My Weekend Project: Beer Shelves

I’m getting very mixed reactions to these shelves. Some folks are applauding my ingenious reuse of beer bottles (although the genius isn’t mine), while others are saying it looks horribly tacky. Personally, the latter can get fucked; bottles of all types are attractive to me, especially when they once held the holiest of liquids. And really, it looks pretty nice in real life.

The whole project could have been completed in about an hour if I hadn’t chosen to sand and coat the wood with polyurethane. I’m building a second set of these in the bathroom, though; if I didn’t put some sort of sealant on these they’d warp in just a couple of showers.

How strong are they? You can pick them up by the top shelf with no fear of torquing the whole thing around, although the only thing holding the bottles in place on my design is the edges of the boards, so you could slide one out if you really tried. The real strength comes from the downward force on the bottles, though, and I’d hazard a guess that they could support plenty of weight before cracking. I wouldn’t be afraid to put my KitchenAid on one, let’s say. (Okay, a little afraid.)