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Alternative uses for fancy wine cellar?

2 years ago

We are buying a house with a nice wine cellar. We don't drink wine. We own maybe 3 bottles of wine. We also don't drink, nor do we host parties...we don't keep a lot of alcohol on hand. The cellar is rather ornate, has it's own air conditioner, and has glass doors and walls so the entire room is permanently on display. We do not want to remove it or do anything permanent as we may not live here forever, and assume a future buyer would enjoy this beautiful room.

Is there anything I can do with this area? I've jokingly suggested I store yarn here (since I knit). It could also become pantry overflow since the pantry in the home is very small. It's just going to be so strange having anything like that this visible since this room is more like a display case.

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Comments (5)

PRO
MDLN
2 years ago
Glass bottled water collection?
HU-592188739
2 years ago
Cellar (-wine)! Great for canning, cheese making, general homesteading fun.
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You get the maximum storage if you use bins because you don't waste as much air space. The downside is that you can't easily get to the bottom bottles and you really will be cursing when you try to stack a bunch of Rhone or Burgundy shaped bottles. The alternative, which I use, is shelves that are spaced about 3 3/4 inches apart. I just made them. A Bordeaux bottle is about 3 inches diameter, a Burgundy bottle is about 3 1/4 inches so 3 3/4 gets you enough space. Then space a couple of shelves over 4" for weird shapes like Turley, Pax, Champagne, some Beaujolais, or some other big bottles, or bigger if you tend to buy mags. I just took plywood, ripped it to 9" and built shelves for the wines myself. Alternatively, there is IWA that has pretty good prices but you pay for shipping, and there other places that sell racks. My suggestion if you have time is to check out some local restaurant supply places - they often have things like that.
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lovebug66
2 years ago
Have you considered selling the wine cellar cabinetry to an architectural / renovation salvage company, and repurposing the space for something you could enjoy using?
ptreckel
2 years ago
You might consider just hanging draperies in front of it and masking it by placing a console or buffet in front of it. You could even hang a painting over the draperies, place buffet lamps on the console, etc. In other words, cover it up with draped fabric and just pretend that it isn’t there! (I wouldn’t remove it. Someone, someday, will buy your home because of that space!)
pricklypearcactus
2 years ago
Wow the previous owners probably invested a lot of money into that wine cellar. I can see how it would be very difficult to handle if you don't drink wine. I actually love your idea for yarn storage. Just think how beautiful the colorful yarn would be neatly organized in there! That said, I think your options are to dismantle the room and turn it into something completely different, or somehow repurpose or leave it as-is, but empty. You can always store other beverages in there (fancy sparkling water, etc), but it's always going to look like a very high end wine cellar / collection.

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