights to the inside. They look great – and I might even put a few more in. They work on remote, and do a nice job.

It’s still pretty without the lights, but it doesn’t sparkle as much!

You can’t tell from this picture, but all of those wine bottles in that wine rack have pretty labels. Fact.

Above, I discovered I have a softness for antique champagne chillers that look like trophies. Next game night, we are awarding these to winners. They can’t keep them, but you know, they can be excited for several minutes.

Here’s the top half.

I need some taller glasses behind the rocks glasses on the second shelf, so I’m excited to find something fun a vintage at some point.

Bourbon.

The bottom has wine and others. We’ll fill this out over the coming years, I’m sure!

Bonny is ready to party.

So – those lights? The white setting is great, but they ALSO HAVE A DISCO SETTING THAT IS VERY EXCITING. (Narrator’s Voice : Oakley is not excited at all). It’s fun to change the colors – maybe red for Halloween, Red and Green for Christmas, Green for Arbor Day….

It’s like the first totally finished and staged thing in the room. SO EXCTING!