Design Details: Wine Room That Looks Like a Wine Basket
Located in the California city of Del Mar, this coastal “cottage” exudes the beach vibe of its location.
“Del Mar takes the beach life seriously, so we wanted to design a coastal cottage to reflect that,” says Todd Brown, principal at Anne Sneed Architectural Interiors.
The owners asked the architects for a casual, laid-back home with indoor/outdoor living and spaces for entertaining. Local height restrictions forced the architects to add a basement, complete with three bedrooms, a TV/game room, and a room to store wine.
But they didn’t want just any ordinary wine room.“The clients are not serious wine collectors, but they wanted something nice to display wine and a feature element for when they entertain,” Brown explains. “They wanted something unique, something eye-catching.”
Drawing inspiration from traditional millwork, the architects ordered seven out-of-service oak barrels from a Napa vineyard. They disassembled the barrels and arranged the staves on the wall to look like a giant wine basket.
Project Del Mar Tortuga
Architect Anne Sneed Architectural Interiors, Del Mar, Calif.
A barrel-vaulted ceiling continues the look, and leather straps hold special bottles. The room provides enough wall and shelf storage for 350 bottles.
“The owners didn’t need to maximize storage because that wasn’t a priority,” Brown says. “Plus, because some of the wine labels feature great art and some are collector bottles, we felt it would be nice to show them off. When there is no bottle in the straps, there still is a texture to them.”
Because the wine room is right off the staircase, visitors can always catch glimpses of the space from different parts of the basement. “It’s quite the showpiece,” Brown says.
About the Author
Nigel F. Maynard
Nigel F. Maynard is a former editor-in-chief of Custom Builder and PRODUCTS magazines. Maynard grew up in St. Croix, where he learned construction helping his step-dad build the family home from the ground up. Since that early introduction, he has bought and remodeled four homes, and has taken up cabinet and furniture making. His current home was featured in The Washington Post and his previous home was covered in Home Magazine, The Washington Post, and HGTV’s I Want That! Formerly, Maynard was Editor-in-Chief of Lebhar-Friedman’s all-digital products magazine, Residential Building Products & Technology. He spent 14 years at Hanley Wood as senior editor of Builder magazine and its sister publication Residential Architect, where he amassed eight prestigious honors for editorial excellence, including AZBEE and NAREE awards.