DIY Modular Shelving Using Repurposed Wine Bottles

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Coffee Table Using Repurposed Wine Bottles

DIY Modular shelving, you can use any found timber, and adapt the dimensions to suit the wood you are working with.

Design is released under a share alike/attribution CC license by Zero-waste Design with minor revisions.

These instructions describe how to build one module:

Parts per shelving module/table:
4x bottles
4x cup hooks
2x small hook-and-eye strainers
2x ess hooks
2x wooden planks, approx. 800mm x 300mm

Tools:
Power drill
46mm bit & 32mm flat bit
Large saw
Sandpaper / power sander

Your bottles should all be the same brand/height/shape preferably. Wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water and allow to dry.

Hook and eye strainers/turnbuckles as they are sometimes called can be obtained from most hardware suppliers. These should have a reach of 160mm ideally, but this can be extended with ess hooks.

Prepare the planks by cutting to the desired size and sanding. For the upper shelf, drill a 46mm hole in each corner 60mm from the edges. These holes should go all the way through the shelf.

For the lower shelf, drill a 32mm hole in each corner, again 60mm from the edges. These holes should be drilled from the bottom side and go to only half the depth of the shelf.

Screw in the cup hooks at each side of both shelves, midway between the drilled holes. For the upper shelf, the screws should be screwed in from below, while for the lower shelf, from above.

Place the bottles in the corners of the lower shelf and carefully lower the upper shelf onto them so that the edges of the holes in the upper shelf rest on the necks of the bottles. Adjust the position of the bottoms of the bottles if necessary so that they stand upright.

Attach the hook and eye strainers and ess hooks if needed, between the opposing hooks. Tighten up thoroughly by twisting the central buckle.

Make as many modules as you need, of whatever sizes you require. As long as the bottles are of the same height, and your holes are drilled precisely, you can stack the modules on top of each other.

The same method can be used to build a coffee table. Just build one module of the size required and turn upside down so that the tops of the bottles become the table’s feet. In this case, the 32mm holes drilled in step 2 can be disregarded.

Download the Illustration with Precise Measurements
Download the Plans with Images (PDF)