rustic wine bottle centerpiece

Hey everyone!  Jacque here from The DIY Village again to bring you another quick DIY tutorial! A few years ago I was given a really cool set of drinking glasses made out of old wine bottles.  Recently we purchased some new glasses but I wasn’t ready to donate the old glasses quite yet and decided to come up with a way to recycle them and keep them functional in our home.  After some thought, my rustic wine bottle centerpiece was born.

MATERIALS:

  • 1/2″ x 4″ x 4′  Poplar Board – Cut into 2- 5 1/2″ wide pieces
  • 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ x 4′ Poplar Board – Cut in half
  • 12 – 8 Penny Nails (Truss Hanger Nails)
  • 1/8″ Drill Bit
  • Drill
  • 3 1/2″ Hole Saw
  • Clamp
  • Sandpaper
  • Drill Press
  • Straight Edge (Speed Square)
  • Sliding Rule Square
  • Walnut Gel Stain
  • Foam Brush
  • Paper Towels
  • Pencil

Instructions:

measure in

Start by cutting the 5 1/2″ board in half to leave you with  two boards approximately 24″ long.

measure over 7

Measure 3.5″ out from the center line and mark a line with your speed square. Repeat on the opposite side of your center line. Measure 7″ out from the two center lines and make a mark with your speed square. These will be the center points for your four openings.

find center

Use the wine bottle glass as a guide to help center the glass on the board.  Set the sliding rule square and use as a guide so that the glasses will be straight across the rest of the board.  Using a pencil to trace around the outside edge of the glass, repeat for all four holes.

hole saw

Insert a 3  1/2″ hole saw into the drill press. (You could possibly use a hand drill to do this but the torque from the teeth cutting into the wood is rough and not recommended).  Clamp the board to the drill press.

drill holes

Line the drill bit up with the center of the pencil marks and the outline of the glasses. Drill your holes.  (It would be helpful to have a second set of hands available to hold the board as the teeth of the hole saw begin to grip the wood.)

pre drill

Assembly of the wine bottle centerpiece:

On the two end pieces measure down 1/4″, and mark a line using the speed square.  Determine the location of your three nails and pre-drill using using the 1/8″ drill bit.

nail

Hammer in the nails.  Repeat this process on the remaining 3 sides of the wine bottle holder.

dry fit

Your holder should look like the above image.  Sand any rough edges or wood splinters caused by the hole saw.

stain

Wipe the surface of the wine bottle centerpiece with a slightly damp cloth to remove any sawdust or debris.  Using the foam brush apply the GelStain and let sit for approximately 5 minutes.  Make sure to work the stain in well around the nail heads.  Once the stain has absorbed into the wood, wipe all the excess stain off with a paper towel or clean rag.  Adding a coat of polycrylic can protect your centerpiece from a lot of wear. We decided to leave our  wood un-finished.

Wine bottle centerpiece

The wine bottle centerpiece can be used a couple of different ways.  Right now ours has tea light candles in it. I love the glow it gives off on the table.

Wine Centerpiece vert
In the spring I plan on taking the tea lights out and adding fun fresh flowers from our garden!  Using full size wine bottles would look great too, especially with flowers! Hope you enjoy your new centerpiece!

Jacque_signature ~learn more about Jacque ~

 

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Easily upcycle old glasses with this DIY rustic wine bottle centerpiece from Pretty Handy Girl! | Upcycle project | rustic table centerpiece #prettyhandygirl #DIY #tabledecor

8 replies
  1. myperpetualproject
    myperpetualproject says:

    Really cute! I can see it being used to hold actual wine bottles for a party with a variety of wine types. For those of us who don’t own a drill press, couldn’t the holes be drilled using just a hand drill by clamping the board to a workbench before drilling?

    Reply
  2. David Hayden
    David Hayden says:

    Very cool project. I am wondering about the wine bottle portion of it. Did you buy the bottles pre-cut or did you do them yourself? In my experience sanding the bottles is the toughest part and would love any tips you or your readers have on sanding down the bottle edges.

    Reply
    • Jacque Knowlton
      Jacque Knowlton says:

      I bottles were given to me already cut, but if you like you can give a Kinkajou Bottle Cutter a try! We have one and it works like a charm, even includes sand paper needed to smooth the ends!

      Reply

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