The perfect wine cellar exudes elegance, sophistication, and intrigue. When taking a look at some of the most extraordinary wine cellars in the world, you’ll see breathtaking landscapes, unlikely placement, and unique approaches to design, shelving, and lighting. With the right concept, blueprint, design, and execution, you can create a similar appeal in your home.
Components of a Captivating Cellar
From simple cellars under the steps to extravagant basement vaults, each wine cellar requires a strategy. Whether you already have a wine cellar or you’re planning on starting a new project, it never hurts to look for new and creative ways to display wine in your home.
Remember that you don’t have to be a millionaire to complete a project of this scope. Wine cellars don’t have to take up an entire room, nor do they need to be illuminated with the most expensive light on the market. Regardless of your budget, there are many options that will help you make your project one-of-a-kind. All you have to do is go into the process with a realistic plan in mind and fill in each piece of the puzzle accordingly.
Cultivating Creativity
Before you can dive into designing and creating your cellar, you have to start with one question: what’s its purpose? It’s important to make your wine cellar unique to you. Make sure you have an idea that serves your purpose and inspires you to keep adding on.
Though it may seem a little overwhelming to create a cellar that accomplishes all your goals, it’s much easier when you clearly lay out each step of creating your cellar and line it up with your objectives.
Strategizing Step-by-Step
Once you’re inspired and ready to start getting into designing a cellar of your own, follow these three steps to decide what look you want, how you’ll create it, and (perhaps most importantly) the wine you’ll fill it with.
Each step ties into the others. You can’t come up with a design plan without knowing how much space you have to make the project happen. And you’ll never know what size your cellar should be without a scope of how big you want your wine selection to be. So as you plan, make sure you’re keeping all three processes in mind at once.
Step 1: Design
The first ever wine cellars were created in ancient caves in Europe — but don’t worry, you don’t need to discover an underground cavern to have a great cellar. You can find ways to make your cellar look the way you want, piece by piece. Let’s start with the general design components of every cellar:
Furniture
Your furniture selection depends on whether or not you plan to host in your cellar. If your cellar takes up a whole room (or part of one) and you want to welcome a few quests to enjoy a glass, then add a couch, a few chairs, and a table or island that fits your color scheme and theme.
Style
Are you aiming for a traditional look? A rustic feel? How about a dark, gothic aesthetic? Keep your preferred theme in mind, because every other part of your cellar should match it. Make sure all the colors and stylistic elements work together to give the space a cohesive look. If your cellar is a smaller space, make sure it fits in with the decor of the rest of the house.
Walls/Floors
If your cellar is a room of its own, walls and floors are an obvious part of the design process. You can choose from brick, natural and rugged stone, polished stone, wood, tile, and more. And when selecting floors, cold and hard surfaces are the best option.
Lighting
You should always use low-heat lighting options, like LEDs, to keep your wine cold. A soft light that won’t disrupt your wine is always the best choice. To illuminate your collection even more, you can mix it up with chandeliers, accent lighting, backlights, and floor lights. A little extra lighting offers a different perspective on your space.
Humidity and Cooling
For long term storage, wines do best at 50%-70% humidity and around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why caves and basements have been popular wine cellar options for ages. You can achieve these storage conditions with a wine cooling system or an air conditioner and humidifier.
Racks and Windows
This is where you’ll display the wine, so you should take pride in the racks you choose. Store your wine horizontally and stabilize it for no movement (vertical bottles cause dry corks, and even minor vibrations can cause sediment issues). You can store wine on the shelving of your choice, or even add some roll-out drawers as long as they minimize vibration. To tie it all together, you can utilize doors and windows. For an artistic touch, you can add decorative French doors. To further protect your wine, consider adding some insulated windows.
Now that you have all the basic components of design, you can figure out how you’re actually going to bring it to life.
Step 2: Creation/Practicality
You can have a great idea for a wine cellar; but if you have nowhere to put it, you’re stuck at a dead end. But even if you don’t have an entire room to devote to your wine collection, there are plenty of ways to improvise. Here are some creative places to add a wine cellar throughout your home:
- Kitchen pantry
- Wet bar
- Enclosed in a shared living space
- Library
- Man cave/she-shed
- Laundry room (because the washer and dryer can step aside)
- Front entryway
- Basement
- Dining room corner
- Closet
- Under the stairs
Or, if you’re really feeling creative, tear down a wall and put a cellar wherever you want! When you’re willing to relocate some things or push some furniture aside, you can add a wine cellar virtually anywhere. However, you need to make sure that the area is cool enough to keep the wine from going bad and doesn’t have too much sunlight. That’s why corners are usually a good choice.
As you can see from some of the placement options, a wine cellar doesn’t have to be a full cellar at all. Add wine under a window sill, in some cabinet space in the kitchen, or in any other nook or cranny. As long as you’re storing wine and adding a personal touch, anything can become your own little “cellar.”
Don’t worry; we saved the best for last. Once you figured out where your cellar will go, how much space you’re working with, and how you’re going to design it, move on to the most crucial step of all: filling it with wine!
Step 3: Filling It Up
Each bottle of wine you purchase is an investment. Maybe you collect wine from around the world, or perhaps you’re just stocking up on your favorites. Either way, a cellar is a place to keep it protected, cold, and tasting great.
It’s best to select bottles that will last for at least a few years. If you have a cellar full of hundreds of bottles of wine, it’s not likely that you’ll drink every bottle within a year. Even if you could, who doesn’t love options? Store your special occasion wine, celebration wine, international wines, or business gifts that need a special place of their own in your cellar.
Bringing Your Cellar to Life
To find those perfect wines that’ll last you years, you need to get out there. Travel to a new place and taste their local wine varietal, find a brand new bottle you never tasted before and store it for a rainy day, or participate in a flash sale that sells a limited supply of some of the highest-quality wines in the world.
Online flash sales, like those at WTSO.com, allow you to choose from hundreds of hand-selected domestic and international wines that are only available for 8 hours or less. By purchasing wine online, you can ensure that you’re getting a rare and taste-tested varietal delivered to your door. And with outlets like WTSO, you’re 100% guaranteed to get the bottle you want every time. To learn more about filling up your wine cellar, visit https://www.wtso.com/.
And there you have it: the three steps for creating your very own home wine cellar. All of the customization options are completely up to you, but make sure you have all the requirements to make your cellar thrive. Go step-by-step to determine your purpose, select a theme that represents your style, and put it all together to create a space in your home for you and guests to enjoy the finest wine varietals for years to come. Now that you have all your tips, pop open a bottle and get to planning!