Eye-Catching Custom Wine Cellar Under the Stairs Designed by a Master Builder in Austin

This wine cellar is small yet elegant! Blue Grouse Wine Cellars, one of our partners in wine cellar construction in Austin, built the wine room with stylish wooden custom wine racks. Learn more about the features they incorporated into the design.  

Small, Yet Elegant Custom Wine Cellar Built Under the Stairs in an Austin Home 

Challenges will never be a hinder to a master builder like Blue Grouse Wine Cellars. The homeowners of a luxurious home in Austin sought their help in building a custom wine cellar under the stairs.  

In this project, Blue Grouse Custom Wine Cellars had to overcome the structural challenges of the room. As professional builders, they did their best to create a design that would meet all of the client’s requirements.  

Structural Challenges and Client’s Requirements 

The open space located under the stairs in the main living area has an irregular shape. The ceiling is sloping, and the area is small (4 feet deep and 12 1/2 feet long). The Blue Grouse team’s goal is to install custom wine racks designed for the shape of the room, and they had to make sure that the racking maximized capacity.   

The owners wanted to utilize the entire space under the stairs and enclose it. Blue Grouse Wine Cellars built a front wall that added a contemporary appeal to the custom wine cellar in Austin. 

Custom Wine Racks: Material and Bottle Configuration 

Many factors should be considered when choosing the racking material and styles. With many types of wood and wine racks available, it is easy to make the wrong choice. However, when you consult an expert like Custom Wine Cellars Austin and Blue Grouse Wine Cellars, you will not have to worry.   

Attractive Wood for the Wine Racks       

For this particular custom wine cellar project, Knotty Alder was used to manufacturing the custom wine racks. Its distinctive characteristics include the attractive knots and its reddish-brown tones. 

Blue Grouse Wine Cellars applied an Early American stain to make the wood’s natural grain pattern stand out. For a lustrous finish, they applied lacquer on the wine racks. 

Suitable Racking Styles for a Small Custom Wine Cellar in Austin 

The room is narrow, so Blue Grouse Wine Cellars installed the custom wine cellar racks on the back wall. The tallest racking, which is at the leftmost section of the wall, measures 6 feet.  They installed individual wine storage racks with standard openings for 750ml bottles.  

The middle section consists of a display row that pitches the bottles at an angle to keep the cork in contact with the wine. Keep in mind that when the cork dries out, it will shrink, allowing an unwanted amount of air to get into the bottle. It will result in oxidation and cause an unpleasant taste and smell.  

 At the bottom section, you will see the diamond bins with removable dividers to allow wooden cases to be placed in these wine racks. Diamond bins are ideal for bulk storage and for better wine inventory as well.   

Wine Cellar Door and Enclosure  

To enclose the wine room, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars constructed the door and front wall from glass and framed them with wood. The glass component adds character to the space and provides a clear view of the client’s bottles from the exterior.  

The Blue Grouse team laminated and insulated the glass to protect the wines from damage caused by UV light. Moreover, they also equip the door with sealing components to prevent the warm air from entering and the cold air from escaping this home wine cellar in Austin. If there are unsealed gaps around the door, there will be temperature fluctuations and varying humidity levels, which can cause wine spoilage. 

To match the rustic custom wine racks and the staircase, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars coated the wooden frame with a clear lacquer. For security purposes, the client opted for a door lock.   

Wine Cellar Lighting System 

The lighting plays a vital role in achieving the desired appeal for your wine cellar. It should be chosen and installed with the help of an expert to ensure that it creates a dramatic effect and does not emit UV light.  

For this custom wine cellar project in Austin, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars installed LED (light-emitting diode) strip lighting above the display row to highlight some of the owner’s favorite wines. In the ceiling, they placed a recessed LED pot light to provide ample lighting for reading the wine labels and moving around the wine room.  

Wine Cellar Cooling System Ideal for a Small Space 

The size and location of the wine cellar are essential factors to consider when choosing a wine refrigeration unit. Knowledgeable builders perform a heat load calculation to determine the type and capacity of the climate control system to be used in a particular application. Installing the wrong refrigeration unit will result in costly mistakes in the future.  

For this project, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars had to choose a system that would fit the budget of the owners and the limited space. They decided to use a self-contained KoolR Magnum cooling system, which is known for its efficiency and quiet operation.  

The Blue Grouse team installed it just above the racking to allow the evaporator to blow down the cold air and disperse it throughout the room. The unit was placed through the back wall of the wine cellar. The heat is appropriately dissipated into a large space.  

Learn more about the different brands of wine cooling systems offered by Custom Wine Cellars Austin.  

Turn a Small Space Into a Beautiful Custom Wine Cellar. Hire an Expert in Austin!  

Blue Grouse Wine Cellars completed another awesome wine room conversion project. By combining traditional wooden custom wine racks and a contemporary door, the small space under the stairs was turned into a lovely wine cellar! 

If you are looking for a creative and reliable builder, do not hesitate to call Custom Wine Cellars Austin at (512) 772-4378!