Day of the Dead Wine Rack

Five Dollars = Sweet New Rack

Sometimes garage sales hold treasures that only one person may see. I don't know about you but when I go garage sale shopping, I often have a few items in mind. One of these on my list was a wine rack. I wasn't sure ahead of time what the wine rack would look like but I knew I needed one. I was kind of sick of some bottles stashed on a counter-top and there is only so much room in the refrigerator. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to be storing all wine chilled, but sometimes it's just a quick place to stash it so I don't know them all over the kitchen. I really thought I would find a little wrought iron deal that held a couple of bottle that might just end up on said counter top but then I found this wooden, free standing thing.

Now, I know it was quite ugly but to me a base coat of spray paint can fix just about anything. It's a blank canvas to work on. Spray paint you might say? Yes, I affirm, spray paint. I gave this piece a quick sanding and then used a satin black for my base. I like to paint designs and pictures, but I hate using a brush for large areas. This just works better for me. I spray paint just about everything, including our front door this week but that's a story for another post.

I decided to go with a Day of the Dead / Mexican theme for this piece. Our kitchen has a little bit of a Mexican Cantina feel along with a lot of eclectic elements. I think that this carried over from our old house but was also an easy look to go for with walls that were a version of adobe brown. Remember when I said I hate painting large areas? That goes for house paint too.

This gave me an excuse - or rather an opportunity - to play around with bright colors and have some fun. We have some strands of chili peppers hanging in some places around the kitchen along with a mixed herb wreath that also has some pepper adorning it. Sugar skulls are just one of those things that I really like and while some might find that odd for a kitchen, you only have one life to live and I just can't take my decor too seriously all the time.

You might see a color wash in the photos on the curves of the wood, where the wine bottles will rest. That was achieved with a color wash in those areas with a bright orange paint. For the detailed painting, versus the base coat, I bought a couple of assorted packages for craft paint from Michael's. Those weekly coupons come in handy and I think my total came to twelve dollars and some change. If I add in the spray paint, and then clear acrylic that I added for protection for a top coat, I think I am at a grand total of about twenty five dollars plus the original cost of the wine rack itself. Thirty dollars for a one of a kind wine rack.

I'm pretty happy with the results. Once my final coat of polycrylic dries, I'm planning on putting this in the kitchen with some wine bottle in it. Is it bad to admit that perhaps I've been stocking up on wine every time I made a run to Trader Joe's? I didn't think so!